For years when I thought about the Manics discography I didn't really think about Lifeblood. It came out three years after the perfectly-fine-but-not-a-classic Know Your Enemy and three years before the attempt-at-a-return-to-form Send Away the Tigers; it makes for a fairly forgettable period in their past. Every band has to have a "worst" album and, for me, Lifeblood is that for the Manics. I suspect I'm not the only one - the cd version came with a flyer about the ten year anniversary release of The Holy Bible and here we are, ten years later again with a 20 year anniversary release of The Holy Bible due out soon and no mention of Lifeblood. The ten years have not been as favourable to it as they had to The Holy Bible.
But recently I have been thinking about Lifeblood more - the reason being that Futurology, the Manics' latest album and the one hailed as one of their recent finest, came out this year and it reminds me of Lifeblood in many ways. When I first heard Futurology my initial thought was that they'd finally done Lifeblood right - those Euro-pop moments were back ten years after they last tried but this time it worked. They proved that they could be different (in a Manics way) but not sound watered down. They sound more comfortable in doing what they want to do and less over-produced than they did on Lifeblood, and it works wonders. Personally, I still think Rewind the Film is by far their greatest recent album and Futurology doesn't quite compare, but I wonder how I'll feel in another ten years.
But back to Lifeblood. It's not a terrible album (despite all I've said) but is just too smooth and bland to be memorable or to be the sort of album the Manics should have made. On the other hand, it has some incredible pop moments and 1985, Empty Souls, and A Song for Departure are all very enjoyable songs. I'd love to hear those songs as 2014 Manics songs rather than 2004 Manics songs. But the lows are pretty low - I remember during the "Singles" show at the O2 Arena James commenting after The Love of Richard Nixon "You still don't like that one then?" (or something to that extent). The other highlight was always the closer, Cardiff Afterlife, which I guess is the only Lifeblood song I ever really thought much about afterwards, mostly because I ended up moving to Cardiff and getting to know the city well.
As with every Manics album since This is My Truth..., I bought Lifeblood the day it came out. A month later I was in Bristol visiting a friend and found this vinyl copy in the HMV there. I think I already knew it wasn't going to be a classic Manics album, but the collector of me was still interested. It's quite a nice little package, especially since new LPs weren't that common at the time. I'm glad I bought it back then because, sadly, I'm not so sure I'd bother these days.
Format: 12", picture sleeve, 12x12" booklet
Tracks: 12
Cost: £12 new
Bought: HMV Bristol
When: 10/12/04
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no
