Todd is God

First off the title makes me think of Iron Maiden's - Two Minutes to Midnight . Boy, I used to love that track. Still ok, but not the classic I remembered. But enough. A few weeks ago I looked at Avril Lavigne's latest record - her third - and lamented how she seemed to be getting worse rather than better. Hello Linkin Park. I love Hybrid Theory. There, I've said it. Listened to it again recently and I still think it is an excellent record. Just before the second album came out I actually said to my flat-mate that I hoped they'd split up and not release another record because they would not make a better record that Hybrid Theory. And then came Meteora ... and guess what? Sides 3 and 4 of Hybrid Theory were ok, but a lot of it wasn't really that great (with the exception of 'Faint' the only track I would actually have put on Hybrid). So ... New album ... Rick Rubin ... over 14 months to create ... and, it really isn't very good. I will say they are tryin...

It was 1989 when I first heard and saw the Manics. I was in my first year at Swansea University. They rocked. It still took a couple of years for their first proper album to come out - Generation Terrorists . This great album was followed by two more before Richey Edwards went missing/committed suicide. But the first post Richy album, Everything Must Go , was pretty good ... and then... It all went tits up musically for me. What followed were three very poor records. To be honest I had given up hope of another decent record. So, imagine my surprise when Send away the Tiger's came along. This is without a doubt the best thing the manics have done since Everything . Yes, some of it sounds a lot like other manics tunes and they seem to have been listening to GnR's Sweet Child o Mine too; but the first half of this album is pure pop/rock magic. The title track kicks things off, followed by a typical manics rocker, Underdogs , before hitting the wonderful first single Your love a...