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This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours is the fifth studio album by Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers. It was released on 14 September 1998 by record label Epic.

Like its 1996 predecessor Everything Must Go, This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours was a commercial and critical success. The album sold 136,000 copies in its first week, going Gold within a week and became the band's first album to reach #1 in the UK Albums Chart. It sold well in the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia, and earned the band further nominations and accolades at the BRIT Awards in 1999.

Background

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 habitual duo of James Dean Bradfield and cousin Sean Moore. This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours is a more straightforward and pop-oriented album than their previous efforts, and shows the band experimenting with sound and production possibilities.

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 the main single If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next, he also said that the song went through a four-month gestation period, but all the hard work was worth it, the single sold 156,000 copies in the UK, reaching number #1 in the UK Singles Chart.

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!".

This period of the album has been described by the band as a sedative period, in their career this sound would be again adopted, although it was even more acoustic and gentle, with their eleventh studio album Rewind the Film. The album attracted even more new fans than their previous effort, and established the Manic Street Preachers as the cult band from the 90's in the UK and as Stephen Thomas Erlewine from Allmusic said " (...) the Manics' uniqueness as one of the few bands of the '90s that can deliver albums as bracing intellectually as they are sonically."

The album received some criticism by fans of the band who questioned if the group had abandoned their furious rock sound, the band would reply with the 2000 number #1 single The Masses Against The Classes.

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 the 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 by the Manic Street Preachers.

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 60 weeks in the UK Albums Chart.

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 10 in Norway. 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.

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
CMJ	(favourable)
Sputnikmusic
The Guardian
The Independent
Mojo
NME	(7/10)
Pitchfork Media	(9.5/10)
PopMatters	(8/10)
Q

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 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:

• It achieved the #14 place in Kerrang! Albums Of The Year 1998.
• A spot in Q Magazine's Albums of 1998.
• Placed in #29 in Melody Maker End Of Year Critic List for 1998.
• NME listed This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours as the 24th best album of 1998.
• Melody Maker also listed "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next" as the 6th best single of the year.
• NME also named "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next" the 5th best single of the year.

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."

Track listing

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

Personnel

Manic Street Preachers

• James Dean Bradfield – lead vocals, lead and rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar, 12-string guitar (tracks 2, 10 and 12), electric sitar (tracks 5 and 7), omnichord (tracks 4 and 5), melody horn (track 10)
• Sean Moore – drums, programming (tracks 1, 3 and 5)
• Nicky Wire – bass guitar, acoustic bass (tracks 6 and 11), vocals (track 6), Hammond organ (on track 4)

Additional personnel

• Nick Nasmyth – Wurlitzer electric piano (tracks 1–4, 7 and 13), Mellotron (tracks 8 and 13), keyboards (tracks 5 and 7), piano (track 8), Vox Continental (track 11), accordion (track 9), yang-ching (track 7)
• Martin Ditchum – percussion (tracks 1, 3–5, 7, 8 and 11)
• Andy Duncan – percussion (tracks 2, 6, 10 and 12)
• Craig Pruess – sitar (track 5), tambura (track 5)
• Ken Barry – whistling (track 8)
• Sally Herbert – string arrangements (tracks 1, 5 and 11), violin (tracks 1, 5 and 11)
• Gini Ball and Anne Stephenson – violin (tracks 1 and 11)
• Jos Pook and Claire Orsler – viola (tracks 1, 5 and 11)
• Padlock McKiernan – tin whistle (tracks 4, 7 and 13)
• Dinah Beamish – cello (tracks 1 and 6)
• Fenella Barton, Nell Catchpole, Sue Dench, Margaret Roseberry, Sonia Slany, Jules Singleton and Ann Wood – additional string section (track 11)

Charts and certifications

References

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17. ^ "Manic Street PreachersThis Is My Truth Tell Me Yours". Sputnikmusic.
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34. Patashnik, Ben (25 February 2008). "Discography reassessed: the Manics in perspective". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
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51. id MUST BE PROVIDED for UK CERTIFICATION.
52. "The Irish Charts - 1998 Certification Awards - Multi Platinum". Irish Recorded Music Association. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
53. "Dutch album certifications – Manic Street Preachers – This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers. Retrieved 16 July 2014. Enter This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours in the "Artiest of titel" box.
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Sources

• Price, Simon (1999). Everything (A Book About Manic Street Preachers) (First ed.). Virgin Publishing. ISBN 0-7535-0139-2. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

External links

• This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours at Discogs (list of releases)

• Use dmy dates from December 2012
• Pages with empty short description
• Manic Street Preachers albums
• 1998 albums
• Epic Records albums
• Virgin Records albums
• Britpop albums
• Pop rock albums by Welsh artists
• Albums produced by Dave Eringa
• Albums produced by Mike Hedges