Know Your Enemy
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| Know Your Enemy | ||
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| Studio album by Manic Street Preachers | ||
| Released | March 19, 2001 | |
| Recorded | 2000 at El Cortijo, Monnow Valley and Rockfield Studios | |
| Genre | Rock | |
| Length | 75:34 | |
| Label | Epic Records | |
| Producer(s) | Dave Eringa, David Holmes, Greg Haver and Mike Hedges | |
| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
| Manic Street Preachers chronology | ||
| This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours (1998) |
Know Your Enemy (2001) |
Forever Delayed (2002) |
This page is about the Manic Street Preachers album, for other uses see Know Your Enemy (disambiguation).
Know Your Enemy is an album by the Manic Street Preachers. It was released in March 2001 on Virgin Records.
The album derives its name from Sun Tzu's The Art of War Part III, 'Act Of Strategum', the English translation being "So it is said that if you know others and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know others but know yourself, you win one and lose one; if you do not know others and do not know yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle".
It is the band's album that is arguably the most controversial among fans and public alike. The reason being was that following their immensely popular and accessible number 1 charting album This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours and non-album number 1 hit single "The Masses Against The Classes", Know Your Enemy seemingly attempted to polarize as many individuals as possible by being an expansive, sprawling, and unstable record with a total of 16 songs (all unconnected sonically). Not to mention the risky and questionable over saturation caused by the debut of two singles of new material (again, wildly different sonically) on the same day.
Much like The Clash's Sandinista!, the band don't just show hints of their influences, they literally showcase all the genres they deem fitting. In the case of this album, they jam everything from an homage to Brian Wilson ("So Why So Sad"), to a disco parody ("Miss Europa Disco Dancer"), to an acoustic anthem ("Let Robeson Sing"). It's this frantic pacing that left many fans of their more accessible work both confused and frustrated. Older fans, however, welcomed the return to the sound of some of the harder rocking material, such as "Dead Martyrs", "Found That Soul", and "Intravenous Agnostic", which was missing from their previous two albums.
Nevertheless, while the overall reaction to the album can't be gauged as easily as their earlier catalogue, the general consensus seems to be that although the album carries a handful of some of the band's strongest songs, the second half's significant decline hinders it, as some of the songs are considered by many to be forgettable or filler. Whether or not loading the front with the more accessible songs and filling the back with experimental songs was intentional, it worked in creating the band's most challenging and musically controversial album since The Holy Bible.
[edit] Track listing
- "Found That Soul" (February 26, 2001) – 3:05
- "Ocean Spray" (June 4, 2001) – 4:11
- "Intravenous Agnostic" – 4:02
- "So Why So Sad" (February 26, 2001) – 4:02
- "Let Robeson Sing" (September 10, 2001) – 3:46
- "The Year of Purification" – 3:39
- "Wattsville Blues" – 4:29
- "Miss Europa Disco Dancer" – 3:52
- "Dead Martyrs" – 3:23
- "His Last Painting" – 3:16
- "My Guernica" – 4:56
- "The Convalescent" – 5:54
- "Royal Correspondent" – 3:31
- "Epicentre" – 6:26
- "Baby Elian" – 3:37
- "Freedom of Speech Won't Feed My Children" – 2:59
- On some versions of this album, there is a hidden track recording at – 8:40, a cover of "We Are All Bourgeois Now" by McCarthy.
[edit] Musicians
- James Dean Bradfield - Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards
- Nicky Wire - Bass, Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
- Sean Moore - Drums, Programming, Trumpet
- Nick Nasmyth - Keyboards, Backing Vocals
| Manic Street Preachers |
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Band members: James Dean Bradfield - Nicky Wire - Sean Moore |
| Former members: Flicker (Miles Woodward) - Richey James Edwards |
| Discography |
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| Albums: Generation Terrorists - Gold Against the Soul - The Holy Bible - Everything Must Go - This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours - Know Your Enemy - Lifeblood |
| EPs: New Art Riot - Life Becoming a Landslide - God Save the Manics |
| Compilations: Forever Delayed - Lipstick Traces |
