James Dean Bradfield - The Great Western

I always wondered who was behind those ridiculously lengthy Manics song titles. At last, the truth can be told - guitarist Bradders has a song on his solo debut christened On Saturday Morning We Will Rule The World. Hmmf. Case closed.
The Great Western is a nice change from the chore that the Street Preachers have become. Post-Everything Must Go, and, one suspects, with the 'genius' of Richey Edwards hanging over their every move adding a hefty amount of pressure, the band entered a steady decline. Save for the odd song, the Manics have disappointed. With a drummer as idiotically dumb as the finest and Nicky Wire's dreadful sixth form poetry, Bradfield always stood out as the true talent. Anyone that can play guitar that well whilst spinning 360 degrees and crow barring 25 words into spaces designed for ten has got it going on.
Naturally, there's a Manics vibe throughout The Great Western, although it's a stripped down version of the bombastic, anthemic sound we've grown to barely tolerate, with more acoustic work and, here and there, hand claps. Vocally, Bradfield's better than he's ever been, lyrically these words seem much more honest and emotive than anything Wire has ever produced (although curiously Wire does deliver on this album with the words for Bad Boys and Painkillers) and, instrumentally, Bradfield's attacking his fretboard like a man attempting to prove a point, revealing a confidence that many thought had slipped away several albums ago.