Track Listing

1. I Killed The Zeitgeist
2. Break My Heart Slowly
3. Withdraw Retreat
4. Goodbye Suicide
5. Shining Path
6. Bobby Untitled
7. You Will Always Be My Home
8. So Much For The Future
9. Stab Yr Heart
10. Kimino Rock
11. Sehnsucht
12. Nicky Wires Last
13. Everything Fades

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #33988 in Music
• Released on: 2006-09-25
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Customer Reviews

Home Alone
This album isn't going to find as wide an audience as fellow Manic James Dean Bradfield's recent solo offering, but it ticks all the right boxes for long-time admirers of Nicky Wire. Political commentary, misanthropy, artwork featuring home-made collages, soundbites and cultural references are all duly present, but they're backed by a surprising transformation from the self-deprecating bassist into a singer-songwriter of considerable talent. Well, some might argue over the 'singer' bit, and, yes, Nicky's voice will be the ultimate love/hate case, but in the context of these compositions it works rather well: a pick'n'mix of Lou Reed, Mark E Smith and Bernard Sumner.

As for the songs themselves? From the altcountry-tinged 'Break My Heart Slowly' and 'Goodbye suicide,' to the Jesus And Mary Chain-cum-Mogwai post of rock Everything Fades, to the Fall-aping title track, a lack of concerns over commercial success has allowed Wire to experiment all he likes and how he likes. The songs have the kind of lo-fi, carefree attitude to them unlikely to ever be witnessed again on a Manics release, and one that the band failed to produce on 2001's Know Your Enemy. I Killed The Zeitgeist is at least partially what that album strived to be.

But if this all threatens to make it sound like a meandering dirge, there's still plenty of melodies on here to reveal that Nicky has learnt a thing or two from his bandmate. 'Withdraw Retreat', 'Bobby Untitled' and 'You Will Always Be My Home' all feature catchy hooks and melodies that Bradfield would be proud of, and which wouldn't be out of place on the new Lemonheads album, and it's these that make the album stand out and be destined as a cult classic.

No matter what your opinion of the man is, this is everything a Nicky Wire solo album should be.

Nicholas Jones' Diary
This album isn't going to find as wide an audience as fellow Manic James Dean Bradfield's recent solo offering, but it ticks all the right boxes for long-time admirers of Nicky Wire. Political commentary, misanthropy, artwork featuring home-made collages, soundbites and cultural references are all duly present, but they're backed by a surprising transformation from the self-deprecating bassist into a singer-songwriter of considerable talent. Well, some might argue over the 'singer' bit, and, yes, Nicky's voice will be the ultimate love/hate case, but in the context of these compositions it works rather well: a pick'n'mix of Lou Reed, Mark E Smith and Bernard Sumner.

As for the songs themselves? From the altcountry-tinged 'Break My Heart Slowly' and 'Goodbye suicide,' to the Jesus And Mary Chain-cum-Mogwai post of rock Everything Fades, to the Fall-aping title track, a lack of concerns over commercial success has allowed Wire to experiment all he likes and how he likes. The songs have the kind of lo-fi, carefree attitude to them unlikely to ever be witnessed again on a Manics release, and one that the band failed to produce on 2001's Know Your Enemy. I Killed The Zeitgeist is at least partially what that album should have been.

But if this all threatens to make it sound like a meandering dirge, there's still plenty of melodies on here to reveal that Nicky has learnt a thing or two from his bandmate. 'Withdraw Retreat', 'Bobby Untitled' and 'You Will Always Be My Home' all feature catchy hooks and melodies that Bradfield would be proud of, and which wouldn't be out of place on the new Lemonheads album, and it's these that make the album stand out and be destined as a cult classic.

No matter what your opinion of the man is, this is everything a Nicky Wire solo album should be.

A Triumph of Art Over Ability
Solo albums are always oddly strange concepts : and, at the very least, any potential listener would be somewhat apprehensive when they come from the self-confessed least musical member of the group. Nicky Wire, a man who can't sing and can barely play bass (and not even on the Manic Street Preachers debut as he wasn't good enough), presents his first solo album....

...and "I Killed The Zeitgeist" is at best, a bizarre and interesting companionpiece to "The Great Western" : both albums are rooted fiercely in the bands roots of the Welsh Valleys, both offer a sense of the displaced and the hopeful melancholy that characterises their parent band, both sound like the work of someone seeking their creative foil.

Musically, Nicky Wire is the Graham Coxon to James Dean's Damon Albarn - the rough, spiky edges to the smooth surfaces, the lo-fi, emotion verite. Wire's singing voice (and I use the word singing under duress) is a blunt instrument, lacking range or expression but somehow articulating the point more effectively for the inarticulacy of the voice. After all, we all know Lemmy's a better singer than Whitney Houston. Not because of the ability, but in spite of it.

The instrumentation of the album is clearly produced, hovering at a sleek design ineffectively realised. Bum notes abound. Lyrics sit uncomfortably on top of sometimes primitive but heartfelt melodies... and Nicky Wire, the man who wrote far more of the Manic's canon of endlessly quotable lines than you realise carries on his wordsmithery. Though it's impossible to listen to lines like "Ich Bein Ein Newporter" without a giggle. There's a couple of gems here, the brief instrumental thrill of "Sehnsucht", the lead off single "Break My Heart Slowly", and the opening, title track.

Overall, "I Killed The Zeitgeist" is an entertainingly lo-fi triumph of art over ability that would never see the light of day were it not for the fact it was made by someone who is also sometimes in a much better band.