10 Manic Street Preachers Hidden Gem Songs
8. Door To The River
As was the trend in the CD era (yeah, it's an era now), when a band would release a Greatest Hits compilation, there would be a new song included for release as a single.
In the case of 2002's Forever Delayed compilation, that song was There By The Grace Of God, and it was a bit rubbish, but nestled somewhere in the middle of the disc was another new song, Door To The River, and it's a lovely ballad that brings to mind the similarly-titled Springsteen track.
At this time in the band's history, they seemed to be moving away from the rambunctious, snot-nosed, sixth form poetry-spouting brattishness of their early work, and even appeared to be disregarding their position as one of the biggest bands in the UK by stepping away from out-and-out rock and from singalong anthems.
This song, and the compilation it was featured on, was released between the lo-fi mess of 2001's Know Your Enemy and the '80s synth-pop of 2004's Lifeblood, a period in which band appeared to have lost their way, and it's hard not to see this song as an introspective play on that very subject. James, singing Nicky's words, even suggests that maybe he's "lost his way, following a star".