In a lean year for major British albums, many U.K. rock fans have been keenlyawaiting the new one by Welsh trio Manic Street Preachers, the follow-up tothe highly-regarded Everything Must Go and the group's first albumwithout a contribution from vanished-presumed-dead fourth member Richey JamesEdwards, who disappeared in February, 1995.

To whet our appetites, there's a snappily-titled single, "If You Tolerate ThisYour Children Will Be Next," lined up for the end of the month. Untrue toform, this turns out to be a mellow, mid-paced lighter-waver with the titleforming a surprisingly bouyant chorus -- a far cry from the neo-Guns 'N Rosessquall of their earliest works or the Spectorish rush of their more recentstuff.

Conducting a straw poll among passing Manics fans, your reporter received amainly negative response, the consensus being that "the shouty ones arebetter." Which should make reaction to the album intriguing, as the singleturns out to be typical of the new material. "We wanted to make it lessuplifting and epic," lyricist and guitarist Nicky Wire confirms of the recordthey're calling This Is My Truth Show Me Yours (as you may haveguessed, these guys are a laugh riot). "We're very happy with it. If it sells10,000 copies we'll probably think it's s---; if no one likes it or buys it,then you've got to reassess your position. But we're egomaniac enough to thinkeverything we do is perfect."

Wire claims that their motivating forces on these sessions were "beauty" and"purity". "Those were the words we used a lot in the studio," he says, "andthat's what we went for." The album is released worldwide on September 14.

JIM IRVIN