The Manics have been doing a great job of reissuing their albums in recent years – they started off strong with a very nice 10" boxset of Generation Terrorists, but then upped their game with the 20th anniversary release of The Holy Bible, and kept it at a similar level with the reissue of Everything Must Go. Send Away the Tigers has had a lighter re-release, but the key difference is that it's only 10 years old, and the release is similar to the 10-year releases of Holy Bible and EMG in that sense; more recently This is My Truth Tell Me Yours had a reissue that sits somewhere between the two.
They really treated us with the re-issue of The Holy Bible – four cds and the whole album on vinyl, as well as a book about the album. In a lot of ways, they had to go big – the album had been reissued 10 years earlier with a bunch of live songs and demos, a dvd and, crucially, the infamous US-version of the album. Here we get a lot (but not all) of the same stuff, and a whole load more. The original album and the US-version are presented on their own discs, while cd3 covers a lot (but not all) of the b-sides from the era, most I had in their original forms. They're presented in the order they were released in and filled in some gaps I had (at the time) in the form of the cd2 for Revol and She is Suffering; Love Torn Us Under was the only whole song that was new to me – it's a classic Manics b-side in the sense that it's a great, simple acoustic song that wouldn't have worked at all on the album. Sculpture of Man has long been a favourite b-side for me for its uncharacteristically fast punk sound; Too Cold Here is another great one. Missing are Comfort Comes, Are Mothers Saints and Charles Windsor from the Japanese Faster/PCP release, as well as a couple of live recordings.
It's nice to hear the songs recorded at Glastonbury 1994, especially after watching the 2007 Glastonbury performance on the Send Away the Tigers reissue – this would have been a very different set. Plus, it's always nice to hear Gold Against the Soul songs live (don’t get me started on the glaring omission of a reissue of GATS so far - fingers crossed this is in the works). The version of Revol with the spoken word section was definitely one of the strangest additions – I like seeing these glimpses into how the songs could have ended up, but I think most people would agree that it’s better without that verse!
The final cd is live songs - mostly at the Astoria in December. It's a good set, heavy on songs from The Holy Bible and Gold Against the Soul (and lighter on Generation Terrorists than they normally are these days. It's always nice to hear New Art Riot too - they play it better by that point in time, but James still sings it in the same scrappy way - almost like an accent). It's also nice to hear 4st 7lb and This is Yesterday live - aside from the recent Holy Bible tour, they're not songs you'd often hear live. I'm not sure if it's the whole set or not since it's only an hour, but maybe back then they played shorter sets than they do now that they have nearly 30 years of songs to choose from. The fade out between the songs imply its been edited a bit (I'm sure the full setlist is online somewhere if I wanted to check). James sounds tired but otherwise they sound great, and it’s great to hear Nicky’s backing vocals make an occasional appearance, especially on Yes. Finally, there are four live acoustic recordings from Maida Vale in 2014, which are a nice and rarely heard take on the songs.
That's a lot of talk about what's on the cds for a blog about vinyl. The LP contains the regular album in a nice gatefold sleeve. I've written about the album itself before here, and the US mix here, but I'll say again that I think it’s great. It’s hard to not get swept up in all the excitement when these big reissues come out – the band were playing a bunch of shows where they’d play the album in full (I saw two – one in London and another in Cardiff Castle – the latter was a strange show, a very beery, excitable crowd for a bleak album about depression, played on a hot day in the sun). I bought a copy of NME (for the first time ever) because they had a piece about the album that I wanted to read; everybody was reflecting on what a great album it was. I've kept that NME in the box since I bought it and it's in the pictures below. This is the first edition of the boxset with the signed booklet and the typo around which side of vinyl 4st 7lb is on. The book was a nice read and full of pictures from the era (including one of Richey wearing a Dub War t-shirt).
The thing with The Holy Bible is that it really is a great album - genuinely amazing. All the hype helps, and reminds you just how great it is, but you know it regardless. I enjoyed reading all the articles I could find about it, because it’s good to take the time and focus on these noteworthy albums from time to time. This boxset was a good way to dwell on that.
Format: 12", four cds, boxset, gatefold sleeve, picture sleeve, book, signed
Tracks: 75
Cost: £56 new
Bought: Band's website
When: 08/12/14
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: cd
