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''Know Your Enemy'' is the sixth studio album by Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers. It was released on 19 March 2001 by record label Virgin. It was supported by four singles; two of them, "Found That Soul" and "So Why So Sad", were released on the same day as a publicity stunt. ''Know Your Enemy'' was a commercial success, albeit not as successful as its predecessor ''This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours''. Critics were somewhat divided in their opinions, but its reception has been mostly positive. == Background == The album features Nicky Wire's debut as a lead vocalist, on the track "Wattsville Blues", and James Dean Bradfield's debut as a lyricist, on "Ocean Spray". Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine plays guitar on the album's final track. The left-wing political convictions of the Manic Street Preachers are apparent in many of the album's songs, such as "Baby Elián" as they comment on the strained relations between the United States and Cuba as seen in the Elián González affair, a hot topic around the album's release. The band also pays tribute to singer and Civil Rights activist Paul Robeson in the song "Let Robeson Sing". About the political side of the record Wire spoke in an interview about the subject: "Unfortunately it was four years before everyone else got interested in politics. It took everyone else a war. Where have these people been the last four years? Forty years? American foreign policy's never changed. There's a track called 'Freedom Of Speech Won't Feed My Children' about forcing freedom on societies that says everything we ever needed to say." Wire also described the album as "a deeply flawed, highly enjoyable folly".〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Nicky Wire (Manic Street Preachers) )〕 Musically, the album departs from the arena rock sound of their previous two albums for a bigger and more abrasive rock sound. The album also features influences from various genres. On the album's diverse sound Pitchfork Media stated that "''Know Your Enemy'' finds the Manics attempting to write a protest song in just about every genre."〔 The punk rock-influenced "riotous" sound of the tracks "Found That Soul", "Intravenous Agnostic" and "Dead Martyrs" attribute influences to Sonic Youth and Joy Division. Tracks such as "The Year of Purification" and "Epicentre" foray to a R.E.M.-indebted jangle-pop style.〔 The tracks "So Why So Sad" and "Miss Europa Disco Dancer" were described as "a Beach Boys homage" and "a disco parody", respectively.〔〔〔 The tracks My Guernica", "His Last Painting" and "The Convalescent" were also described as "dark, marching and charging post-punk anthems."〔 It is the longest album released by the Manic Street Preachers, as it is slightly longer than their debut ''Generation Terrorists''. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Know Your Enemy (Manic Street Preachers album)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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