MANIC STREET PREACHERS
THE ULTRA VIVID LAMENT
COLUMBIA
★★★★
The first Manics album to be written on piano rather than guitar, LP #14 sees the trio at their poppiest. Sounding similar in spirit to 2007’s Send Away The Tigers, it’s dominated by harmonising and James Dean Bradfield singing at his richest. There are inventive touches, including a Yes-style prog breakdown at the end of the otherwise New Seekers mood of Into The Waves Of Love.