well, this is awkward. no, not for you, look you see, but for me. i am writing this some (oddly exactly) eight months prior to it being set to go live on this blog. that seemed like the best option, in truth, as if i had set it aside to "write later" i would have forgotten.
for the most part i have, this year, taken the decision to drop the usual celebrations of anniversaries of gigs what i was at. well, why not, or why, really. pretty much all that i had to say of any of them has been said by now, so let them go.
but then, as fate would have it, back in April (which is where i sit now), i found this.
yes, it is a little bit of advertising. promoting, no less, the Greatest Hits Tour, or "shenanigans" as the lead singer mentioned more than once, of the Manic Street Preachers. we, as in my (considerably) better half and i, crossed timezones and oceans to be in attendance at one of the gigs listed above, the Newcastle one, 17 years ago.
there were two significant motivators for this. actually, three. first off, i suppose, is that we both have a love for the Manics, and when a band starts announcing "greatest hits" tours, one is never sure if this is them saying farewell. secondly, the support for them at the gig was provided by no less than Ian Brown, who we also love dearly. if you want it, a third would be that we were to be wed not too long after the gig, so having the honeymoon "before" kind of made sense.
provenance of the advertisement, or little impromptu "promotional card"? ostensibly Poundland, i guess, as it was in a CD what i purchased off there for £1. kind of.
indeed, i bought not one, not three, but two copies of Forever Delayed, the band's first go at a greatest hits thing. the second, National Treasures, did not go at all well, but live and learn.
why two copies? mostly because they had two on the shelf. the logic was that if i got two, then i could have one in my vehicle of choice as i roamed the lands, whereas my (considerably) better half was free to do as she saw fit with the other, either having it in her vehicle of choice or giving it a spin at home.
as it turned out when i got home, not two identical copies as such. for the win, and as a bonus, one of the copies i picked up turned out to be the what we would now call "deluxe" edition, for it featured a second disc, filled with perfectly serviceable remixes of some of the songs.
is Forever Delayed as a CD set any good? yes is my answer, but i am obliged to rather describe it as "functional". from what i recall there were several ounces of displeasure from both the band and the fans about it. not that this is unusual. in the entire history of music bands, never has there been the odd situation which exists with the Manic Street Preachers. whereas their fans are obsessive and will defend them to death, frequently they absolutely hate the band and express displeasure. this is very much reciprocal, for despite a devout dedication to their fans, the bands seem all to eager to treat their followers with the contempt and disgust we probably, in fairness, deserve.
at the very least, Forever Delayed was not the folly of Lipstick Traces, the "follow up" compilation concentrating on b-sides which came out some two years later. from what i recall it was a bewilderingly bad selection of such, omitting ones the fans desired, with particular emphasis on Patrick Bateman. also, us fans were expected to download and print the booklet to go with it ourselves. nice cost cutting idea, and it did not go down at all well when the fans went one further and said "why don't we just download the whole album too, for free, and record it on our own discs" by the time the next album, the superb Lifeblood that the band hate (because it did not sell well), came out.
but yes, if for some reason you like the Manics, or find yourself thinking that you might like them, then Forever Delayed is a most splendid set to locate, obtain and listen to. for a start, one of two exclusive tracks on this set, There By The Grace Of God, is magnificent.
should it be of interest - be it passing, very, curious or general interest - then yes i have indeed got a link for you for some pictures. the pretty, colourful words here are a link to some photographs from the day, taken, as i recall, with one of them disposable camera things. which no, i am not sure if you can actually get any more.
oh yes, i do indeed still love the Manics, and shall forever. also, since related, the exact same is true for my (considerably) better half, but that's too sweet a thing to say i suppose.
many thanks, as ever, for reading
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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