Darker hell stood up on high / Then disappeared without reply
Rewind the Film has this really fascinating side tract going on where the album’s melancholy that’s all over it suddenly meets up with the feeling of freedom the band were enjoying after giving up on trying to meet any expectations (mostly their own). “4 Lonely Roads” exemplifies this. The lyrics are full of self-detriment and pain (and they’re probably one of the best on the album if I’m honest), but it’s just so incredibly carefree and gentle as a song. The best word for it is soft: the drumming is quiet and gentle, the pace is leisurely and it’s a simple verse-chorus-verse ordeal that makes no fuss about itself. It’s so lightweight it’s nearly a throwaway song.
But it’s catchy. It’s got a fairly simple melody that sticks to your head, nothing groundbreaking but something quite pleasant. If that was it for the song, “4 Lonely Roads” would be a fairly disappointing inclusion on the album but the real strength of the song lies in all the details scattered over it. There’s some particularly lovely guitar flourishes throughout the song and the bass especially is a real stand-out. This is another Nicky song, and one where James seems to have taken over the bass duties which you can hear in all the subtly show-offish melodic runs and riff fills that the abnormally bouncy bass line is filled with. I’m not kidding when I say that bass-wise this is one of the Manics’ most interesting ones, even though the song itself borders on a filler ditty.
What would make it more of a big stand-out is if the band wouldn’t play it through like they were half-asleep. The song desperately needs some energy to jolt it into something more than a comfortable stroll (albeit one where the bassist seems to be playing with a wholly different mindset). The brief breakdowns try to shake it awake but they’re kind of clunky, in that weird stop-start way that Wire really seems to enjoy writing. The general lethargy extends to Cate Le Bon’s lead vocals, taking over James as part of the album’s great push for alternative voices. She suits the song in theory but her performance too suffers from the general lack of energy that the entire song is characterised by. It’s – once again – a match that could work really well but there’s a weird anemic aura surrounding the entire song that effects her as well, as she reads the lines half=asleep. Wire does the lead vocals on the demo version on the deluxe edition of the album, and it transforms it into an archetypal Wire b-side. Which I could see someone prefer.
It’s an odd track. It’s almost too simple a song which is too comfortable in its own skin and it’s a surprise to hear it on the album rather than on the flipside of a single, but it’s genuinely pleasant to listen to and the more I listen to it the more I hear the great potential in it. It’s by and far the most unassuming song on Rewind the Film, but I find myself spotting those tiny little details and mentally nodding my head in agreement, and the more I think about it the more I can hear what they tried to go for with the song’s vibe. But similarly, I can never help but feel it’s a little underwhelming – if it had a little more fire in its belly or a kick up its behind, this could easily be one of the album’s highlights.
I have to admit, sadly, that I have never given Rewind The Film a proper listen. I need to do that, but I have had so much fun listening to the newer stuff since Send Away The Tigers came out (11 years ago now!) that a melancholy Manics album is something I’m not yet prepared for. I would love to see you get to the tracks on the last couple albums – very curious about your thoughts on Futurology in particular, as well as the track International Blue. Still waiting rather impatiently for Friday when I can listen to Resistance is Futile.