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Album Reviews
Album Review: Manic Street Preachers – Postcards From A Young Man (Sony/Columbia)
By Marc Samuels | Published on Thursday 2 September 2010
It’s hard to believe that this is the Manics’ tenth album, not least when you consider how few of their contemporaries (not that there is such a thing, but, say, groups who emerged at the same time and found favour in alternative circles) have managed to get anywhere near that figure, let alone to still sound relevant and, well, great.
After the lo-fi post-punk of ‘Journal For Plague Lovers’ we’re back in more familiar territory here – namely anthemic but intelligent rock. Although it somehow all feels bigger than their other albums; the stadium-sized choruses, swelling strings and gospel choirs all making it feel impossibly epic. And that’s just the first four tracks. It may be “one last attempt at mass communication”, to quote Nicky Wire, but it’s still on their own terms, encapsulated by the title track’s defiant “This world will not impose its will” refrain.
Like too many of their albums, ‘PFAYM’ sags towards the end, the latter tracks failing to keep up with the giddy momentum established by the opening belters (although ‘The Future Has Been Here 4 Ever’ is ace and probably the best Manics song with a Nicky Wire lead vocal). But that shouldn’t take away from the fact that this is one of the group’s more memorable albums. When Bradders sings “I will not give up and I will not give in” against some stirring orchestration, he sums up the Manics perfectly – still here, impassioned, raging eloquently and beautifully against the dying of the light. MS
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