Manic Street Preachers - Forever Delayed

A fine intro for the novice fan, but this could and should be better

Sure, there are a lot of great songs on this CD - MSP are extremely talented, one of the best British groups of the 90's. The casual fan just getting into MSP will love what they hear. Who could not love classics such as A Design For Life, If You Tolerate This, or Motorcycle Emptiness?

But it's too incomplete. There's just too many songs left out that are essential listening to getting the full picture of the band. It's OK to emphasize the commercial aspects of the band to hook in new fans, but there's no reason not to have more from Gold Against The Soul and Know Your Enemy, both very underappreciated CDs with plenty of very good songs. Also, it's kind of annoying to have single edits - usually it subtracts from the songs (as in the shortened The Everlasting, for example, not having the great acoustic intro)

But more importantly it is CRIMINAL that there is only one song from The Holy Bible. I disagree that it can't fit with the rest of the catalog - precisely the reason it is a masterpiece is the ability to combine dark, nihilistic lyrics with great hooks. In my mind, Richey disappearing is the defining event in the history of MSP - you have to have at least five or so songs from The Holy Bible to truly appreciate the despair that Richey was going through and how it defined the band's sound. Novice fans who only have Forever Delayed are missing this important piece.

To be honest, this really needs to be a 2-CD set. There are about 30 or so equally worthy and essential songs in the MSP catalog, so to have to cut out any 10-12 to fit it all in and include a few songs is a lose-lose task. No matter what get booted, it's not going to be the right call. Doing it my way, you can put in all the essential songs (in their proper original lengths), and have the obligatory new songs and non album songs.

I would suggest that they break it into a "Richey days" CD and a "post-Richey days" CD. As much as possible, songs should be chronologically arranged. My "wish list" would be:

Richey Days

Slash And Burn, Motorcycle Emptiness, You Love Us, Love's Sweet Exile, Little Baby Nothing, Stay Beautiful, From Despair To Where, La Tristesse Durera, Roses In The Hospital, Life Becoming a Landslide, Yes, Ifonlywhiteamerica..., She Is Suffering, Archives Of Pain, Revol, 4st 7lb, Faster, and This Is Yesterday

Post Richey Days

A Design For Life, Kevin Carter, Everything Must Go, Removables, Australia, The Everlasting, If You Tolerate This, You Stole The Sun From My Heart, Ready For Drowning, Tsunami, Found That Soul, Ocean Spray, So Why So Sad, Miss Europa Disco Dancer, The Convalescent, Suicide Is Painless, The Door To The River, and There By The Grace Of God (the last two are the new songs)

Notice I dropped The Masses Aginast The Classes and Motown Junk, two songs which I feel are OK, but not essential listening. So overall, a generous collection - two CDs with 18 songs apiece.

I'm sure this would never happen, as you still want people to buy all the albums. And I'm sure some reviewers will debate my song list. But to be a true MSP fan, all of these songs need to be at your disposal. But until that point, Forever Delayed does its job reasonably well. May 29, 2006

the new testiment?

i love the manic street preachers first few albums were they had that guns and roses[they were big fans]being molested by punk
"the holy bible" "generation terroist" "gold against soul"
three amazing classics with not a single dud on each
these albums i must add have the depressiant genius of richie edwards whom mysterially disappeared in 1995 and has never been
found yeah he never played Rhythm Guitar but he wrote some of yrics with nicky wire and artwork he also contributed too some of the darkness that the manic's have been missing for nearly ten years

this greatest hits collection focuses on the career
that the manics forged for themselves with the radio friendly
album after the event they could of broke the band
"this is my truth tell me yours" is not a bad album is just isn't energntic and challenging that you would expect from the manics
then came "everything must go" getting back to the early days
but still on the verge of radio friendly
then came "know your enemy"
some reviewers and fans state as their worst album far from it
it's there best since the days of "the holy bible"
it has "found that soul" which doesn't feature on this album and it disapponits me
"ocean spray" again doesn't appear yet being a classic soundin' track
this complitation is just a cash in done by the record company and the manics because they haven't made a classic album in years
and felt it was time to cement their pop career in a dismal
album that should of been a double disc
take it or leave it? i think i'll stick with the holy bible thankyou February 11, 2006

Amazon mixed up the cd listings

This cd doesn't contain the second cd. The limited edition does. The limited edition doesn't list the second cd. January 30, 2005

A proper introduction to the Manics

Forever Delayed ain't no Best Of as the listing on amazon leads us to believe, but rather a Greatest Hits. If you simply want an introduction to the band, than this CD serves its purpose perfectly.

Of course, more hardcore fans will criticize the exclusion of some tracks. IMHO, I would have liked it to be more something like this:

1. A Design for Life
2. Motorcycle Emptiness
3. If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next
4. Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh)
5. There by the Grace of God
6. You Love Us (US mix version) (*)
7. Australia
8. 4st 7 lbs (*)
9. Kevin Carter
10. Roses in the Hospital (*)
11. Masses Against the Classes
12. From Despair to Where
13. Stay Beautiful (*)
14. Everything Must Go
15. Faster
16. Little Baby Nothing
17. Suicide Is Painless {Theme from Mash}
18. Life Becoming a Landslide (*)
19. The Everlasting
20. Motown Junk

Anyways, it is a crime that "Stay beautiful" and "Roses in the Hospital" have not been included! October 18, 2004

Could have been better

First off I will say this is the first Manic Street Preacher I bought. After listening to it, I ended up buying all their albums. All the songs on the album are great but after listening to all their albums, you realize that there are so many songs that should have been put in and others that shouldn't. Like many reviewers say, it was disappointing that one only song from the Holy Bible was put on there. The Holy Bible was the Manic's best album yet only Faster was the only song on there. This album is still a good way to start if you want to get into the Manic Street Preachers. January 23, 2004

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