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COMMEMORATION AND AMNESIA (Big Noise Recordings)

Patrick Jones writes good lyrics - which is a pretty damning indictment for a poet who's merely slumming it as a pop star.  Frequent use of alliteration, heavy-handed rhymes like "masturbation"/"isolation", this is clearly from our world - but then this is Nicky Wire's brother that we're talking about.

It's pop music like "The Holy Bible" was pop music, and the surprise of the century is that this album works.  Manchild's sombre, orchestral electronica on "Their Life On Their Heads" is just one of the tunes that stands up in its own right.

The thing is, though ... "Industrial ... lottery ... happy shoppers ... unemployment statistics ...", it's the poetry of slogans.  This is the spirit of old Manics made gloriously large - but can you trust a poet whose lines still make sense, even if half of them are drowned out by rock music?  The answer is a cautious yes.

The worst parts of the album are those where the lyrics are least audible - James Dean Bradfield rocking out over "The Guerilla Tapestry" or Curveside performing guitar atrocities on "Autonomy."

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