Manic Street Preachers: "Jackie Collins Existential Time"

The penny drops on James Dean Bradfield’s head with the eureka feel of the gravity apple: goodbye dad-rock clichés, hello mental health issues set to scathing rhythm guitars! Remember Batman (1966), where portly Professor McElroy would get a bump on the noggin and emerge as the devilish, goateed King Tut? It’s that beautiful. Riding the swell of their 2008 Godlike Genius Award, the Manic Street Preachers have tapped back into the fun sound of destruction which famed them, a strange kind of astrology in action. With Albini engineering (he wore his overalls to the studio—I shit you not), Dave Eringa polishing, Richey Edwards resurrected via a strongbox of lost lyrics, and more cover art from Jenny Saville (whose “Strategy [South Face/Front Face/North Face]” was used for The Holy Bible [1994]; real quote: “Saville gave her permission for use of her work for free after a 30-minute telephone call with Edwards in which he described, in detail, each song on the album”), the Manics are back.

Though there are no official singles off Journal for Plague Lovers, “Jackie Collins Existential Question Time” is already a podcast favourite, a pithy punk nugget with rock spikes that feels like a synonym for release. It’s too grown-up to be declared The Holy Bible, Testament 2; it seems that, while Richey apparently discovered his sense of humour just before his drive to the Severn Bridge, Bradfield, Wire, and Moore got serious. Wrapping a neon riff around their absent friend’s “Oh Mummy / What’s a Sex Pistol?” mantra, the band cruise by like the missiles they’re still campaigning against, an irresistible vapour trail in their wake. There’s nothing so good for the soul as seeing idols snatch back their dignity, and I’m sure both this song and its parent album will help thaw a lot of stalled poets from the ’90s.