20 YEARS AGO: Manic Street Preachers - Ready For Drowning

One of the biggest and most anticipated albums of 1998 was the sublime 'This Is MyTruth Tell MeYours' by the Manic Street Preachers. The Manics are a big favorite here at RW/FF, and since December will feature tracks from 1998's best albums as well as 2018's, inevitably the Welsh rock heroes will be on these pages quite a lot over the coming weeks. From their big selling 1998 LP comes the powerful 'Ready For Drowning', with its haunting church organ and a splendid sound perfectly evoking the Welsh valleys. One of those all-time "should've been a single" classic album tracks. Its lyrics tell the story of the Welsh village of Treweryn and its destruction; it was flooded in the 1960s in order to create a reservoir to supply water to Liverpool.
'Ready For Drowning' will be included with all the other 'This Is My Truth...' tracks on the deluxe 20th anniversary edition of the album, released tomorrow on 7 December. It also features unreleased demos as well as all the B sides from the era and remixes.