When Manic Street Preachers announced that they were going to make an announcement (as one must these days) on their Twitter, we all knew what it was going to be. Fans and media had kept on asking about a 20th Anniversary tour for the seminal (that’s such a cliché word but for this record it’s the only word) 1994 album The Holy Bible and we (I am very much one of the fans) were confident enough that they would deliver that we could joke about it. “10th anniversary Lifeblood tour, anyone? #LB10″ went the joke, poking fun at the fevered posting of the hashtag #THB20.

Lifeblood, you see, is apparently everyone’s least favourite Manics album. It is certainly the band’s least favourite Manics album (and possibly one of their least favourite albums of all time). But I really like it. Was I alone? No! Manics have an active and passionate fandom on Twitter (and on Tumblr) and there were lots of voices piping up “I quite like Lifeblood, actually”. This week Forever Delayed Forum ( @FDForum ) on Twitter decided to “get some Lifeblood loving going” and I decided to have another listen.

Lifeblood was released on 1st November 2004, just over a month before the tenth anniversary reissue of The Holy Bible (there was a flyer for the reissue inserted into the Lifeblood jewel case, tour dates on the reverse side). To some the stark contrast between the two demonstrated where the band had gone astray. The Holy Bible is 56 and a bit minutes of abrasive, acerbic rock, with tracks like The Intense Humming of Evil, Of Walking Abortion and Die in the Summertime. It’s widely quoted as being the last record lyricist Richey Edwards was involved in before his disappearance, while this is untrue (he contributed lyrics to the more commercial follow up Everything Must Go) it is the sound of a man (and a band) on the brink of something awful. If The Holy Bible is the sound of getting into a warm bath and opening your veins, Lifeblood is getting into a warm bath and opening a nice bottle of wine after a hard day.

Lifeblood is gentle and melodic. More so even that 2013 (semi) acoustic album Rewind the Film. It couldn’t be much further from The Holy Bible. Instead of Ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayit’sworldwouldfallapart (a stinging critique of US politics); we have The Love of Richard Nixon, a bouncy synthpop ode to the achievements of the disgraced former president. Where The Holy Bible had Revol, which used imagery of sexual and romantic failure to skewer historical political leaders (“Yeltsin – failure is his own impotence”); Lifeblood has Glasnost, which takes the gradual thawing in Soviet/Western relations and applies it to more domestic matters (“If we can still fall in love/ Embrace with us, make your own glasnost”).

I Live to Fall Asleep is a despairing lullaby sired by the old Goal of the Month music (The Life of Riley by The Lightning Seeds, for those not old enough to remember) with some high notes from singer James Dean Bradfield that send shivers down my spine. Nicky Wire’s lyrics are at their most poetic (“Tearing off like so many calendar days” – A Song for a Departure, or “Collapsing like the Twin Towers” – Empty Souls). If you don’t recognise Bradfield’s distinctive voice (which is also softer and lighter on Lifeblood) then it’s hard to believe it’s the same band.

The subject matter is bleak, but it’s a grown up, resigned bleakness. Perhaps that’s why I like it so much. For me Glasnost in particular was the right song at the right time. When the album came out, I had a son who was nearly four, I was a year into my first “proper” (not bar work) job in London (Solitude Sometimes Is is a great song for an overcrowded commute – “Drop your bombs on all I see/ and leave this world alone for me”) and the weight of being a grown up was pulling me down. Lacking the energy to rage against the machine, I was content with a gentle grumble. For other fans, some not much older than my son, who knows? The average Manics fan (if there is such a thing) feels a bit of an outsider, maybe they feel a connection to this record, abandoned at birth by its three dads (I remember when they toured the record I was disappointed at how few songs from the album they played, it was more of a greatest hits set). Maybe some people just have a soft spot for soft rock.

If the band themselves hate it then that’s their prerogative. It’s by no means their best work and I’m resigned to the fact I’ll almost certainly never hear Glasnost played live. They are not lacking in brilliant, brilliant, fabulous songs to play, and the idea of seeing The Holy Bible played in full in December is exciting in a way that seeing Lifeblood played in full frankly isn’t. Poor misunderstood Lifeblood will never be my favourite Manics album, but it’s definitely in my top seven.

Lifeblood

The Holy Bible