quite the lovers of paradox, be the Manics. for just about their entire existence, or at least not long after, they have always categorically stated that they shall never, ever release a live album, for they view such releases as being "a bit of a con" and a means to rip off fans, look you see. yet they absolutely do not get tired of repackaging, reshaping or re-imagining their albums. which is how we are here, with a traditional in life yet unusual for the record industry non-decimal 21st anniversary release of Know Your Enemy.
being fair - and honest - in the majority of cases when the bad do re-issue an album it is well worth the purchase. the 10th anniversary editions of two landmark albums (in a career filled with records which could be described so) of The Holy Bible and Everything Must Go were particularly superb. the few which have been less superb are easily avoided. it was easy, for instance, for me to say "thank you, no" to a 2 disc and book reissue of Gold Against The Soul (my least favourite anyway) for an alarming £50. i skipped the reissue of This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours for it felt like i had 90% of it already. and Send Away The Tigers was a no as the reissue still included Autumnsong like it was an actual, proper song.
this one, though, was far too intriguing to say "no" to. well, kind of. a sort of "luxury" or "deluxe" 3 tape (disc) set looked overpriced for what you got and, as we shall get to, kind of self-defeating in the aim of revisiting the album. but the two tape (disc) set, for just south of 40% of the cost of the three variation, looked like a wise purchase.
why, exactly, do we, the world, have a "new" version of Know Your Enemy? seems a strange move, in particular when the band have, within the last year (give or take) had a number one album out. it would appear they, and this is perhaps more Nicky Wire, took a decision that now was the time to put the record out kind of as how the band debated doing it at the time, which is to say two albums, rather than the one we got.
for the most part the linear notes do a rather understandably better job than i could in explaining this. but as we are here, the band (at the time) had two records worth of material, one being mostly of the reflective sound of their previous (This Is My Truth), one being closer to their much more aggressive, confrontational style from debut onwards. names were to be Door To The River and Solidarity, respectively. the record label were keen, sensing double money. ultimately the band opted against it, but this does explain why, presumably as a compromise, we got two (2) singles on one day, with So Why So Sad and Found That Soul respectively representing the sound of each album.
understanding the temptation to release two albums on one day is kind of straightforward. all of the band were huge Guns N Roses fans, and of course they did this trick with Use Your Illusion I & II, about ten years before. however, the band clocked that selling one record was going to be tough. this was 2001, where CD record technology made home taping easy and of quality, and also this new thing called "the internet" made it even easier. rather than release one record straight off and then the next some 14 to 18 months later (which in retrospect would have been wiser for GNR), which is what, say, Bowie would have done in the 70s or Prince in the 80s, they simply sliced and diced the tracks to create the lengthy Know Your Enemy tape (album).
provenance of my copy was, on day of (re)release, HMV. all sorts of fancy "preorder" versions of the record were available on their website, most of them signed. being a regular Manics purchaser, however, means i have stacks of things signed by them, which is lovely but still, enough is enough. in the end, the ludicrous postage costs for their online store was the defining factor. as in, it was 50% cheaper to get a bus to town and buy it than it was pay their postage costs. no, the bus has not got cheap.
right, so, anyway, the actual album(s). admittedly this was kind of an autopilot purchase, even when the last two or three (four?) re-releases were not. i was not expecting that much from it all, being reasonably happy with how KYE sounded in its original form, and yet the idea of hearing an original, or initial version of a "rough draft" was intriguing. two previously unreleased tracks (which the band had thought had come out as b sides) was also a slight selling point, but not much of one.
stressing, or emphasising, that i had no quarrel with the original release, this was a welcome, surprising and interesting thing to listen to. maybe this is stating the obvious, but this "split" into two records of vaguely same style music does create a really enjoyable, smooth listening experience. after a week of playing this new version at home, i loaded the original up as i drove around (for verk) and now cannot hear anything but how disjointed it all is. which was actually a complaint from many at the time, even though they had no real idea or sense that it was two records welded into one.
i am not too sure there's much value in spelling out what song from the original has ended up where, what's been omitted (Royal Correspondent, though, on the two disc set) and what has come in, well, nit in detail. biggest surprise was the two mentioned singles appearing here in remixed forms, with at least the So Why So Sad one featuring in a few other releases. my understanding is that a lot of the tracks here have been 'remastered / remixed" or what have you, but them singles having their (decent) album versions replaced entire was a surprise, to be sure. further, the inclusion of previously standalone (and first new number one of this century) single The Masses Against The Classes was unexpected. as was the ace cover of We Are All Bourgeois Now, which previously was a hidden track on the CD.
exactly what caused me, other than the obvious (and initial) economic argument, to go with the two tape (disc) version rather than the 3 (three) disc one? frankly, the three disc version seems to defeat the purpose of the exercise. assuming that the third disc, all demo versions, would get played two or three times at best, tapes (discs) one and two had four or five extra tracks on them. which is nice, but also rather going against the idea of presenting the album(s) as originally intended?
my favourite tape (disc) of the two? slightly tricky, this. oddly i quite like the "Sean Penn Mix" of So Why So Sad included on (in) Door To The River. also on that one is probably the best of the at least two new(ish) songs, Rosebud. further, now isolated as the closing track of an album (technically), one is aware of just what an incredible song Epicentre is, with this more than most probably being unfairly drowned out by the chaotic nature of the original release.
yet it is Solidarity which is probably the closest to the Manics i love. well, i really love all Manics, except of course Autumnsong, but i really, really love the Manics on this one. although Solidarity does have Wattsvile Blues on it, the rest is superb. things like My Guernica and Freedom Of Speech Won't Feed My Children are the precise reason why Nicky Wire once, when dismissing critics, said he believed the band were "a bit too clever" for some. plus, my favourite song off any version of the album, the brilliant, damning Baby Elian, resides on this one.
normally it was quite rare for Bowie to speak of "regret" for any album. yet he spoke of how he wished he released 1.Outside (link) as a double disc, as it was "too much" in one go. that's pretty much what the Manics have clocked, or rather addressed, with this variation of Know Your Enemy. also, the new artwork feels less like someone shouting at you. for the surplus of music, well, i would suggest (if not argue) they had learned the lesson, as about ten years after Know Your Enemy they did indeed release two new records not much more than a year apart, Rewind The Film and then Futurology.
depending on what, exactly, the record industry throws my way for the Christmas market, and indeed on how the Bowie Moonage Daydream gets classed (probably soundtrack), this is realistically likely to be the "best re-release of the year". although i am tempted (but economically momentarily stopped) by this Toyah Anthem re-release, mind. believe me, there is a lot more to the story of this particular re-release, but you are better off buying the tapes (discs) yourself and reading the linear notes.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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