Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Like artists we must acknowledge the times when our best was taken for granted, when our vision of the outcome was less than we would have expected, and the regret of placing before our peers and friends our most invaluable thoughts when they don’t quite live up to the promise we hope to deliver.

Unlike artists, those moments can soon fade, they are only seen by a minority, time can soon wipe away the more painful of our actions and leave them in the background of our experiences as a human being; only there to serve as a reminder of the possibility we once handled without care.

For an artist who considers they have made a mistake, perhaps not fully enjoyed themselves what they have created, time is less forgiving, indeed the memory of it can lead some down a path they might not see fit to take any goodness from, and that in itself is a tragedy, a lament of procedure, a concern of creativity.

For a band such as Manic Street Preachers to willingly return to a period in which they themselves have stepped back from, perhaps shunned might be a finer point of description, to visualise once again, and even see it with a softer view of time, with more compassionate eyes; and that is just exactly how it feels with the deluxe re-release of Lifeblood, and album that few cared about in its early days, but which now can find a sense of pride and a true place in the band’s discography

This is not to say that there is a difficulty within the framework of the album, or indeed with the structure of the deluxe set which encompasses B-Sides, remixes, demos and live versions, but there is with hindsight a certain gravity to the album which was released in 2004 and between albums that caught the attention of the public with, at the time, a greater sense of urgency.

To grasp that Lifeblood was caught either side of the albums Know Your Enemy, which itself came on the back of the outrageously cool This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours, and 2007s Send Away The Tigers is to understand perhaps the depth of unfeeling that initially came with it, and whilst that argument may still stand in the eyes of many fans, the fact that the band has acknowledged it enough to see it given a greater prominence is a wholesome act of reintegration.

With fresh ears songs such as A Song For Departure, The Love Of Richard Nixon, Glasnost, and Solitude Sometime Is are remarkably endowed, strong whispers of gratitude pass between the mind and the heart as the intensity of the album is understood, and whilst it may remain unloved by some, it nevertheless is one that deserves to be recognised, one to which must not be skipped in the pursuit of seeming perfection.

We own our mistakes, they are what drive us to be better next time, but without that vibe of hollow escape we are but shadows of our former selves; one to which Lifeblood can only revive.

Ian D. Hall