I am a Manics completist. When they release tenth, twentieth and thirtieth anniversary editions of every album, I buy them religiously. When James and Nicky both released solo records in 2007 (Shaun just couldn't be arsed), I bought each one. They were shit. Utterly shit. Mercifully “Even in Exile”, James’ second solo stint, is much better. Much, much, much better. In fact, it is as good as “International Blue”(the last proper Manics album) was bad. Rather than go all Radio 2 on our arses, James has retreated into his love of Rush. You could stick ‘Seeking the Room with the Three Windows’ on a “2112”reissue and it would pass as a long-forgotten studio outtake. The Manics were never about conformity and this is the sound of James re-finding his creative fire. My hope is that he takes this disruptive temperament into the recordings for the next Manics album and reminds the other two that vying for Ken Bruce's record of the week was never what they were meant to be about.