If we take the Manic Street Preachers on their own terms and believe that they really are as intelligent, charged and politically involved as they always have said they are, then this is a truly despicable record. Released in the month the Bush election is decided, "Lifeblood" reads and sounds like a retreat from 2004's deadly political ambiguity into the cheap platitudes of the past.
But if we presume that they're actually as idiotic and myopic as their peers, then "Lifeblood" is an interesting but finally failed record. It opens spectacularly, with "1985" and "The Love Of Richard Nixon", which is more focused and compassionate than any single they've released since "If You Tolerate This", and both of which boast the glossy synth sheen producer Tony Visconti unveiled on Bowie's "Heroes".
These opening songs suggest "Lifeblood" might once have become a great record, particularly the Cure-like, longing synths of "1985". The lyrics may be hopelessly nostalgic but they are also revelatory, full of love and understanding of the way we once thought. The Manics' real problem is articulating anything about how we think right now, perhaps the most significant and artistically potent moment in recent history, a subject hardly articulated in the weary, soppy, retro "Glasnost".
Elsewhere, "Lifeblood" is an often mediocre record, with a few peaks and an awful lot of troughs. The acoustic "I Live To Sleep" is one of the loveliest, most longing things they have recorded, and the dreamy "Always/Never" is loaded with barely articulated yet somehow meaningful angst. But then there's "Emily", which is more vile and emptily sentimental than anything you'll find on Wet Wet Wet's upcoming greatest hits. Not to mention "Solitude Sometimes Is" and "Empty Souls", which are so utterly, pompously dull it's difficult to find words to describe them.
The Manic Street Preachers are an interesting band who deserve a big entry in the all time history of pop. But the opportunity Cheney/Bush has offered them as a so-called political band must rank as one of the most open goals in history. And they have missed. Did they even shoot?
