Loved it then, love it now, love it for life. I became a fan in June 1995 so it was the first Morrissey album to be released in the lifespan of my fandom. I bought the September 1995 issue of Q immediately after I returned to university and bought the album shortly after. The Q review/interview (one of his wittiest ever, imo) gave me fair warning about the bookend behemoths of Teachers and Southpaw. I vividly recall rushing back to my then-girlfriend's dorm room, putting it on, and just getting smacked in the jaw with the power of it. The lurch of Teachers from controlled to chaos, the teeter-tottering solo on Reader Meet Author, the piledriving guitars on The Boy Racer, the bipolarity of The Operation (a drum solo, then a very sweet melody - a hit, if edited, surely - then a nervous breakdown screamed through a guitar pickup), the effervescence of Dagenham Dave (sue me, but I'm one of those people who hear Motown through the prism of Morrissey here) and Do Your Best And Don't Worry, the serpentine riff and bluesy lyrical repetition on Best Friend on the Payroll. And then...Southpaw. Ten mesmerizing minutes leading up to a voice hauntingly gasping for someone, something to "....HELP me...."
Given (a) a CD player and (b) a reliable power source, it would be on my desert island. Turned up to 11.
[I have few qualms about the Legacy Edition. I wish there had been more of a longview towards the possibility of a Your Arsenal reissue at the time as Fantastic Bird sits awkwardly on the track listing. There was also sufficient room for You Must Please Remember, which I feel is highly underrated. Most of all, I wish the reissue approach Rhino was planning in the early Aughts had been enacted: original album on disc one, the complete Miraval sessions on disc two. Perhaps for the 20th, 25th, or 30th?]