The Girl from Tiger Bay

I feel the love within me, and love can’t be removed

The Manics have written or helped write a handful of songs for other artists over the years – most famously Kylie Minogue – but typically they also remain with their intended artists. “The Girl from Tiger Bay”, written for the legendary Welsh diva Shirley Bassey for her 2009 comeback album The Performance, is (to date) the only one where the Manics have later released their own version – or rather their original demo, given out as a freebie download through their website around 2010-2011. Though outside the bitrate quality of the file itself, there’s nothing “demo” about this as the high production qualities and the full arrangement are all largely complete behind James’ vocals. The only key difference between the two versions outside the vocalist is that the synthetic string orchestra of the Manics’ version has been replaced with a live one for Bassey’s eventual studio version.

The Performance featured a number of acclaimed songwriters who had been asked to contribute with a song specifically written for the occasion: besides the Manics, the other artists included Pet Shop Boys, KT Tunstall and Rufus Wainwright among others. Wire, an experienced biography lyricist, took the familiar approach of distilling Bassey’s life into words and making the point that despite her legacy and fame, she’s still the same old girl from Cardiff she was before she became renowned. Despite having been written and released in 2009, this is basically a Postcards from a Young Man song and a part of me does wonder if this beared any kind of influence on how the Manics would approach their tenth studio album, and if the reason there is such a fully produced Manics version is because for a brief moment the band thought to include their version on the album or as a b-side. The swelling orchestra, the torchlight anthem chorus and the suave guitar are all traditional Manics staples and about what you would expect from their contribution into a project such as this.

If anything, that familiarity places it in an awkward spot. As a song for Bassey, it sounds too much like a Manics song: in her own version she awkwardly runs through the lengthy lines in a way Bradfield has mastered but which is unfamiliar territory for her, and the impression is that she’s singing a Manics cover – not at all helped by how in the couple of televised live performances where James took part to play the guitar, his lively stage mannerisms threaten to steal the spotlight from the placid Bassey. But then for a Manics fan this is too tried and true, and even further away from any kind of new ground than anything Postcards from a Young Man would have, as a result of the band writing for someone else while making sure it bears some kind of a Manics footprint. While the melodies are decent, the Manics version suffers from it being too run-of-the-mill for the band – and ironically while James’ singing is more natural than Bassey’s, he doesn’t manage to make the lyrics his own and also sounds like he’s covering someone else’s song.

As a piece of the Manics discography this is therefore completely inessential to anyone but the wildest fan (or the most devoted Postcards appreciator), but it’s nonetheless a neat insight into the rare occasions where the Manics have contributed to someone else’s discography. Now let’s get a demo of “Some Kind of Bliss” out in the world, please.

[edited 11/12/22]

Read Full Post »

Alien Orders/Invisible Armies

(instrumental)

“Alien Orders/Invisible Armies” was another title that had been known to the fans for a while: the first mentions date it somewhere around Gold Against the Soul but it had never been known to actually exist as a song, only a lyric. Supposedly the actual lyrics are incredibly short, closer to a haiku than anything James could write a song around and thus it became just another piece of hardcore fan trivia. That is, until the band likely stumbled onto the lyric again while preparing for Journal for Plague Lovers and used it for an instrumental song they placed on the Japanese edition of the album.

The idea of an instrumental appearing in an era so heavily emphasising Richey’s lyrics is slightly absurd as it is, but “Alien Orders/Invisible Armies” generally feels aloof from the rest of its surroundings. Its sharp, metallic edge and almost programmed drums are a far cry from the raw and organic rock band interplay of the rest of the album: honestly, you could place this among the Futurology bonus tracks and it would probably make more sense. The churning guitars are still present and just about tie it to the rest of the album, but when the “chorus” drop tones them down and the keyboard textures fire up, we’re in a whole different segment of the Manics sound spectrum.

Another curious side to this is that this is one of the few Manics instrumentals that sounds like it was meant to have words. The music is really good, but there’s a phantom space throughout it where the vocals should be: the instrumental work isn’t quite as detailed or neatly arranged as on the other Manics instrumentals where usually you have a specific instrument taking the lead in lieu of James’ vocals, whereas here the music still seems to give space for something else to fill the gap. Given the known title, it wouldn’t be surprising to me if this was an earnest attempt to write music to another set of Richey’s lyrics but for one reason or another it was eventually deemed to not work and the instrumental track was released as-is. By this point the Manics had become a proficient instrumental act, yet this one sounds like a song still unfinished. It’s a shame, because what we have is actually really good and could have made for a powerful bonus track (maybe even an album track if the production was more in line with the rest of the record): it just sounds a little vacant.

[edited 12/11/22]

Read Full Post »