Lifeblood

Have been listening to bits and pieces of all sorts of albums lately, such is the modern way of iTunes, without ever hearing the full thing. Since an iPod is too pricey and I could only listen to the tunes I bought on my PC or if I burned a disc, I got myself a cheap mp3 player and switched to Napster. Good move! Didn't realise that for a tenner a month you can stream anything as often as you want - brilliant! Downloading is still 79p per tune but at least you get to listen to the full song and indeed album before commiting. It means I've been able to listen to whole albums I've been curious about, so expect a lot of reviews over the next few weeks. Starting off with Lifeblood, by the Manics: a slight return to form I thought on first listen, with the first five tracks all very respectable tunes. Most similar to This Is My Truth in style, but more upbeat in most places. It does tail off into monotony towards the end, but die hard fans should be very happy. 7/10 Kx