Manic Street Preachers - Know Your Enemy - Reissue

Back in 2011, as part of the promotion for the second Manic Street Preachers’ greatest hits collection National Treasures, a rather catty strapline boldly stated: ‘No Reunions. No Comebacks. No Encores.’, a reference to the reformation of some of their peers (Blur, Pulp, The Verve) around the turn of the decade.

Although the Blackwood trio have stuck to that manifesto, steadfastly defiant in their fourth decade, they aren’t averse to plundering their legacy either.

Know Your Enemy, their sixth album (and sixth to receive the Collector’s/Anniversary edition treatment) now goes under the microscope, but rather than the usual bonus discs, accompanying tours (although tracks from Know Your Enemy have been in their set all year) etc, their most schizophrenic album has been stripped down and rebuilt as the trio originally intended.

According to the statement upon its announcement: ‘During the recording sessions, the trio got cold feet and settled on a single album that forced often conflicting ideas to sit side by side on the same record.’

The original idea was a double album of two sides: Door To The River and Solidarity and, on deciding upon the details of the reissue, James Dean Bradfield insisted on remixing the album with their long-term producer Dave Eringa.

A mammoth undertaking for both Bradfield and the listener, with 34 tracks making up the bulk of the endeavour (along with a bonus disc of demos), was it worth it for one of their middling efforts?

https://www.live4ever.uk.com/2022/09/review-manic-street-preachers-enemy/