Manic Street Preachers - National Treasures - The Complete Singles 2CD (2011)

And so the Manic Street Preachers bid farewell to music-making, "for at least two years" so they claim. But then, anyone who knows how soundbite-savvy bassist/pop provocateur Nicky Wire can be, knows not to believe a word that comes out of his mouth. The band's early mission statement to make one great album and split is now as distant a memory as their wonderfully camp explosion into indie rock; a refreshing alternative to baggy and grunge, all inflammatory slogans, spouting literature and politics in skin-tight jeans, eyeliner and Coke-sculpted hair (they couldn't afford hairspray). As the Welsh act celebrates 25 years together, they find themselves a decidedly un-Manics proposition. They're still going for a start, and seething apocalyptic punk rock and sneering diatribes now sit rather awkwardly alongside mainstream acceptance, stadium sing-alongs and sedate attire.

But then these conflicting elements are what make Manic Street Preachers one of the most gloriously infuriating and subsequently utterly compelling bands around. And it's reflected in their music, their paradox-ridden contrariness captured and collected here chronologically for the first time. So the career-defining vitriol of Faster, You Love Us, Stay Beautiful and Motown Junk and the epic melancholy of Motorcycle Emptiness, Little Baby Nothing, From Despair to Where and La Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh) - all must-hears - arrive before the act's most successful anthem-penning period as a trio (A Design for Life, Everything Must Go, Australia, If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next), and then lead into the decidedly dodgy-in-places most recent offerings. The Masses Against the Classes, Your Love Alone Is Not Enough, Autumnsong, (It's Not War) Just the End of Love and Postcards From a Young Man provide sonic relief from a clanger-heavy second disc containing such meandering low points as The Everlasting, Empty Souls and the frankly bizarre So Why So Sad.

But such ups and downs are exactly what makes Manic Street Preachers tick. As the ultimate rock'n'roll survivors, they have battled through more than most - the majority of their peers having either given up long ago or are currently to be found embarking on cringe-worthy comebacks. National Treasures is imperfect in places but it's an honest, true and ultimately triumphant musical document of where the Manics have been and what they've achieved; where they've stumbled and where they've soared. In short: an indispensable guide to an iconic band.

TRACKLIST

Disc: 1
1. Motown Junk
2. Stay Beautiful
3. Love's Sweet Exile
4. You Love Us
5. Slash 'N' Burn
6. Motorcycle Emptiness
7. Theme From M*A*S*H (Suicide Is Painless)
8. Little Baby Nothing
9. From Despair To Where
10. La Tristesse Durera (Scream To A Sigh)
11. Roses In The Hospital
12. Life Becoming A Landslide
13. Faster
14. Revol
15. She Is Suffering
16. A Design For Life
17. Everything Must Go
18. Kevin Carter
19. Australia

Disc: 2
1. If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next
2. The Everlasting
3. You Stole The Sun From My Heart
4. Tsunami
5. The Masses Against The Classes
6. So Why So Sad
7. Found That Soul
8. Ocean Spray
9. Let Robeson Sing
10. There By The Grace Of God
11. The Love Of Richard Nixon
12. Empty Souls
13. Your Love Alone Is Not Enough
14. Autumnsong
15. Indian Summer
16. (It's Not War) Just The End Of Love
17. Some Kind Of Nothingness
18. Postcards From A Young Man
19. This Is The Day