CD Reviews: Manic Street Preachers, Maximo Park, Travis

Manic Street Preachers - Send Away The Tigers: Over a decade removed from their masterpiece Everything Must Go, the Manics seem to finally return to the stadium-rock sounds of that album on Send Away The Tigers. While not as strong as Everything, the new album has several bright spots, most notably the so-cheesy-it's-awesome duet "Your Love Alone Is Not Enough" with The Cardigans' Nina Persson. While there are some awfully clunky lyrics ("I'm just a patsy for your love..."), and an occasional guitar line that sounds way too much like "Sweet Child O' Mine", this is a return to what the Manics do best: talking personal politics and rocking some Welsh angst. It's what Muse might hope to sound like if they weren't writing about spaceships and the apocalypse and such.

[Manic Street Preachers - "Your Love Alone Is Not Enough" video]

Maximo Park - Our Earthly Pleasures: File this record squarely between The Futureheads and Idlewild in your Britpop collection. The pleasant but not amazing second album from Maximo Park values consistency over singles, leaving the listener with the feeling that these songs might mean more if you've heard them in a live setting. The lyrics are quite complex by today's standards, and continue the time-hono(u)red British rock tradition of discussing British life as a whole rather than just tossing around anecdotes about girls and booze. The production is crisp, the songs are reasonably catchy, and the results scream Radio One staple, yet it's hard to remember the songs very well after you've turned the album off. Maximo Park have some real potential, but they're still finding their way.

[Maximo Park - "Our Velocity" video]
[Maximo Park - "Books From Boxes" video]

Travis - The Boy With No Name: If Snow Patrol are the wide-eyed teenagers of the wuss rock movement, and Coldplay are the arrogant grad students, then Travis are the 30-year old parents in the suburban townhouse. A welcome return to comfortable environs after the disappointing 12 Memories, this newest album finds Travis singing about love, babies, friendship, and optimism...which is exactly what fans of the group want to hear. Singer/songwriter Fran Healy certainly knows his way around a love ballad, and despite very simple lyrics and music, four or five of these songs will find their way onto a million mixtapes and Grey's Anatomy episodes over the next year. Sometimes, it's nice to see a band realize they've overreached and just go back to doing what they do, and Travis is a textbook example of this. We're also fond of the "Lust For Life" soundalike track "Selfish Jean," which has an on-point companion video featuring alt.comic Demetri Martin. Way to go, you sensitive power-ballad loving Scots.

[Travis - "Selfish Jean" video starring Demetri Martin]
[Travis - "Closer" video]

Image via Travis' MySpace page. Photographer uncredited.