Manic Street Preachers took their message to the masses with the pop friendly passion and sweeping socially conscious sincerity of this cathartic confessional. The group had carried on as a trio after the mysterious disappearance of guitarist Richey Edwards and found massive success with 'Everything Must Go'. They took their time working on the followup.
'This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours' was produced by Mike Hedges at his Chateau De La Rouge Motte in Normandy, France; while Dave Eringa handled production in Monmouth, Wales at Monnow Valley Studio and Rockfield Studios. The sessions featured James Dean Bradfield on lead vocals, lead and rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar, 12-string guitar, electric sitar, omnichord, and melody horn; Sean Moore on drums and programming; and Nicky Wire on bass guitar, acoustic bass, vocals, and Hammond organ; with Nick Nasmyth on Wurlitzer electric piano, Mellotron, keyboards, piano, Vox Continental, accordion, and yang-ching; Martin Ditchum and Andy Duncan on percussion; Craig Pruess on sitar and tambura; Ken Barry on whistling; Sally Herbert on string arrangements and violin; Gini Ball and Anne Stephenson on violin; Jos Pook and Claire Orsler on viola; Padlock McKiernan on tin whistle; inah Beamish on cello; and Fenella Barton, Nell Catchpole, Sue Dench, Margaret Roseberry, Sonia Slany, Jules Singleton and Ann Wood as additional string section.
Wire considers: "After the commercial disaster of 'Holy Bible' there was nothing to build on and nothing to lose. Particularly after Richey disappeared. I remember saying that if 'Everything Must Go' sold 100,000 and we got a gold disc and played a few festivals I'd be happy. Now everyone's going to be much more analytical. On the surface, we're not as sexy as we were when we wore combat gear and Richey was here. But it's all still there. It's all on the record...We're less nihilistic and more constructive and that comes with age. Richey is a good example of the fact that anger is pretty poor sustenance long term. But even on the first album, we had 'Motorcycle Emptiness'. We've always been artists...I think you have to be working class to write '' and to understand football and its real importance in working class cultures. But class is now more subliminal in the music. After 'A Design For Life' I don't want to write too specifically about it again because that record crystallises every thought I've ever had about class - history, physicality, everything...Class is something you can't get rid of no matter how you try. It's inherent, inescapable. You can't buy yourself up a class but you can't buy a working class background either. Success doesn't change those fundamentals. When Damon Albarn tried his best to become working class, he couldn't do it. The classless society is a myth. It doesn't exist and I'm very glad that it doesn't. I feel a bit sorry for the middle classes. Their lives seem so soulless. I'd always rather have normal food at home than eat in a posh restaurant. And I'd never complain in a restaurant about the food even if it was the worst meal I'd ever tasted...I think the provinces, the North of England, have a lot in common with us. In Manchester every one goes to Rhyl anyway. We're all oiks and savages according to the Home Counties. Wales for most of the south-eastern English media is just a convenient size comparison. Rainforests that burn down are always "the size of Wales"... Ours is a particular brand of Welshness. It's an urban and rural valleys culture which is quite industrial. And there's definitely a strain in the Welsh temperament that often ends up with them leaving the country or drinking themselves to death. Richey was an example of it."
Bradfield: "Wales never leaves Welsh artists. But you have to be wary of romanticism. Wales is a much more complex and divided place than some people think. It isn't this glowing ember of close-knit communities. There's animosity there too. Some North and West Walians resent us talking about Welshness because we can't speak Welsh...I don't know if you noticed, but that's about the most tense we've ever been in the studio. We were a bit burned out and it was the last session and at that point we all wanted to kill Dave...I'm very wary of passion and sincerity as seen in rock. I always think of Tim Booth reaching out and touching people. There's nothing that I can possibly convey in that way. Nothing I can give of myself like that. 'The Holy Bible' is a record full of confusion and emptiness and nihilism. Even on the new record, 'My Little Empire' is a cold song, about not caring or knowing about anything beyond your own four walls."
Moore: "Failure's got a lot to do with it. There's almost too much realism in the Welsh culture. The Irish would probably have a dance about it ... People have been very skeptical, they don't seem to think that we could come up with an album to beat 'Everything Must Go'. We never look at it like that, we always just try and do one better than we did last time...When we were recording there was no pressure whatsoever, but now that we've had four months to dwell on things, the pressure is on. We're waiting to see if people will accept the first single as readily as 'Design For Life' and whether the album will be immediate. 'Everything Must Go' took a while for people to get into it and we worry that 'This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours' might take even longer...It's more concise lyrically, and musically it's much more diverse and beautiful. We spent a lot of time with the arrangements of the songs and the instrumentation. Throughout our history, right from 'Generation Terrorists' through to 'Gold Against The Soul' and 'Holy Bible', we've always tried to use different instruments and different ways of recording, so hopefully this is a progression from the last album."
'This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours' gets its title from a speech by Welsh British Labour Party politician Aneurin Bevan. The cover photograph was taken on Black Rock Sands near Porthmadog, Wales. The album became the biggest of their career, going to forty-seven in Switzerland; forty-five in Canada; twenty-seven in Germany and Japan; twenty-four in the Netherlands; twenty in Austria; sixteen in Denmark; fourteen in Australia; eleven in New Zealand; five in Norway; and number one in Finland, Ireland, Sweden, and the UK.
www.manicstreetpreachers.com
"If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next" was the leadoff single and it went to number seventy-nine in Germany, sixty-two in the Netherlands, forty-nine in Australia, forty-four in New Zealand, twenty-one in Sweden, nineteen in Norway, thirteen in Belgium, three in Ireland, and became their first chart topper in the UK.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cX8szNPgrEs
"The Everlasting" hit eighty-eight in Germany, forty-seven in the Netherlands, twenty-two in Ireland, and eleven in the UK.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKiGmween1I
"You Stole the Sun from My Heart" made it to number ninety-seven in Australia, ninety-four in the Netherlands, twenty in Ireland, and number five in the UK.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkDaCWXIXCE
"Tsunami" hit twenty-four in Ireland, thirteen in Finland, and eleven in the UK.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2OJ40GTMDM
'This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours'
full album:
1. "The Everlasting" 6:09
2. "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next" 4:50
3. "You Stole the Sun from My Heart" 4:20
4. "Ready for Drowning" 4:32
5. "Tsunami" 3:51
6. "My Little Empire" 4:09
7. "I'm Not Working" 5:51
8. "You're Tender and You're Tired" 4:37
9. "Born a Girl" 4:12
10. "Be Natural" 5:12
11. "Black Dog on My Shoulder" 4:48
12. "Nobody Loved You" 4:44
13. "S.Y.M.M." 5:57
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