Gold Against the Soul

Release details

Artist Manic Street Preachers

Title Gold Against the Soul

Release type Album

Date of release June 1993

Highest chart position Information not found

Record label Columbia Records

Catalogue number 474064 2

Producer Information not found

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Gold Against the Soul Tracklisting

1. Sleepflower
2. From Despair to Where
3. La Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh)
4. Yourself
5. Life Becoming a Landslide
6. Drug Drug Druggy
7. Roses in the Hospital
8. Nostalgic Pushead
9. Symphony of Tourette
10. Gold Against the Soul

Cover artwork

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Manic Street Preachers Gold Against the Soul Album cover

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Reviews

A Hint Of Things To Come

This, along with 'Generation Terrorists' was a tantalising hint at the greatness that would come on the Manic Street Preacher's landmark, career-defining masterpiece, 1994's 'The Holy Bible'. The songs are polished, yet frequently intense.

It has often been said that 'Sleepflower' was the Manics attempt at a grunge song, and if so, it was a very valiant effort, since it sounds very much like a Nirvana song. James vocals appear to have improved drastically since 'Generation Terrorists', whilst the lyrics are radically different to GT, and less political. 'From Despair To Where', follows in the same glossy vein, sounding highly-produced and expensive. Indeed, the Manics did spend a fortune on recording this album, to a ridiculous extent, and this is certainly clear from the production values.

'Scream To A Sigh (La Tristesse Durera)', also sounds quite majestic, with thoughtful subject matter, lamenting over the neglect of war heroes, the title referencing the final line of Van Gogh's suicide note. Chillingly, Richey memorised Van Gogh's suicide note, along with a great many others. 'La Tristesse Durera' also contains some of JDB's finest guitar work to date. Lavish expenditure did create some spectacular results, this song being one of them.

'Yourself' and 'Symphony Of Tourette' have the same grungey feel as 'Sleepflower', the first being a self-loathing diatribe and the latter being a foul-mouthed, violent outburst surrounded by heavy, disjointed guitars and frenetic drums. It is one of the most impressive songs on the album.

'Life Becoming A Landslide' is one of Richey's sadder lyrics, containing the words: "My idea of love comes from, a childhood glimpse of pornography/But there... Read full review »

Standing in the shadows of giants?

Hmm, the early Manics, i.e. with Richey... what do most people think? Inevitably you think of the Holy Bible, one of the greatest albums ever, and to Generation Terrorist, the unpolished debut effort, with such memorable songs as Motorcycle Emptiness. Yet stuck between the two lies Gold Against the Soul, and it is shame that it is so forgotten, because it is truely a hidden gem. At only 10 tracks, it is dwarfed in size by Generation Terrorist, and it did not hit the personal notes that the Holy Bible did, focusing more on society's problems than on those of Richey. It has none of the depressed genius splendour of the latter album, yet none of the exuberant youth of the former, prefering instead the middle ground of something which is virtually undefinable, yet quintessentially Manics.
It opens in ebulliant style with Sleepflower, led by powerful guitar riffs, driven by Richie' and Nicky's powerful lyrics about insomnia ("A memory fades to a pale landscape..."), and with a killer guitar break in the middle, it is a fantastic way to kick off the album. It drives the listener quickly onto the two main tracks off the album, and two of the best ever written by the band - From Despair to Where and La Tristessa Durera (Scream to a Sigh). The former blends quiet hissing with shouting power in a song which brilliantly blends guitars with strings to make it an instant classic. The riff of the latter will stick in your mind forever, and it is an example of true genius at work, telling songs of despair and disruption in society ("I sold my medals, it payed a bill, it sells at market stalls, parades Milan catwalks..."). Then the album surpri... Read full review »

"Tragedy is not known under the dimmest of lights"

After the statement that was 'Gen Ter', the band pressed on with more sophisticated production and increasingly poetical lyrics (the Manics fuse politics with poetry very well - see 'La Tristesse Durera'). The album is more polished - they spent much of their time in a £1000 per day recording studio in Surrey. Richey was clearly more depressed than anything else; the lyrics show an increasingly sensitive side and progress from stab-and-bl... Read full review »

Underated

This is perhapse the most underated album the manics have ever produced. It has been overshadowed by the previous super debut (generation terrorists) and the wonderfully original (holy bible) being inbetween these two blockbuster albums has definitly overshadowed this quality album. The... Read full review »

The most random CD ever and so, so listenable

A few years ago, I was a big fan of the Manics album "Everything Must Go." The liking of this led me to search for their other albums and decided to go randomly for Gold Against The Soul. Now though, I don't enjoy EMG much anymore at all and find the band's works from the album and going on simply dire and with the exception of "If you tolerate this" and "The masses against the classes" I feel that they have failed to keep up with themselves. But many years on (we're thinking at least five since I got it now) and I still rarely take out Gold Agiainst the Soul from my cd player. I didn't think for one minute as I bought this CD that I had just bought what was going to be one of my all time favourtie albums. It's one of those rare albums th... Read full review »

Lyrics

You can get the lyrics to the songs on Gold Against the Soul from the Bands Only Manic Street Preachers lyrics section.