Just like The Holy Bible is joyous. It's a musician stripping apart everything he has created hitherto and assembling something unique, daring, razor-sharp. It's a fella writing things only hinted at in the, admittedly fun, sloganeering of his previous scribbles. Same goes, in fact, for Nicky Wire, who, whilst only providing 25% of the material, went ahead and ensured that said 25% would be remarkable. Ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayitswholeworldwouldfallapart is a brilliant rush of dissent and anger. "Compton, Harlem, a pimp fucked a priest / Unimportant, just another inner-city drive-by thing." The final line is among the most quotable in the whole damn discography. "If God made man the same, then Sam Colt made them equal." It's a band sounding as tight and focused and fucking raging as they ever would.
Celebration, man, that's what a record of this quality should induce, not mourning.
But you do mourn. And the tenth anniversary edition of this record provides ample opportunity. The interviews with the remaining band-members are as touchingly honest as any I've heard. Nicky Wire, James Dead Bradfield and Sean Moore discuss how painful it is looking back at the archive footage, not only because their best-friend is still standing beside them in those brilliantly frantic performances (barring two gorgeous acoustic performances by Bradfield and Wire), but because they're acutely aware that their current middle-aged incarnation can't ever dream of being so striking.
This Anniversary Edition was released virtually before the last song on the most recent studio album, Lifeblood, had reached conclusion. Lifeblood, too, is a brilliant record. "The Holy Bible for 35-year-olds", as Wire quips. It's the best thing they've done since Everything Must Go, light-years ahead of the forgettable material on 2001's Know Your Enemy.
It shows, then, just how important The Holy Bible is not only to us lot, and to us it's important as fuck, but to the fellas behind it. When you've just created the best thing you've put your name to in nigh-on a decade, you usually try to drum folks in that direction. What they've done is what most bands in a similar position would avoid like all frozen fuck. They've said here's our new record, and oh yeah, here's our motherfucking masterpiece, one of the best records ever made, and now it's got the US mix and stuff, and a DVD all about how fucking amazing we were back then. We know we should be answering all the questions about the new one, but turns out folks aren't that bothered, not when there are magazine articles to be written regarding the time when we were untouchable.
Article comments
1 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
hells bells. thats the third time i've used the word "fetishised" in almost as many articles. That Word Of The Day toilet-paper sure works better when a fella's got the runs...
2 - godoggo
re: fetishise: Your'e in America now, if I'm not mistaken. Allow me to introduce you to the letter Z.
That said, what in heaven'z name is LA Rock?
3 - wally bangs
Brilliant stuff, Duke. I bet you "laughed when Lennon got shot" too.
4 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
godoggo, i'm still residing in the UK, but it's a valid point. I keep forgetting to include the "z", which is odd, since is not only is it Costa Gravas' best flick, but it's a much cooler letter than s. I keep wondering why the MT desktop client has red lines under things i know are spelt correctly, and that's always the cause.
Wally, thanks man. And i didn't, probably, but i still roar along like as if i was there man. "Motown... Motown Junk!!"
5 - valeria
Here come the crazy urges to listen to the Holy Bible again, for maybe the millionth time in my life. It might be your incessant quotes that just beg a singalong, it might be that this article was just absolutely perfect.
6 - Duke De Mondo
Valeria, thank you! What a compliment it is, to have someone urged towards a re-listening of The Holy Bible on account of my scribbling.
and this reminds me, i really must pick up that grand new Everything Must Go set sometime soon...
7 - Drunks off my bollocks
Brilliant article. Expresses the importance, spirit and meaning of THB well. Doesn't slag off Lifeblood, which is also a bonus... 5 years old? The joy of teh_intarwebz and it's collectivist Elephantine memory. Well done, squire. Well done.
8 - Remedial_gash
Just picked up 'Journal for plague lovers' - a year late I know, and was revisiting earlier albums, in the age of 'random play', I don't think I've listened to an album since around 2005 (when this piece was written).
Anyway, what a fucking excellent piece of work, and please don't use 'z's - it's offensive to my eyes.
Gash
9 - Pris
Great article!
Hope I'm not intruding, here's my $.02 on Richey.