The Best MORRISSEY album

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Spent last night playing the old Morrissey albums..... surprised to hear how well Vauxhall and I has aged. 'Now my heart is Full' is probably my favourite solo Moz (what a fantastic lyric....'loafing oafs in all-night chemists'), and the rest of the album is pure quality, too. 'Hold on to your friends', 'Lifeguard sleeping', 'I Am Hated for Loving'....the album sounds ,more like a greatest hits album than a normal album - every track is sterling, with single potential.
I used to like Your Arsenal (bar the unforgiveable National Front Disco) but,apart from the storming opener 'You're gonna need someone on your side', it really hasn't stood the test of time (dreadful sound quality, too).
I can't even mention Maladjusted, it's too shoddy for word. Southpaw Grammar is overlong, overblown and simply short on decent songwriting, I think.
Kill Uncle was totally underrated, I think. The Harsh Truth of the Camera Eye and Family Line are, IMO, two of the finest Moz compositions. And Mark Nevin did a great, understated job of the production, I thought.
Viva Hate is great in parts - the singles and the brash, beautiful Alsation Cousin make this a fondly remembered one.
So, in all, Vauxhall and I has to be thew ultimate Morrissey album for me. Maladjusted the undisputed lowpoint.
What's other people's takes on the man's solo works?

― russ t, Thursday, 20 March 2003 13:15 (twenty-one years ago) link

well MVE took a fiver on the lot.

thank you very much ladies & gentlemen you've been a marvellous audience...

― Obvious Kneejerk Response, Thursday, 20 March 2003 13:19 (twenty-one years ago) link

― russ t, Thursday, 20 March 2003 13:20 (twenty-one years ago) link

I said all I can say here:

Search and Destroy: Morrissey; Solo

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 20 March 2003 13:26 (twenty-one years ago) link

'vauxhall...' all the way.
'your arsenal' was massively over-rated at the time,
mainly because 'kill uncle' had been so awful.
among people i know, 'vauxhall' is even more preferred
to the smiths' records. i don't know a soul who doesn't love
'now my heart is full' what a song that really is.

― piscesboy, Thursday, 20 March 2003 13:29 (twenty-one years ago) link

I like 80's Moz, so "Viva Hate" all the way. 90's moz doesn't do much fr me.

― rex jr., Thursday, 20 March 2003 13:34 (twenty-one years ago) link

'Vauxhall..' seems to have become the established choice, and... I love it, but I think it tails off badly on side 2 before being kicked up the arse by 'Speedway'.

'Maladjusted', as I never tire of saying, is unfairly neglected. The title track and 'Trouble Loves Me' justify the price of admission alone.

'Southpaw' is the worst by some considerable distance, I think (though I really like 'The Teachers are afraid of the Pupils'). I used to think the worst was 'Kill Uncle', because it was the most important to me at the time (I don't go in with high expectations any more) but it has grown on me over the years.

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Thursday, 20 March 2003 13:54 (twenty-one years ago) link

for ...most important to me at the time...
read ... most disappointing to me at the time...
:/

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Thursday, 20 March 2003 13:54 (twenty-one years ago) link

I still think Kill Uncle was underrated. It's a warm jumper of an album.
Hideous sleeve, though.

― russ t, Thursday, 20 March 2003 15:39 (twenty-one years ago) link

Kill Uncle was totally underrated, I think. The Harsh Truth of the Camera Eye and Family Line are, IMO, two of the finest Moz compositions. And Mark Nevin did a great, understated job of the production, I thought.

That's exactly how I feel about this record, and you're the only other person I've ever seen saying it. Side 2 is my favourite sequence of Morrissey songs to listen to. 'Harsh Truth' is a pretty inconsequential lyric, but the voice on it, and the arrangement, is just beautiful. It's frequently cited as one of Morrissey's worst songs, and its one of my favourites. Similarly, 'Mute Witness' is usually named as the only redeemable song on the album, and it's the one I like least.

― Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Thursday, 20 March 2003 16:09 (twenty-one years ago) link

I am in almost total agreement with yr opening statement, russ t. Though I may rate SG a little better than that. But Vauxhall is tops by far, Kill Uncle is underrated, and Maladjusted gets the maligning it deserves.

― Aaron A., Thursday, 20 March 2003 16:17 (twenty-one years ago) link

National Front Disco is a great song. I like it a lot.

And I am no Nazi.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Thursday, 20 March 2003 16:18 (twenty-one years ago) link

Seasick, yet docked!
great title..

― Fabrice (Fabfunk), Thursday, 20 March 2003 16:25 (twenty-one years ago) link

Eyeball kicks - my sentiments exactly. Mute witness is my least favourite, too.
I'm sure Kill Uncle will be one of those albums that will be remembered as a great record many years down the line.
DV- the song NF Disco is fine, it's the lyrics that can never fail to make me feel uneasy about Morrissey.
I was actually at that Finsbury Park Madness gig.
And he deserved the pelting he got. He deliberately played up to the skinheads in the crowd - skinhead backdrops, union jack draped over his lame'd shoulders. I had little sympathy for him that day, when you provoke, expect a response.

― russ t, Thursday, 20 March 2003 17:54 (twenty-one years ago) link

i also love "...disco" and hate nazis.
otherwise this thread is redundant as Vauxhall is by some distance the best and Kill Uncle is just - I try and pretend it never happened

― kieron, Thursday, 20 March 2003 18:16 (twenty-one years ago) link

Wasn't National Front Disco about David Bowie's flirtation with facism? At the time Morrissey released Your Arsenal he was waxing on about Echobelly so I doubt he was saying anything untowards in the song, and I like it too.

Bona Drag is Morrissey's finest record, but of course it's a compilation/ aborted LP. Even so, I like it better than Vauxhall and I, which remains my second fave Morrissey record and 'Now my Heart is Full' is lovely. I also think Your Arsenal and Maladjusted are good. 'Trouble Loves Me' is outstanding. I like some of Viva Hate but not 'Bengali' or most of the second act that follows the delightful 'Late Night Maudlin Street' and 'Everyday is Like Sunday'.

I think both 'Kill Uncle' and 'Southpaw Grammer' have their moments, but I also agree with the criticism levelled towards them. I love Morrissey though, and some of his flip sides are awesome. I adore 'Oh Well I'll Never Learn' (on the B-side of Suedehead) and 'A Swallow on my Neck' (on the B-side of Sunny) especially.

― Calum, Thursday, 20 March 2003 19:56 (twenty-one years ago) link

Viva Hate followed swiftly by Your Arsenal.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 20 March 2003 20:20 (twenty-one years ago) link

No, NF Disco - great song, great lyrics. I love the way it evokes this kind of cheesey optimism about the NF taking over.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Thursday, 20 March 2003 22:17 (twenty-one years ago) link

southpaw grammar has some of the best singles from him outside of bona drag--even my tom petty-lovin' brother dug 'boyracer.' 'tomorrow' still redeems 'arsenal' for me, but overall 'vauxhall' is probably the most consistent.

― hndinglove (hndinglove), Thursday, 20 March 2003 22:54 (twenty-one years ago) link

BONA DRAG people! regardless of what it was. VIVA HATE is way up there too. vauxhall is damn nice as well.

― JP Albin (John Paul Albin), Friday, 21 March 2003 03:03 (twenty-one years ago) link

Viva Hate - how great was Margaret on the Guillotine? And Sunday and Suedehead were two fine singles. But my favourite track is Alsation Cousing - the way it storms into life at the beginning. Wonderful.... and the analogies are great, too..... "with youre tent flaps open wide..."

Bona Drag is a fantastic record - but it's just another compilation (one of many.... extra tracks and a tacky badge....).

NF Disco - I think it's totally the wrong key for Moz - listen how he strains on it.

― russ t, Friday, 21 March 2003 11:08 (twenty-one years ago) link

YOUR ARSENAL, with only Bona Drag (if it qualifies) even close to competing). Mick Ronson, RIP.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 21 March 2003 22:49 (twenty-one years ago) link

The best song is Maudlin Street and that's on Viva Hate which is also the best album. This makes me happy.

― Cozen (Cozen), Friday, 21 March 2003 22:51 (twenty-one years ago) link

I'm glad it's not just an age thing. Thanks Cozen.

― N. (nickdastoor), Saturday, 22 March 2003 00:26 (twenty-one years ago) link

Viva Viva Hate!

I'll second Cozen - I love Late Night, Maudlin Street. And I don't care who knows!

― Alexis (Alexis), Saturday, 22 March 2003 02:12 (twenty-one years ago) link

LNMS fourthed!

― Aaron A., Saturday, 22 March 2003 04:37 (twenty-one years ago) link

one year passes...

I have to disagree that Southpaw is one of his worst, perhaps his most different, with its roaring guitars and drums, I would definitely say that it is one of his best. Hating Southpaw is like all those monkeys who dislike Morrissey in favor of the Smiths because the Smiths had a more mainstream image. Bla!

― marvin duey, Wednesday, 21 April 2004 18:50 (twenty years ago) link

You're definitely a step up from our usual googlers (in that you can spell).

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 18:54 (twenty years ago) link

Viva Hate. Better than Strangeways in my mind.

― Atnevon (Atnevon), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 19:35 (twenty years ago) link

Vauxhall And I with Your Arsenal a close 2nd

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 20:40 (twenty years ago) link

the answer is still viva hate crossed with vauxhall

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 20:50 (twenty years ago) link

Anally-inserting a weasel dipped in tabasco sauce would be better than _Strangeways, Here We Come_.

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 21:19 (twenty years ago) link

Weasels ripped my ass! RZZZZZZ!

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 21:21 (twenty years ago) link

Thank you for that image. Now die.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 21:38 (twenty years ago) link

Strangeways is pretty much perfect but for two songs. Dan doesn't know his weasel from his arse.

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 22:16 (twenty years ago) link

Which two songs? (If neither is "Unhappy Birthday", I will REALLY laugh at you.)

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 22:17 (twenty years ago) link

"A Rush And A Push And The Land Is Ours" is the only song off of that album that I would even entertain listening to. This is one of the few albums I've ever heard that I've initially liked but later on decided that I hated based on other material by the artist(s).

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 22:19 (twenty years ago) link

It's OK - that and 'Death At One's Elbow'. Not very controversial, really.

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 22:20 (twenty years ago) link

last night I dreamt?
I mean, c'mon, at least give it that song.

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 22:21 (twenty years ago) link

Wake up Dan, you're DEAD.

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 22:22 (twenty years ago) link

(I'd probably agree that the album doesn't live up to what 'A Rush And A Push' suggests it might be, actually. But, uh... it's still nearly perfect)

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 22:24 (twenty years ago) link

'Death of a Disco Dancer' is the great unheralded Smiths epic. One of Morrissey's best vocal performances, too.

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 22:25 (twenty years ago) link

one year passes...

what a great great album viva hate is...

― cozen (Cozen), Monday, 26 December 2005 13:11 (eighteen years ago) link

So how does You are The Quarry fit in his best of cd list?

― Jim Reckling (Jim Reckling), Monday, 26 December 2005 14:49 (eighteen years ago) link

Wow. I got "Sing Your Life" on right now.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Monday, 26 December 2005 14:58 (eighteen years ago) link

I did the anal-weasel/"Strangeways" comparison on Christmas Eve and I have to say "Strangeways" was a damn sight better

― Mr Straight Toxic (ghostface), Monday, 26 December 2005 15:58 (eighteen years ago) link

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