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Manic Street Preachers

Send Away the Tigers

  • AMG Review of Send Away the Tigers

    Amg
    Stephen Thomas Erlewine
    All Music Guide

    Like many long-term relationships, Manic Street Preachers benefited from some time apart, as their seventh album, Send Away the Tigers, makes plain. Arriving on the heels of 2006 solo albums from both singer/guitarist James Dean Bradfield and lyricist/bassist Nicky Wire, Send Away the Tigers finds the group recharged and revitalized, achieving the widescreen grandeur of Everything Must Go but infusing it with a harder ock edge that may not be as furious as their earliest work, but is no less committed. This surging sense of purpose was conspicuously absent on the Manics' previous albums, which grew increasingly mannered in their attempts at majestic pop, culminating in the pleasant but too soft Lifeblood. It's hard to call Tigers soft -- it thunders even in its quietest moments, and when strings or keyboards are brought in, they're drowned out by guitars. This doesn't sound like a desperate measure; it sounds like recommitment on the part of the Manics, especially since they haven't abandoned the melodic skills they've honed over the past decade. They've merely melded them to muscular yet mature ock & roll. It's that commitment to hard rock that makes Send Away the Tigers bracing upon its initial listen, but what makes it lasting is the songs, which may lack anthems on the level of "A Design for Life," but they're something better: they're small-scale epics, roiling with drama and coiled with tension, flirting with being overblown but kept grounded by the group's reclaimed righteousness and newfound sense of control. That leanness applies to the album overall as well -- where every Manics record since Everything Must Go grew increasingly over-stuffed, this has no flab, and its ten songs have a relentless momentum. It's still pretty bombastic -- the Manics were never about subtlety -- but the sweeping gestures are delivered with a sense of efficiency that makes Send Away the Tigers never seem heavy-handed, which is something that even their best albums often are. So, this isn't merely a return to form, then -- it's also a welcome progression from a band that only a couple of albums back seemed stuck in a rut with no way out.

Indian Summer
over 2 years ago

Looking out of my window it seems like a very good idea to release this on Monday;Indian Summerhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zdCaEGWHU8

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Manic Street Preachers - Send Away The Tigers
over 2 years ago
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Your Love Alone Is Not EnoughThe Manics are massive in the UK. Selling out 60,000+ stadiums and headlining dozens of festivals, I’ve had similar conversations with 4 or 5 people at such events, ‘Why aren’t they massive in the States?’The stupid idea of crossing Guns N’ Roses with The Clash and making it work seems perfect for Stadium Rock, but then you point out the socialist lyrics. Is

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Manic Street Preachers - Send Away The Tigers
over 2 years ago
Blog post image preview

Your Love Alone Is Not EnoughThe Manics are massive in the UK. Selling out 60,000+ stadiums and headlining dozens of festivals, I’ve had similar conversations with 4 or 5 people at such events, ‘Why aren’t they massive in the States?’The stupid idea of crossing Guns N’ Roses with The Clash and making it work seems perfect for Stadium Rock, but then you point out the socialist lyrics. Is

More >
Indian Summer
over 2 years ago

Looking out of my window it seems like a very good idea to release this on Monday;Indian Summerhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zdCaEGWHU8

More >
Manic Street Preachers & Nina Persson
over 2 years ago

Your Love Alone Is Not Enough..The new single from the Manic Street Preachers, featuring the vocals of the Nina Persson of Cardigans. Taken from their upcoming album Send Away The Tigers which will be released in the UK in May.Looks like The Manics are heading back towards their Stadium Rock era of the mid 90's.

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Manic Street Preachers' 'Send Away The Tigers': "Best album since '96!"
over 2 years ago
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The Welsh Manic Street Preachers' new album, ??Send Away The Tigers??(Red Ink), will be released in the U.S. on July 24. The group is currently playing sold out shows in the UK. Nicky Wire (lyricist, bass guitar player and occasional vocalist) describes the sessions for the album as "reconnecting with all the things that made us so excited back then."“Send Away The Tigers is easily the best thi.

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Manic Street Preachers
over 2 years ago

Do ya do ya? Manic Street Preachers are helping me get through the work day after a three-day weekend. Bah!

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