''The Great Western'' is the debut solo studio album by the

Manic Street Preachers Manic Street Preachers, also known simply as the Manics, are a Welsh Rock music, rock band formed in Blackwood, Caerphilly, Blackwood in 1986. The band consists of cousins James Dean Bradfield (lead vocals, lead guitar) and Sean Moore (musician ...

vocalist-guitarist

James Dean Bradfield James Dean Bradfield (born 21 February 1969) is a Welsh singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. He is known for being the lead vocalist and guitarist for the Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers. Biography Early life B ...

. It was released on 24 July 2006 by record label Columbia.

Content

The majority of the lyrics are written by Bradfield, who had previously only contributed lyrics to the Manic Street Preachers songs " Ocean Spray" and "Firefight". Bradfield's lyrics feature a theme of looking to the past and are largely personal rather than political. Manics bass guitarist-lyricist

Nicky Wire Nicholas Allen Jones (born 20 January 1969), known as Nicky Wire, is a Welsh musician and songwriter, best known as lyricist, bassist and secondary vocalist of the Welsh alternative rock band, Manic Street Preachers. Prior to the group, Wire s ...

contributes lyrics to the song "Bad Boys and Painkillers", and two songs feature lyrics co-written with writer

John Niven John Niven (born 1966) is a Scottish author and screenwriter. His books include '' Kill Your Friends'', ''The Amateurs'', and ''The Second Coming''. Career Born in Irvine, Ayrshire, Niven read English literature at the University of Glasgow, ...

. Also included is a cover of

Jacques Brel Jacques Romain Georges Brel (, ; 8 April 1929 – 9 October 1978) was a Belgian singer and actor who composed and performed literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that generated a large, devoted following—initially in Belgium and France, l ...

's "To See a Friend in Tears". The album features the drummer

Dafydd Ieuan Dafydd Ieuan (born 1 March 1969) is a Welsh musician and producer, best known as the drummer with the band Super Furry Animals, The Peth and The Earth (band). Ieuan played with Gruff Rhys in their early band Ffa Coffi Pawb. He was a drummer f ...

from the fellow

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

band

Super Furry Animals Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band formed in Cardiff in 1993. For the duration of their professional career, the band consisted of Gruff Rhys (lead vocals, guitar), Huw Bunford (lead guitar, vocals), Guto Pryce (bass guitar), Cian Ciaran ...

on "Run Romeo Run". The title refers to the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

, which is reflected in the album's artwork. Much of the album was written on the train journey between Cardiff and Paddington. Bradfield uses the train journey as a metaphor for soul-searching while away from home. He refers to his journeys between his home in

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

on the GWR in the song "Émigré".

Track listing

Release

The album spent two weeks in the

UK Album Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

, peaking at #22.

Reception

''The Great Western'' was generally well received by critics.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

opined that the album is the sound of "a sensitive, vulnerable Bradfield, something that hasn't been captured on Manics albums even when they strayed toward colorless mature-pop." The website further described, "Sonically, this album isn't far removed from ''

This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours ''This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours'' is the fifth studio album by Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers. It was released on 14 September 1998 by record label Epic. Like its 1996 predecessor '' Everything Must Go'', ''This Is My Trut ...

''—it's anthemic yet soft, dramatic yet hushed—but unlike on the Manics albums since, it doesn't sound labored." ''Q'' magazine echoed similar sentiments, opining that the album is "even stronger than either of the last two Manics albums Know_Your_Enemy''_and_'' Know_Your_Enemy''_and_''

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Personnel

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Content

Track listing

Release

Reception

__Personnel_

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Personnel

References

External links