Manic Steet Preachers - (It’s Not War) Just The End Of Love

‘We’re going for big radio hits on this one,’ James Dean Bradfield told the NME about the Preachers’ upcoming album ‘Postcards from a Young Man’. If this single is anything to go by, you can’t accuse the Manics of not knowing their own sound. It’s simple, it’s catchy and it’s enjoyable, and will have many casual radio listeners rifling through their back catalogue to discover what they’ve been missing all these years.

But whilst ‘It’s Not War’ is more radio-friendly than their previous work, it feels less profound and exploratory. Most people of course will not care a jot about that, but Manics fans will either be comfortingly reassured by the song’s big chorus, solid vocals and familiar feel, or disappointed that ‘It’s Not War’ does not stray into more interesting territory. Since MSP have been kicking around since 1986, it is fair to presume reaction from the fan base will be mixed.

The sense is that the band have been there, done that, and have now started relaxing into their middle age, but with a lot more style and panache than U2, who everyone has to admit are just trying to hard to be down with the kids. And ‘It’s Not War’ is not trying to be down with the kids. It may be trying to be down with Radio 2, if anything at all, and it shall probably succeed. The Manics have stood strong against musical fads and trends for twenty five years, and this record certainly makes no appeal to anything other than being a good rock pop number. If you tolerate this… well, nothing bad’ll happen, and you’ll probably catch yourself humming it to yourself later in the week.