  |
| Morrissey boxset review in Mojo (July) |
|
 |
posted by davidt
on Monday June 26 2000, @09:00AM
James Duncan writes:
The misadventures of mighty Moz.
Billy Whizz or unfeasibly large bollocks. By David Peschek.
(more)
We thought it was all over; it seems it is now.
When The Smiths fell apart in 1987 to the sound of a million wailing adolescents, no one expected the famously unmusical Morrissey to produce anything as brilliant as Viva Hate, a Number 1 album in 1988, made with producer Stephen Street with Durutti Columnist Vini Reilly on guitar. Viva Hate pulled back on the self-parody of The Smiths swansong Strangeways, Here We Come, offering up the orchestral melodrama of Angel, Angel, Down We Go Together and the electronic shuffle of Break Up The Family and Late Night Maudlin Street: new takes on a familiar Johnny Marr seems less terrible-genuinely, a new beginning.
So what now, little man? He's probably doing the cabaret circuit in Quebec these days, our dogged, dog-eared hero, his gang of rhino-skinned toughs in tow. Without a deal since his Mercury US foundered in the wake of the modest sales of the patchy, misunderstood Maladjusted in 1997 and going through managers like Andrex, what future for an icon gone AWOL? That there's more comfort in the past seems like the only reason for this box of the first 10 Parlophone singles, originally released on the His Masters Voice imprint which was reactivated specifically for this purpose.
And that's what you get: 10 singles, in a box. No booklet Nothing else to accompany these songs, the majority of which have already appeared on the sundry compilations that bolster Morrissey's discography. It's a rag bag that switches between the close-to-sublime and the frankly ridiculous; that displays Morrissey's ineffable talent for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory; that demands inordinate patience and a finely tuned sense of camp.
Certainly, Morrissey has never made it easy for his fans. Since the demise of The Smiths, he has pursued the trajectory - the Tragedy - of the falling star publicly, relentlessly: the court cases, the accusations of racism, the half-hearted comebacks on a series of different labels, the sneaking suspicion that shy Stephen was perhaps rather more Machiavellian than his public could bear. But most of these dramas fall after the final release in this box, as does his second solo number 1 album, Vauxhall And I, yet another unexpected reincarnation. Here, albeit in suspect company, is some of the best, most submersive pop music of the last 15 years.
So, it begins well. The Viva Hate singles are fantastic: Suedehead and Everyday Is Like Sunday, Top 10 hits that contain, respectively, the word sickened and the opening line "Trudging slowly over wet sand". Here is Morrissey at his best, hinting at sexual indiscretion (Suedehead's mumbled coda: "It was a good lay, good lay") and railing against provincial small mindedness. The B sides all neatly add to the mystique: Sister I'm A Poet/ Will Never Marry Disappointed's marvelous "This is the last song I will ever sing(crowd cheers)/ Oh well I've changed my mind again (crowd boos)", the lovely, limpid Velvestry strum of Oh Well I'll Never Learn (the rarest track here, the only original not previously compiled).
The rot sets in with the non album trilogy of The Last Of The Famous International Playboys, Interesting Drug and Ouija Board Ouija Board. Playboys is a kind of camp Morrissey had on Strangeways, but more specifically it's the recorded indication of the East End chic that has come to characterise his solo career; the lure of the brutal man: "Reggie Kray do you know my name?/Please say you do."
Interesting Drug is simply too limp to carry the anti government bile of its lyric (and, perhaps, a joke at the expense of the institution of marriage, an orthodoxy of Viva Hate's Ordinary Boys). Ouija Board, Ouija Board ("S.T.E.V.E.N.P.U.S.H.O.F.F", indeed) was at the time an insult even to die hard fans; now its effete desperation seems so extreme it's become strangely fascinating.(B side Yes I Am Blind the fruit of a renewal with Andy Rourke is the bonus here.)
Mercifully, the best of the Langer/Winstanley material was to come. Undoubtedly problematic though it is (does the crippled girl represent Morrissey's view of himself? If not, does he really "mad, mad lovers should pause and draw the line" and terminate disabled children?), the urgent whirling swoon of November Spawned A Monster is otherwise magnificent. Likewise Piccadilly Palare, Morrissey's singing the life of a rent boy in his most overtly gay lyric.
From here on it's downhill all the way. Songwriter-for-hire Mark E Nevin was drafted in and the resulting Kill Uncle remains a low point among low points and features some of Morrisseys worst lyrics. Its singles - Our Frank, Sing Your Life - are thoroughly unspectacular Chrissie Hynde warbles along inaudibly on the latter(echoing Mary Margaret O' Haras cameo on November Spawned A Monster); of the B sides Journalists Who Lie sounds like former label mates The Woodentops, The Loop is a laughable non-song, the cover of The Jam's That's Entertainment is pointless karaoke.
By the time of the surreal, habbled rockabilly of Pregnant For The Last Time, the group of musicians that would see Morrissey - for better - or worse - through the next 10 years was almost in place. Behind him, a string of failed relationships (Andy Rourke, Stephen Street, Langer - Winstanley, Vini Reilly). Ahead, writing partnerships with rockabilly refugees Boz Boorer, and Alan Whyte. The final track here is a roughed up live version of Disappointed: "This is the last song I will ever sing/No I've changed my mind again/Goodnight and thank you."
The Boy With A Thorn In His Side cries wolf again, and we're still listening. Just.
By David Peschek.
James: Now I know why the great Morrissey moved to the states having to read this pile of shite week in week out. Although in the magazine is a rather amusing cartoon of Morrissey worth £3.10 on its own. I got my box for a measly £22.99.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
|
|
Morrissey boxset review in Mojo (July)
|
Log in/Create an Account
| Top
| 46 comments
| Search Discussion
|
|
|
|
The Fine Print:
The following comments are owned by whoever posted them.
We are not responsible for them in any way.
|
Morrissey Sucks
-- Monday June 26 2000, @10:34AM
(#339)
(User #310 Info)
Morrissey Sucks (and all is well)!
|
| |
|
Certain ignorant people I glad i dont Know
(Score:1)
|
| | |
| - Horrific,Scandalous!!!!
by CantThinkofWittyName
(Score:1)
Monday June 26 2000, @06:44PM
- Re:*sigh*
by J. Razor
(Score:1)
Tuesday June 27 2000, @10:11AM
- Re:*sigh*
by Morrissey Sucks
(Score:1)
Tuesday June 27 2000, @10:24AM
- Re:*sigh*
by Morrissey Sucks
(Score:1)
Tuesday June 27 2000, @10:30AM
- Re:*sigh*
by J. Razor
(Score:1)
Tuesday June 27 2000, @10:46AM
|
|
What was wrong with it?
(Score:0)
|
|
Anonymous
-- Monday June 26 2000, @11:45PM
(#359)
|
| | |
| | |
| |
|
Interesting drug
(Score:1)
|
| |
|
Why do so many men hate morrissey?
(Score:1)
|
| |
|
My Opinion Is Different I Guess
(Score:1)
|
| |
|
The author: David Peschek
(Score:2, Interesting)
|
| |
|