Manic Street Preachers – Journal For Plague Lovers Remix EP

Last month, the elder statesmen of Welsh rock released the hotly anticipated Journal For Plague Lovers – comprising for the first time in over ten years, the lyrical input of missing-member Richey Edwards.

Obtaining critical acclaim and moderate sales, the album felt as if it should be held as a record slightly out of the chronological timeline of the MSP discography; most ostentatiously due to the sole lyrical discourse from Richey yet also as the album has not spawned any singles to date, with only a brief tour of the UK’s major cities heralding its arrival. So then, the remix EP of the record comes as a further, intriguing oddity.

Having been blessed and approved by bassist Nicky Wire, the EP features contributions from the likes of The Horrors, Errors, Adem and British Sea Power. Getting underway with a bass-laden remix of album-opener ‘Peeled Apples’, Andrew Weatherall conducts a mellow and understated reworking of one the original record’s standout tracks. With added discotheque drums and percussion, the track fumbles its way along without really breaking into life – a missed opportunity, perhaps.

The EP continues with the Error’s effort on ‘All Is Vanity’, a track which is instantly more difficult to truly appreciate and many Manics fans may well question the validity and/or need for such remixes. The inevitable “what would Richey think?” questions that arise with the passing of each new record – whilst perhaps slightly less relevant for a remix EP, still reverbs around the original question around the JFPL album and whether Edwards would have approved of the new record’s sound anyway – having apparently been pushing for a more Pantera-esque sound circa the era of his disappearance.

Generally, this is a set of tracks that is garish and awkward. However, there is some merit to be found. Most notably with the sterling job that British Sea Power have conjured upon ‘Me & Stephen Hawking’ – with an uplifting tone that could sit easily on an Arcade Fire endeavour. Most Manics fans need bother themselves too much with investigating this remix EP, yet that is not to say that it is without value – these are varied and cultured re-mouldings on a set of songs that remain some of the most difficult to approach that one can remember for some time.

The other-worldly iconography and themes presented by Edwards, coupled with the solid and consistent musicality of James Dean Bradfield and Sean Moore – originally produced a warped record, and these remixes simply serve to move the tracks further down that road into peculiarity. Then again, that’s what Manic Street Preachers have always been about.