Manic Street Preachers' James Dean Bradfield praises the 'majesty' of ABBA
He chats to Absolute Radio’s Ben Burrell
Last updated 14th May 2021
Fresh from Manic Street Preachers detailing their new album ‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’, premiering the lead single ‘Orwellian’ and announcing a headline 2021 UK tour for later this year, frontman James Dean Bradfield joined Ben Burrell on Absolute Radio this afternoon for a chat.
Featuring pertinent lyrics about the global climate, ‘Orwellian’ is described my Manic Street Preachers themselves as ‘echoing ABBA, Alan Rankine’s playing in the Associates and Talk Talk’s ‘It’s My Life’ with a Lindsey Buckingham guitar solo.’
Asked by Ben about the distinct ABBA vibes on the track, James Dean Bradfield waxed lyrical about the legendary Swedish pop quartet and their true greatness.
“I don’t think there are many guitar bands that don’t seriously feel crushed by the majesty of what Abba were,” James said.
“For me, it’s prime Sex Pistols and prime ABBA are the two things that just crush you because you feel inadequate. Whenever you hear a song from ABBA or the Pistols that you haven’t heard for a long time, you go ‘Ah, yeah. That’s what truly great is.’”
He continued: “I think the guitar parts in ABBA’s stuff are brilliant. The way that they deal in a melancholia which is of the most uplifting that nobody else can even come close to. Simon & Garfunkel perhaps come close to matching the kind of uplifting melancholia that ABBA deal in.
“There’s always something there that if you get a little idea which or write something that is remotely like ABBA, you go ‘Oh I can’t do that, because it’s not close to what truly ABBA is.’
"But then, this time it just felt right. It was just like ‘Oh, this fits and It’s natural.’
“When I was doing the piano part, I just knew that it came naturally and it was all good and it wasn’t forced. It actually just flowed out of some kind of subconsciousness.”
When Ben asked if this is going to lead to a Manic Street Preachers/ABBA covers album, James replied: “This is you taking your first steps into proactive A&R!
“I dunno, I mean if we can co-opt a bit of Carpenters in there, a bit of ABBA, a bit of Simon & Garfunkel it could be the most by a trope of melancholia ever created… by a bunch of Welsh rockers. Yeah ok, your future in A&R is assured.”
You can listen to Ben Burrell’s full interview with James Dean Bradfield below where he also discusses his favourite Manics guitar solo, how much the band have missed playing live, and much more.
Listen - Ben Burrell chats to James Dean Bradfield about ABBA and more:
Manic Street Preachers’ new album ‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’ is released on Friday 3rd September 2021 via Columbia/Sony.
Manic Street Preachers will then embark on a headline UK tour throughout September and October before playing a huge one-off show at London’s The SSE Arena, Wembley on Friday 3rd December 2021.
Tickets go on sale from Absolute Radio Tickets at 10am on Friday 21st May 2021. Support at all dates except London comes from The Anchoress.
See Manic Street Preachers at the following shows:
SEPTEMBER 2021
Newcastle O2 City Hall – Sun 26th
Edinburgh Usher Hall – Tue 28th
Dundee Caird Hall – Wed 29th
OCTOBER 2021
Stoke-On-Trent Victoria Hall – Fri 1st
Manchester O2 Apollo – Sat 2nd
York Barbican – Mon 4th
Glasgow Barrowland – Tue 5th
Leeds O2 Academy – Thu 7th
Portsmouth Guildhall – Fri 8th
Bournemouth O2 Academy – Sun 10th
Cambridge Corn Exchange – Mon 11th
Bath Forum – Wed 13th
Brighton Dome – Thu 14th
DECEMBER 2021
London The SSE Arena, Wembley – Fri 3rd