James Dean Bradfield - 'That's No Way To Tell A Lie' (Columbia) Released 17/07/06

Coming from a band whose quality of musical output has been questionable for the best part of a decade, we were hardly waiting with baited breath for James Dean Bradfield’s foray into the solo world. But alas, the man who single-handedly steered Kylie Minogue’s career down the wrong path has actually come up trumps with ‘That’s No Way To Tell A Lie’… at least. As the voice and guitar of Manic Street Preachers (fuck, we sound like a David Gilmour commercial) it’s very Manics-esque, yet has a strange vitality that’s lacked in some of his group’s recent material.  Okay, live we may miss the camp scissor kicks of Nicky Wire, but on record Mr Bradfield sounds truly liberated.   Christ it even sounds as though he’s having fun.