Manic Street Preachers
This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours

THE REVIEW

This album gives me the opportunity to briefly step away from the purely musical context. When I think of "This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours," I think of Picasso, and his so-called "blue period."

Blue is the color of the album cover, blue the hue of Picasso's works; "blue" the band's mood, "blue" that of the painter. And, ironically, the same reason marks such a state of mind: the disappearance of a friend.

Picasso's friend, Carlos Casagemas, committed suicide; the friend of the Manics, Richey Edwards, perhaps... It is said that he jumped off the Severn Bridge, but his body was never found... Reason enough to fuel the sense of emptiness and anguish that has afflicted (and afflicts) the band and the fans. For heaven's sake, not that the Manics ever had a "pink period," but they weren't this sad before! They used to ROCK, they were rebellious, they were crazy, in some ways they were cool. That genius, James Dean Bradfield, used to play like Slash and sing with the anger of Joe Strummer; now his solos are halved and his screams are more melancholic than angry; now it's 1998, and the Manics are down to three. In the award-winning "Everything Must Go," which served as a "trait d'union" between the "angry" period (The Holy Bible above all) and the "blue" one (culminating with LifeBlood, albeit differently), Richey's presence was still alive, as evidenced by his last lyrics appearing on the album. Here, however, the composition is entirely the work of the award-winning Bradfield-Wire-Moore team. This results in a "winter" album: melancholic, reflective, subdued.

The album opens with "The Everlasting" the drum intro, almost a ticking of a clock, seems in perfect harmony with the song's theme: the inexorable march of time. It's a beautiful ballad, where James's voice is embellished by strings and completed by a memorable guitar solo. It's followed by "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next", the real hit single of the album, and perhaps of the band's entire career. At the time it was a minor sensation and, aided by an effective video, it received fair support even from MTV Italia. The song is inspired by the Spanish Civil War, but the meaning is easily inferred from its title. It deserves a 10 just for the choruses that conclude the piece.
Never before in this album have the Manics nailed the choice of singles although, with the exception of "If You Tolerate This", commercially they disappointed expectations. This is confirmed by "You Stole The Sun From My Heart" and "Tsunami", two very catchy songs both characterized by sadly gritty choruses. The theme of the latter is fascinating: the Tsunami perhaps represents the wave that disrupted the band's balance due to Richey's disappearance; however, Nicky Wire (bassist) now has the opportunity to assert his identity as the band's lyricist. Destructive wave or purifying wave? The pathos remains at high levels even in "Ready For Drowning", a song decidedly on par with the singles, while "My Little Empire", in which James's guitar arpeggios take over his voice (it's the most vocally subdued song on the album), and the slow advance of "I'm Not Working" help to temper the mood a bit.

With "You're Tender And You're Tired", the band returns to the levels of "The Everlasting": another admirable ballad, more rhythmic but sadder, accompanied by the reverberation, perhaps intentional, of the piano and James's superb voice (how far are the times of "Motown Junk, You Love Us, Faster..."). In "Born A Girl", a little organ and the delicate guitar notes tell the repressed desire of a man who would have preferred to be born a woman, almost in the form of a lullaby. "Black Dog On My Shoulder" (title inspired by a phrase from Winston Churchill referring to depression) is just what you wouldn't expect from the Manic Street Preachers, as if the Sex Pistols started playing a Richard Hawley piece; "Be Natural" and "S.Y.M.M." (the latter an invective against the police regarding the Hillsborough stadium tragedy) have a slightly more complex structure and require more listens to be appreciated. Particularly prolix with its 6 minutes is "S.Y.M.M.", but it is nevertheless elevated by a vaguely "Gilmourian" guitar solo.
The final gem of the album (penultimate in the tracklist) is "Nobody Loved You", the album's most energetic track, where it seems the band tried to repress or, at least, control their anger throughout the record, only to let it explode in this song, where James's shouts and the guitar's distortion sound almost liberating, despite the sadness the lyrics are imbued with. In 1998 I was neither flesh nor fish. This album contributed to developing my musical identity, which, at the time, I was almost anxiously searching for. I recommend it to anyone who doesn't scoff at the stylistic evolution of bands and to those who don't seek answers in music, but rather food for thought.

Unfortunately, the Manics don't receive the right consideration in Italy, yet in Great Britain they are true idols. Then I think of how in Italy the Blue is successful, and they come from Great Britain... I think of those who tear their hair out for them, and I think of the Manics who, with that very song that introduced them to us in Italy, sang "Gravity keeps my head down or is it maybe shame at being so young and being so vain", so I've stopped looking for answers (at least in music)...