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  #31  
Old 22-02-2017, 20:00
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Looking forward to reading this muchly
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  #32  
Old 28-02-2017, 09:06
Glass Angel Glass Angel is offline
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Finished this last night, and definitely recommend for anyone with more than a passing interest in the album.

The third section, about memory and archive, was the one I found most interesting and most intellectually challenging. I particularly liked that it was more about The Holy Bible as an archive, and the impact of the album and of Richey's disappearance on the rest of the band and their subsequent work, both lyrically and musically. I could possibly have done without the long remeniscence of the author attending the Holy Bible 20 tour and British Sea Power gig though.

I wonder whether the book would have been more easily readable and have reached a wider audience if it had included a) a brief history of the band, and b) the lyrics to The Holy Bible (doesn't seem to be a copyright issue with quoting them, the second two sections do so freely).

In summary - second best book I've read about the Manics (I love Everything, subjective or not), if you are the target audience.
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  #33  
Old 01-03-2017, 19:36
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A good in-depth review here - gives you a true flavour of the book http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/trip-ticks-1/

I've read the first part and the final part and now I'll go to the middle. Overall I find it a peculiar mix of fanzine flavoured fan personal reminiscences from the author mixed in with academic pieces on the album or rather on the context of the album - it's not a line by line breakdown or review....it doesn't bother me that it doesn't include lots of lines drawn from the songs with analysis alongside as it's more about drawing out the links between songs and setting them in their wider historical, social contexts.

Personally I liked Rhian E Jones pieces on the album and she brings in a feminist slant too which was interesting. I was less keen on the final piece by Larissa Wodtke....it's very verbose. Overly so. Sure maybe I just don't understand but it seemed to me in essence to be saying that when Richey left he left his story open and we all but particularly the band keep trying to piece the ending together and sometimes try to rewrite the history either as a means to try and distance themselves from him or rather from the pain or to understand and answer the big question mark a disappearance leaves. If that is the idea it's quite a simple idea but the piece seems a laboured phd philosophy dissertation. Or maybe I have no patience nor attention spa......

There are a lot of references scattered throughout in the form of author's or band interviewers names in brackets which also lent it all a dissertation feel and slowed the pace but

I enjoyed some of the references to other bands around - Rhian Jones is clearly a big Courtney Love fan - yay! And Daniel Lukes misinterprets the Wildhearts in my humble - listen to the lyrics that was not a happy band, don't accuse them of happy.... though they dressed them in poppy rock melodies. And they were pretty political too...but I digress

And the intro by Simon Price - who feels the need to mention that he wrote a biography of the band, called Everything, just in case any die hard Holy Bible follower has failed to hear of him. So many things wind me up....

On to Daniel Lukes part
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"There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more," - Byron

'I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.' (from Sea Fever - John Masefield)


"Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
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And never stops at all" - Emily Dickinson
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  #34  
Old 07-03-2017, 09:51
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I just finished reading it and really liked it. I agree that the final section did read a bit like a PHD thesis at times which at first I found frustrating. But as she began talking about the albums after THB I felt her language and style changed a bit - became less academic. I wondered if she was reflecting what the manics did themselves? THB was full of words and ideas, was almost exploding with language - this changed in EMG? I may well be wrong but I thought this was quite clever and quite effective.
I actually quite liked reading her memories of the three gigs at the roundhouse too - maybe because I missed out!
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  #35  
Old 29-03-2017, 15:52
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I just finished reading this and came here to post my thoughts. I loved it although found some of it very challenging but in a very enjoyable way. Not for "beginners" or new fans, but for anyone who has "lived" THB - ie experienced anorexia, self-harm etc it has real impact. Also the chapter about Sylvia Plath and the holocaust is brilliant.

I agree with Glass Angel. The final chapter of the third essay (about going to see the Roundhouse gigs) was totally pointless and detracted from the brilliant writing and insights that came previously.
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  #36  
Old 14-04-2017, 22:47
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http://https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/apr/13/triptych-review-manic-street-preachers-the-holy-bible
__________________
"There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more," - Byron

'I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.' (from Sea Fever - John Masefield)


"Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all" - Emily Dickinson
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  #37  
Old 16-04-2017, 01:14
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Quote:
The Manics never regained their handle on contemporary events, and became something of an inward-looking nostalgia act after Richey disappeared.
Chapter 28 of the second essay. I saw similar comments in the first essay (not read the third as yet). They don't much like later period manics, do they? It's all a bit too dryly academic for me so far anyway. I think it's insulting and hugely reductive to label them an inward-looking nostalgia act when they've experimented with diverse sounds on their later stuff but then you often get this sort of criticism from those whose fandom ends at the holy bible.
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A gray disk, the colour of Chiba sky.
Now -
Disk beginning to rotate, faster, becoming a sphere of paler gray. Expanding -
And flowed, flowered for him, fluid neon origami trick, the unfolding of his distanceless home, his country, transparent 3D chessboard extending to infinity.
Inner eye opening to the stepped scarlet pyramid of the Eastern Seaboard Fission Authority burning beyond the green cubes of Mitsubishi Bank of America,
and high and very far away he saw the spiral arms of military systems, forever beyond his reach.
And somewhere he was laughing, in a white-painted loft, distant fingers caressing the deck, tears of release streaking his face.

Last edited by Tim; 16-04-2017 at 01:21.
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  #38  
Old 16-04-2017, 16:30
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Silver10 Silver10 is offline
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I'll read it
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  #39  
Old 17-04-2017, 10:05
Glass Angel Glass Angel is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim View Post
They don't much like later period manics, do they?
Yeah, that annoyed me too, to be fair. The last essay was my favourite, and much more from a fan who has stayed with them.
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  #40  
Old 18-04-2017, 01:01
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I do love that the band inspires this sort of thing and not some poxy indie band like, god forbid, another kinesis or something. So i'm down with that and i'm sure wire would be thrilled to know they inspire this kind of analysis but the little digs at later material really grinds my gears, as if there's nothing of worth to be gained from it. For example, you have rhian jones making a bizarre comparison between PCP and its supposed 'soft-centred descendant "the love of richard nixon"' and concluding the latter comes off worse. Other than the fact there is zero lineage between the two most of their songs will come off worse against PCP. You have daniel lukes who felt betrayed by everything must go, which is fair enough but to provide this insightful dissertation on the manic's literary references and then to say he didn't understand what they were aiming for with the band's 'bland' image at that time quite surprised me: how can you not get that they were aiming for a clean break with their past? In the opening to larissa wodtke's part she seems to think fans are still polarized between the generation terrorists, holy bible and everything must go eras. Really? I would say that that splitting of the fans has long passed into history since most of those older fans have fallen by the wayside, it just ain't a thing anymore.
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Please, he prayed, now -
A gray disk, the colour of Chiba sky.
Now -
Disk beginning to rotate, faster, becoming a sphere of paler gray. Expanding -
And flowed, flowered for him, fluid neon origami trick, the unfolding of his distanceless home, his country, transparent 3D chessboard extending to infinity.
Inner eye opening to the stepped scarlet pyramid of the Eastern Seaboard Fission Authority burning beyond the green cubes of Mitsubishi Bank of America,
and high and very far away he saw the spiral arms of military systems, forever beyond his reach.
And somewhere he was laughing, in a white-painted loft, distant fingers caressing the deck, tears of release streaking his face.
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  #41  
Old 19-04-2017, 00:06
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim View Post
I do love that the band inspires this sort of thing and not some poxy indie band like, god forbid, another kinesis or something. So i'm down with that and i'm sure wire would be thrilled to know they inspire this kind of analysis but the little digs at later material really grinds my gears, as if there's nothing of worth to be gained from it. For example, you have rhian jones making a bizarre comparison between PCP and its supposed 'soft-centred descendant "the love of richard nixon"' and concluding the latter comes off worse. Other than the fact there is zero lineage between the two most of their songs will come off worse against PCP. You have daniel lukes who felt betrayed by everything must go, which is fair enough but to provide this insightful dissertation on the manic's literary references and then to say he didn't understand what they were aiming for with the band's 'bland' image at that time quite surprised me: how can you not get that they were aiming for a clean break with their past? In the opening to larissa wodtke's part she seems to think fans are still polarized between the generation terrorists, holy bible and everything must go eras. Really? I would say that that splitting of the fans has long passed into history since most of those older fans have fallen by the wayside, it just ain't a thing anymore.
I think the Nixon/PCP comparison wasn't so much playing off one song against the other (so to speak) but just making the point about how the band always like to go against the grain. The Love of Richard Nixon was fundamentally about going against the grain but yeah thinking on it the link is tenuous, ha, unless it's just to say it's a softer approach than PCP.....but y'know at a time of Bush and bombs they took a far more subtle approach than just raging against. What other band would write a song about Richard Nixon? Clever.

I did like her piece best though

I also think that although Wire and Richey have similarities they're very different lyricists....something the book misses maybe? And Lukes dismissive comment about the band never regaining a grip on contemporary events as he sits thinking about Fuck the Brady Bill & thinking of the racism of the Second Amendment against the news of black men being shot by police officers is a strange example ... I think there's a certain irony in the Manic lyric/reference If God made man Sam Colt made him equal....maybe missed by Lukes for while it's true that the majority of guns are sold by and to white men in the US and the majority of victims poor and black ..... arming every last person won't resolve the problems of race and poverty....anyway that's my view And sure the comments about the band being a nostalgia act in the years since. Makes you wonder if he's listened to there other albums.

Still since when was being a fan of the band also about agreeing with each other? About anything? Ever
__________________
"There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more," - Byron

'I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.' (from Sea Fever - John Masefield)


"Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all" - Emily Dickinson
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  #42  
Old 19-04-2017, 01:01
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Quote:
Originally Posted by raven View Post
I think the Nixon/PCP comparison wasn't so much playing off one song against the other (so to speak) but just making the point about how the band always like to go against the grain.
Yeah, i understand that but it still seemed to me she was making a qualitative comparison by saying 'from the 'sublime and diamond-hard "PCP" to its ridiculous descendant...'. Going against the grain is a fair point to make, though i doubt any of these writers have heard, say, red rubber - a song about a subject matter that no pop/rock group would ever conceive of making.

I'm still not fussed on the dissertation style for any of it really but her essay did seem the most coherent and like you i found the linkage between the holy bible and feminism interesting and worth exploring. She brings up the dismissal of female manics fans by the 'majority-male criterati' as somehow being less credible and legitimate than male fans and that was particularly spot-on i thought. The themes she delves into for each song makes for good reading it's just the swipes at later stuff (mostly in daniel luke's piece) that annoy the crap out of me. Still struggling through the last part though: it really is kinda overwrought huh?
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Please, he prayed, now -
A gray disk, the colour of Chiba sky.
Now -
Disk beginning to rotate, faster, becoming a sphere of paler gray. Expanding -
And flowed, flowered for him, fluid neon origami trick, the unfolding of his distanceless home, his country, transparent 3D chessboard extending to infinity.
Inner eye opening to the stepped scarlet pyramid of the Eastern Seaboard Fission Authority burning beyond the green cubes of Mitsubishi Bank of America,
and high and very far away he saw the spiral arms of military systems, forever beyond his reach.
And somewhere he was laughing, in a white-painted loft, distant fingers caressing the deck, tears of release streaking his face.
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  #43  
Old 03-05-2017, 00:31
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So here's the thing... larissa wodtke's essay, now having completed it, actually has some great things to say about the later stuff. From the 'underrated' lifeblood to a thorough deep dive into journal to better understand the bible.
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Please, he prayed, now -
A gray disk, the colour of Chiba sky.
Now -
Disk beginning to rotate, faster, becoming a sphere of paler gray. Expanding -
And flowed, flowered for him, fluid neon origami trick, the unfolding of his distanceless home, his country, transparent 3D chessboard extending to infinity.
Inner eye opening to the stepped scarlet pyramid of the Eastern Seaboard Fission Authority burning beyond the green cubes of Mitsubishi Bank of America,
and high and very far away he saw the spiral arms of military systems, forever beyond his reach.
And somewhere he was laughing, in a white-painted loft, distant fingers caressing the deck, tears of release streaking his face.
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