Wales's finest follow up 2004's 'Lifeblood' with this, their eighth studio album. An attempt to fuse the majesty and grace of their early post-Richey work with the raw punk rock they briefly returned to on 'Know Your Enemy', the album is overtly political (the title is a reference to the farcical "liberation" of Baghdad Zoo in 2003). Produced once again by longtime collaborator Dave Eringa, it includes the singles 'Your Love Alone Is Not Enough' (featuring the Cardigans' Nina Persson) and 'Underdogs'.

Feb 2007

Manic Street Preachers return this spring with 'Send Away the Tigers', the bands eighth studio release that sees them return to an ambitious, edgier and energetic rock sound - "The Clash and The Sex Pistols are our biggest inspirations – we’ve gone back to source" explains bass player and lyricist Nick Wire.

The album is preceded with a single 'Your Love Alone Is Not Enough' – a duet with Nina Persson of The Cardigans, of whom the band have been long time fans. The song was recorded in New York earlier this year and is described by Wire as "Keith Moon drums, Pete Townsend power cords, sonically similar to Hole’s 'Celebrity Skin' - 'Everything Must Go' era – euphoric rock… lyrically a two-way conversation in my head about love, religion, democracy and Richey".

'Send Away The Tigers' was recorded during the early part of 2006 with long time producer Dave Eringa at Stir Studios in Cardiff and Grouse Lodge in Ireland. Mixing took place at the end of the year in California with Chris Lord-Alge (Green Day, My Chemical Romance). Following the release of solo albums last year from both James Dean Bradfield and Nicky Wire the band embarked on writing for this new album and found themselves listening back to their earlier albums 'Everything Must Go' and 'Generation Terrorists', Nicky Wire describes the sessions as, "reconnecting with all the things that made us so excited back then".

• Spin (p.134) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "^W]ith audacious, rosy-cheeked paeans to tomorrow....Their cover of John Lennon's 'Working Class Hero' totally schools Green Day's."

On 2007's SEND AWAY THE TIGERS, the long-running Britpop act Manic Street Preachers reconvened after the debut solo albums by vocalist/guitarist James Dean Bradfield and bassist Nicky Wire (THE GREAT WESTERN and I KILLED THE ZEITGEIST, respectively). Clearly reinvigorated by the time off, the Manics offer up some of their edgiest songs in years (see the raucous "I'm Just a Patsy"), while also presenting some engaging pop-oriented moments, most notably "Your Love Alone Is Not Enough," a soaring duet that pairs Bradfield's plaintive voice with the breathy coo of the Cardigans' Nina Persson. Arguably the finest Manics outing since 1996's EVERYTHING MUST GO, TIGERS proves that the Welsh band can still rock with fury while keeping its hooky, accessible veneer intact.

Equally influenced by glam and punk, the Manic Street Preachers came barrelling out of the gate with enough narcissism and nihilism for both movements combined. Surviving even the mysterious disappearance of their guitarist, the Manics were Wales's biggest musical export since Tom Jones, and, in turn, became the forefathers of a very vocal movement of young Welsh bands in the late 1990s.