This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours

Music and lyrics

The title is a quotation taken from a speech given by Aneurin Bevan, a Labour Party politician from Wales. Its working title was simply Manic Street Preachers. The cover photograph was taken on Black Rock Sands near Porthmadog, Wales.

It was the first Manics album to feature lyrics solely by Nicky Wire, while all the music was written by the duo of James Dean Bradfield and Sean Moore. This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours shows considerably less hard rock influence than their previous efforts and finds the band experimenting with sound and production possibilities. It features cleaner guitar sounds in general and the increased use of additional instrumentation such as strings, keyboards and both real and programmed percussion. Clash magazine described the album's sound as "a glacial distillation of the anthemic rock that had served them so well two years previous", an approach further developed on 2004's Lifeblood.

In an interview with Dave Eringa he admitted that: "James was piling on the pressure at the time. He's got this idea that I work best under pressure; it's about putting me under as much as he can all the time!". After recording "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next", he also said that the song went through a four-month gestation period.

Eringa said that even in the week of release he was nervous: "You get midweek chart positions and sales figures all week, and it was my first chance of a possible Number One, which is such an exciting thing. Every day it was just getting worse and worse; I was becoming more and more psychotic. If it had been released the same week as a Nirvana record or an Oasis record, you'd just have to put your hands up and say 'c'est la vie' – but the horror of losing out to Steps would have been unbelievable!".

James Dean Bradfield has cited John Frusciante as the main influence for the intro riff of "My Little Empire."

Release

The album was preceded by the single "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next", released on 24 August 1998, which debuted at No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart, their first single to do so. The album itself was released on 14 September 1998, and its sales were such that a spokesperson for Virgin Megastores claimed it to be the biggest selling album of the year. It is their highest charting album to date, reaching No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart. Like the preceding single, This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours prevented Steps from topping the U.K. charts; "One for Sorrow" was held off at No. 2 by If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next while the album Step One was also relegated to No. 2. The album remained at the top of the albums chart for 3 weeks, selling around 250,000 copies on those 3 weeks, the album is Triple Platinum in the UK and spent a total time of 74 weeks in the UK Albums Chart.

Apart from the lead single, the album presented another three singles, with the second one being The Everlasting. You Stole the Sun from My Heart was released on March 1999 and it was nominated for "Best British Single" at the 2000 BRIT Awards. The final single from the album was Tsunami, the song was inspired by The Silent Twins, June and Jennifer Gibbons, who gave up speaking when they were young, became involved in crime and ended up being sent to Broadmoor Hospital. Both singles The Everlasting and Tsunami peaked at number 11, You Stole the Sun from My Heart ended up peaking at number 5 in the UK Singles Chart. In Japan the band released Nobody Loved You, replacing the UK single The Everlasting.

Around the world the album was as successful as it was in the UK, in Sweden the album managed to remain in the chart for a total of 43 weeks, debuting at number 2, but peaking at number 1 in the second week, in Finland the album sold enough to stay in the charts for 32 weeks, peaking at number 1, securing the top spot for 2 consecutive weeks. In Ireland the album also debuted at number 1 and it charted within the Top 20 in Norway, New Zealand, Denmark, Austria and Australia. It was Europe's number 1 album for 2 weeks, and it has been certified Platinum (1.000.000 copies) by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. The album's success ensured that by 1999 the band had sold more than three million albums worldwide. To the present day This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours alone has sold more than five million copies since its release.

Critical reception

The album was generally well received by critics.

NME awarded the album with a 7/10, stating: "No longer is James Dean Bradfield required to turn metrical somersaults in order to translate screeds of vituperative prose into the realm of the performable. Nicky's opaque verses lend themselves more readily to poetic contemplation, and James responds with his most incontrovertibly delicate vocals, singing as opposed to lacerating his larynx in the quest for empathy."

Meanwhile, Sputnikmusic said that the album was: "the most indecisive piece of works in the Manic’s canon. Technically proficient and brilliantly written in spats", finishing with: "Still, This Is My Truth’s spot as one of the bands [sic] weakest releases is often overstated, if only because the rot was just beginning and the future predicted a bigger storm to come."

Sarah Zupko, writing for Pitchfork Media, said that the album was her "album of the year so far", stating that "The Manic Street Preachers are also one of the few groups capable of integrating orchestral instruments in a way that still produces great rock music (check out the cello in "My Little Empire"), always avoiding the schmaltzy elevator music that can result when some rock musos get a hold of an orchestra. Meanwhile, they manage to infuse some quite dour lyrics with some of the most haunting melodies in rock this side of Radiohead. Bradfield and Moore seldom choose the obvious chords, arrangements and melodies, resulting in music that is heads- and- tails above almost any band on the planet."

The Independent gave the album a positive review, saying that: " In their first album as a true trio, the Manics deliver another slab of anthemic rock that manages to be gloomy yet uplifting. Their recent hit single is one of the more joyous moments here, but they also offer class introspection."

AllMusic praised the album, calling it "a strangely effective fusion of string-drenched, sweeping arena rock and impassioned, brutally honest punk", noting that it contains "a searing passion and intelligence that is unmatched among their peers on either side of the ocean – and, in doing so, it emphasizes the Manics' uniqueness as one of the few bands of the '90s that can deliver albums as bracing intellectually as they are sonically."

Among less positive comments Entertainment Weekly gave the album a C-, concluding with: " Their best efforts, particularly the 1994 screed called Holy Bible, were triumphs of sheer will and caustic attitude. Sadly, the albums made after his departure prove the Preachers were, after all, a James gang. How else to explain such treacly dreck on This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours as You Stole the Sun From My Heart and You're Tender and You're Tired. This is my truth: The album is lucky to get a C-".

Awards

The album won Best British Album, and the band Best British Group, at the 1999 BRIT Awards. The album was nominated for the 1999 Mercury Prize, but just like the previous album it failed to win the award. In the NME Awards in 1999, the band won every single big prize, Best Band, Best Album, Best Live Act, Best Single and Best Video.

Accolades

The album was a critical success, in the End Of The Year Critics List it achieved the following accolades:

Reflecting on the album, Drowned in Sound in 2008 said that This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours is "sad" and is a "stately, tender lament to their past" stating that: "Just as the Holy Bible was Richey’s, this is Nicky’s more than anything; confused where Richey was focused, afraid of loneliness while Richey embraced it. You can’t escape the idea that he almost feels guilty for what they’d turned into, and that imbues This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours with a sadness and longing that wasn’t immediately evident on its initial release."

Looking back to the catalogue of the band Clash stated the following about the record: "brushing up against eternal favourites ‘You Stole The Sun From My Heart’ and ‘Tsunami’ and the delicate shimmer of ‘Black Dog On My Shoulder’, which more than make up for it. Although a little close to AOR with the preference for mid-paced melancholia, the Manics were now making grown up, actually rather beautiful music. Which, of course, couldn’t last."

Track listing

All lyrics written by Nicky Wire; all music composed by James Dean Bradfield and Sean Moore.

Personnel