Manic Street Preachers - National Treasures

It’s been 21 whole years since the release of Manic Street Preachers’ first single; and ‘Generation Terrorist’ was born around the same time as your humble reviewer. This is a useful perspective – after all when you’re listening to The Manics retrospectively - a greatest hits album cataloguing every single in chronological order is a godsend.

It does beg the question though – why on earth bother? We had a previous hits album ‘Forever Delayed’ back in 2002. It was a far more selective affair, with 20 songs ordered in a slightly bizarre fashion that seemed to bestow more praise on ‘Tsunami’ than classics like ‘Kevin Carter’. The last compilation also leaves out several very good studio albums from immortalisation, simply because back then they hadn’t been written yet. This new effort makes up for lost time plugging no-mans-land, and as a double album rammed with 38 songs nobody can moan that ‘National Treasures’ is too selective.

We join James Dean Bradfield and Co. on ‘Motown Junk’, back when they were a fresh-faced crew of glam punk enthusiasts. We’re then guided through the early years; the evolving leftist politics, and the end of Disc 1 provides a pit stop in the shape of rock number Australia. Disc 2 skips through the later stuff, finally pitching up at the polished little piano ditty ‘This is the Day’. Feeling tired yet?

For those who are late catching on to The Manic Street Preachers and want a comprehensive round up, ‘National Treasures’ fits the bill perfectly. Other than that it’s difficult to see who exactly this is being aimed at. Dedicated fans are already going to own all the studio albums, and almost anyone can put together a quick playlist in a jiffy nowadays. ‘70 Songs Of Hatred And Failure’ is in the pipeline, and so inevitably this won’t be our last greatest hits album. The skeptic within rather wants to dismiss this as a purely commercial venture.

It would be unfair to treat ‘National Treasures’ like a regular album. It would be an endurance challenge to listen to the whole thing in one instalment – the undertaking would most probably require a sponsorship deal from Red Bull and a hired assistant to mop the listener’s brow with a flannel. It also seems counter-productive to discuss the actual music in too much detail. When there’s a choice of ten studio albums to pick from, you’re going to end up with a pretty strong line-up regardless, and with undeniable classics like ‘Kevin Carter’. ‘Design For Life’ and ‘If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next’ there is no question of songwriting ability. ‘National Treasures’ has no point to prove other than its grounds for existence, and quite frankly you’d have to be an idiot to invest in this album if you didn’t already like The Manics.