I've listened to Know Your Enemy about 4 times this week.I really like it to be fair.
It's very long, and earnest (obviously). You can dip in and out and it's still going.
I remember when this album was coming out and it was supposed to be them going back to the 'heavy' manics, after the Masses and Found that Soul singles. But looking back now, it's only two albums since the Holy Bible. They had different plans than a thick like me. James clearly just loves music and songs.
Once I got over my old distaste for the This Is My Truth singles at the start of this project, I am totally back on board with the lads and they are my friends and I love them. Wherever these next albums go I will be behind them.
On the one hand, it's way better than I remember, on the other I'm still not gonna recommend it to people.
I'm trying to work out what my problems with it are though. Nicky WIre has a tendency to write terrible lyrics and sometimes I think James is really struggling to find a tune for them (which is weird, considering what he managed to do with the "this song is just a list of names" stuff previously). The album has so much guitarring that's really good, but like, intravenous agnostic for example, what's going on there? Why is it such a bad song with such good guitars? I'm very conflicted about it all.
I'm now listening to all the B-sides from the era anyway. I see the Avalanches turned the terrible Beach Boys one into a good song:
(incidentally, listen to the David Holmes remix of You Stole the Sun, manages to save it from itself and the whole now everybody jump up and down chorus, you can concentrate on the lovely guitar riff and verse melodies)
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