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Track Listings
| 1. A Design For Life |
| 2. Motorcycle Emptiness |
| 3. If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next |
| 4. La Tristesse Durera (Scream To A Sigh) |
| 5. There By The Grace Of God |
| 6. You Love Us |
| 7. Australia |
| 8. You Stole The Sun From My Heart |
| 9. Kevin Carter |
| 10. Tsunami |
| 11. The Masses Against The Classes |
| 12. From Despair To Where |
| 13. Door To The River |
| 14. Everything Must Go |
| 15. Faster |
| 16. Little Baby Nothing |
| 17. Theme From M*A*S*H (Suicide Is Painless) |
| 18. So Why So Sad |
| 19. The Everlasting |
| 20. Motown Junk |
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
It shows their career progression clearly--from the dark places of avant-garde The Holy Bible (the Richey album) to the critical and commercial high point of the era-defining Everything Must Go (the without Richey album) and the ensuing struggle with how to proceed musically. The loss of Edwards had an obvious effect, but wasn't immediately indicative of an artistic decline. Only when they tried to revert to their roots did they come unstuck without him (2001's Know Your Enemy). Their commercial and artistic high points rarely combined, but to produce a collection from this period is to do the Manics a great injustice--even if it does have "Motown Junk" on it. --Ben Johncock
Review
Two possible motivations: to spread the music and message of six albums to a wider audience; to exploit commercial profitability.
The integrity of the first motivation appears shaky. You see, Forever Delayed is dominated by the Manics most popular, already well known, MOR output. But the Manics have political consciousness! Surely cash cow milking can't be their motive? Yes, it always seems to jar that anti-capitalist posturing can sell so well.
The album's keystones are the hits of the Everything Must Go and This My Truth... era ('A Design For Life', 'Australia', 'Kevin Carter', 'If You Tolerate This'...). The complementary free new tracks, 'There By The Grace Of God' and 'Door To The River', continue in the Manics Lite vein. Soft rock anthemic guitar epics from the early albums ('La Tristesse Durera', 'From Despair To Where', 'Little Baby Nothing') and a couple of upbeat punky numbers ('You Love Us', 'Motown Junk') complete the palette.
All safe stuff. Only one track, 'Faster', is taken from the stark, harrowing The Holy Bible - the only Manics album to truly stretch the rock paradigm. That said, anyone who has witnessed the pub-emptying impact of songs with the bleak solemnity of The Holy Bible's 'The Intense Humming Of Evil' will perhaps understand, if not forgive, this compilation's timidity.
There is nothing here for the archetypal Manics fan, except perhaps the excellent, rare, and poignant, cover of 'Suicide Is Painless'. For others, if you like to get your rock soft and your political protestations abstract or mute, you'll find Forever Delayed quite painless too. --Daniel Pike
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Customer Reviews
The album itself for me, as a Manic's fan, represents a good starting block for anyone who wants to get into them but isn't sure what they prefer-the six albums comprise of early glam punk, slick rock, despair, regeneration, mainstream lighter waving emotion and a nostaligic return to punk. It is worth listening to the songs and deciding which era you prefer.
Whatever era you listen too, the Manic's never fail to hit you lyrically and this is expressed in the songs on here. No matter what your background, lifestyle or age, there is one song or lyric for everyone. 'A Design For Life' is majestic, a sweeping tirade of life for the working classes with a brilliant video. 'Motorcycle Emptiness' is probably the best teen theme since 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' only far bleaker and intelligent and 'Tolerate' is the best song ever written about the Spanish Civil War (other candidates on a postcard please). 'La Tristessa' is weak musically in my book, but lyrically quite hot. 'Grace Of God' is sombre, brooding and elegant and a return to form for the Manics who should have never tried to grasp hold of their past again, and the same can be said for 'Door To The River' and 'The Everlasting'. 'Faster' is furious, self pitying and a peep through the keyhole into Richey's mentality and the bands early sentiments are rammed into the doubters faces with the storming 'You Love Us'. Elsewhere, 'Tsunami' and 'Stole The Sun' are stadium rock with anthemic choruses; "I love you all the same" is often bellowed by crowds at their live shows, and 'Little Baby Nothing' is bizarre glam acoustic feminism with Traci Lords. This leaves the intimate letter to the fan 'Everything Must Go', the angry and loud 'Motown Junk', the tribute to the late-photographer 'Kevin Carter', the Clash-combat rock 'Suicide Is Painless', the Beach Boys-esque 'So Why So Sad' and the strange hybrid of 'A Design For Life' and a nasty version of 'Everything Must Go' called 'Masses Against The Classes', complete with James scream. The remixes are nothing to shout about frankly and a collection of live songs would have been much better.
'Forever Delayed' is often hypocritical. It is a 'Best Of' but 'Let Robeson Sing', 'Found That Soul' and 'Ocean Spray' all charted higher than 'Motown Junk', but it is the bands digression as to which songs appear. As it happens, the inclusion of them would have probably made the album a tad top heavy towards the mainstream, so leaving them out created a balance. But in creating this balance it does create this effective timeline of their albums and styles. It also offers five songs that aren't on any album which is handy for Manics fans wanting to complete their collections. So go out, buy, listen and make your own mind up. You won't be disappointed.
Generation Terrorists: You Love Us, Little Baby Nothing, Motorcycle Emptiness
Gold Against The Soul: La Tristessa, From Despair To Where
The Holy Bible: Faster
Everything Must Go: A Design For Life, Kevin Carter, Everything Must Go
This Is My Truth: Tolerate, Tsunami, Everlasting
Know Your Enemy: So Why So Sad
One off singles/songs: Grace Of God (02), Door To The River (02), Masses (99), Suicide Is Painless (93), Motown Junk (91)
The main flaw with the collection is that they've had to edit quite a lot of the tracks to fit all twenty on. In some instances this means including the radio edits, in others the radio edits have been edited (!). This lets it down, and it's also now two albums out of date, so hopefully one day we'll get a more comprehensive Manics primer. I like the format of the Pet Shop Boys compilation Pop Art, with one disc containing their big radio anthems and the other gathering together their more 'arty' side. It would work well for the Manics - a band who can never please everyone.
If I could critisise it at all, I would say that the songs are not in chronological order, and that it only... Read more
For me there are alot of great songs missing here:
*Slash 'N' Burn
*Loves Sweet Exile
*Life... Read more
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