Material's important. Any songwriter will explain that. Without good material, production value can only cover much texture, guitar parts could only numb the ears for therefore long. Materials are important. It provides a band the premise which they get up on. At a period when Manic Street Preachers had lost their lyricist/guitarist to a vacuous uncertainty, good material was all they had.
However for Nicky Wire, bassist and secondary lyricist, this proved daunting as he now found himself the group's chief songwriter and idea's person. Vocaslist/guitarist James Dean Bradfield also found himself under duress, unsure the way to arrange their music without Edwards' intellect to guide them. However with the blessing of Edwards' family to keep playing as well as the fortuitous opportunity to assist producer Mike Hedges, the Welsh trio convened at Chateau En Rouge Motte, France in 1995 to record their fourth album, the one that stripped away most of whatever they had striven for beforehand.
Strangely, in the ominous and bleak scenario this rock band found themselves in, 'Everything Must Go' turned out to be a much sprightlier record than either 'Gold Up against the Soul' (1993) or 'The Holy Bible' (1994). Where 'Bible' was lacking any complicated instrumentation aside from some spiralling solos, 'Everything' adorned itself with bee-bop harmonies, comely string work and reserved orchestration. With jangly rockers 'Kevin Carter' and also the title track centreing the album, skiffle belter 'Elvis Impersonator: Blackpool Pier' opening the album and sumptuous acoustic ballad 'Small Black Flowers That Grow inside the Sky" closing the second half, this record proved to be as archetypal a great Britpop record just like any released in 1996. Fittingly, it is only closing track 'No Surface All Feeling' which may have fitted on 'Bible'; incidentally, it's also the sole song on the record that includes Edwards guitar playing.
Edwards shadow skirts from the record (some of his leftover lyrics were utilized for the album), however, this became the album where Wire called the shots. 'A Design For Life' proved his business card, what 'Faster' would have been to Edwards (a fixture of anarchic sentiments detailing the fall and failings of humanity), 'Design' ended up being to Wire (the proclaimed socialist calling to the plight of his fellow workers). Wire, more aware of the outcome of singles than his mentor, gave 'Design'a chorus eternally ingrained in the minds of festival audiences for generations to come, giving this guitar rock band an extremely needed UK no. 2 hit. 'Australia' and 'Further Away' continued this trend of sing-along chorusses, acknowledging the modern music market favoured 45's over records. Edwards' words, utilized on 'The Girl Who Seriously considered God' and 'Small Black Flowers..' proved this rock band had not lost their taste for that viperous.
The biggest revelation on the record is simply how competent a singer James Dean Bradfield proved himself to become. Always a better singer than contemporaries Brett Anderson, Jarvis Cocker or Damon Albarn, previous records emphasised the loudness of their guitar parts, meaning his vocals tended to discover as abrasive and shouty. Here, he has a far more nuanced approach, giving a soulful resonance to the pop saturated 'Kevin Carter', a silent whispered singing to 'Enola/Alone', as the chorus in the title track is just mere notes from operatic. This, over chiming stacattos and beautiful orchestration, and you've got a pop record par excellence.
You can't help feeling happy to the band, nineteen years on. A powerful re-invention that proved an advert hit, an excellent new direction and innovative pop structure, 'Everything' proved to be the band's second consecutive masterpiece. Where 'Bible' succeeded in sounding completely alien holiday to a band, 'Everything' succeeded in conforming to the pop movement- and proving their superiority to other Britpop bands.
