Despite having all these songs on many other releases (the original cd single, the 10th anniversary edition of Everything Must Go, the b-sides collection, the remixes collection, not to mention the countless releases with A Design For Life on) I had to buy this record. Partly because it's a Manics record and I've recently been thinking about how much I love that band and how I should really continue my collection, but mostly because A Design For Life is a truly incredible song.
It seems an appropriate time to dwell on it - it's 1996, a year and a half since releasing the huge and dark The Holy Bible, just over a year since Richey disappeared. How does a band come back from that? It's almost impossible to imagine a band coming out of those events with something half decent, let alone with one of the strongest songs they ever wrote, a world apart from their last album and one of the finest singles (and, indeed, anthems in the truest sense of the word) of the 90's. It's incredible. I've always had a soft spot for A Design For Life (and libraries). The whole thing just begs to be sung along to. It's a strange thing to focus on, but one of my favourite bits was always the outro - I love how it just falls away and leaves Sean Moore drumming for one last bar. Such a brilliant way to finish.
Strangely they've swapped Dead Passive for the Stealth Sonic Orchestra vocal remix of A Design For Life (the former on the cd1 version and the latter on the cd2 version). I've always enjoyed the orchestral version of this song too - it lends it self towards being orchestral so well - although my favourite version ever can be found at the start of the Everything Live video; the instrumental version is playing before the band take the stage and there are hundreds of people singing along (many years ago I dubbed that version onto minidisc so that I could listen to it more often). I know that show is taking some form on the new Everything Must Go 20th anniversary edition, but probably without the crowd/orchestra version, which is a shame.
Dead Trees and Traffic Islands and Mr Carbohydrate are both great b-sides (particularly the latter) and the sort of b-side that made me become a collector - the Manics have some incredible b-sides, occasionally ones that I prefer to album tracks of the same era. I have both on vinyl on Lipstick Traces but I'm happy to have them in another form. I was pleased when I saw pictures of this release ahead of Record Store Day that they'd made an effort with the sleeve - the reflective silver sleeve looks incredible (and makes you feel less bad about spending £15 on it) and I love that they kept the tradition of having a sticker over the opening, which appeared on all the singles from that album.
Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 4
Cost: £15 new
Bought: Truck Store, Oxford
When: 16/04/16
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no
