(1988) Viva Hate - your thoughts?

[dizzywhore_1804]

How do you rate the album? Either from your point of view now, or as it was at the time.

"Alsatian Cousin" – 3:13
"Little Man, What Now?" – 1:48
"Everyday Is Like Sunday" – 3:32
"Bengali in Platforms" – 3:55
"Angel, Angel, Down We Go Together" – 1:40
"Late Night, Maudlin Street" – 7:40

"Suedehead" – 3:56
"Break Up the Family" – 3:55
"The Ordinary Boys" – 3:10
"I Don't Mind If You Forget Me" – 3:17
"Dial-a-Cliché" – 2:28
"Margaret on the Guillotine" – 3:42

We know how the songs score individually, but how about the whole album?

(Potentially make this a weekly feature? All the solo albums, then back to the top for The Smiths?)

 

[CrystalGeezer]

I saw Built to Spill perform Perfect From Now On from begining to end and it was one of the best shows I've ever seen in my life. It's my dream that Morrissey do this at least once with Viva Hate. It would be a total sob fest but it would be amazing. In fact maybe he couldn't even get through it himself, I don't know? It's an amazing album.

 

[dizzywhore_1804]

I saw Built to Spill perform Perfect From Now On from begining to end and it was one of the best shows I've ever seen in my life. It's my dream that Morrissey do this at least once with Viva Hate. It would be a total sob fest but it would be amazing. In fact maybe he couldn't even get through it himself, I don't know? It's an amazing album.

That would be brilliant - could he be coersed into doing a Sparks style residency anywhere? Album number 10 is looming, as good of an excuse as any...

 

[CrystalGeezer]

That would be brilliant - could he be coersed into doing a Sparks style residency anywhere? Album number 10 is looming, as good of an excuse as any...

The thing I find so special about Viva Hate is that it marks the beginning of Morrissey developing into song his own singular voice. Not a smith. Not with Marr. Not a collection of celestial thoughts, just Morrissey. ANd while obviously supported by amazing musicians, his voice alone continues to call to this indescribable other person, and he does it alone. Viva Hate is like his birth to me in a way, the whole album seeps with the pain associated with that birth, but also of hope. "I hope she's singing now..." ACH, get's me every time.

 

[CrystalGeezer]

As a Smith he was thrust into the spotlight. Then he had to make use of it, and album after album after album he poured out his soul, so different from Smiths work, and he had only, I'm assuming, minimal feedback that his message was being heard as he put up with being sued and record labels and bad reviews, but he endured. Such strength and determination, all alone. OMG I'm losing it a little bit, but anyway my point is, they were listening.

 

[CrystalGeezer]

And it was his singular voice that kept their attention. That's why Viva Hate is so special.

 

[Eraserhead]

As a Smith he was thrust into the spotlight. Then he had to make use of it, and album after album after album he poured out his soul, so different from Smiths work, and he had only, I'm assuming, minimal feedback that his message was being heard as he put up with being sued and record labels and bad reviews, but he endured. Such strength and determination, all alone. OMG I'm losing it a little bit, but anyway my point is, they were listening.

Nicely articulated. It really is a beautiful album, full of longing. It stated Morrissey's aim. It does feel like an artist opening himself out. Not a group album.

 

[M-in-Oz]

I like what CrystalGeezer wrote about Viva Hate being the beginning - and from the cover art (that face!) to the songs it seems to me to have been a statement of intent about becoming 'Morrissey' the icon.
And it has my favourite song, Alsatian Cousin as the opener

 

[Raphael Lambach]

I like it.. but not too much... but it's a good debut album

 

[Max Bialy]

I ought to love this album because it's from my favourite solo Moz era, the Magnificent Seven early singles. But while I think the singles and B-sides from the Viva Hate era are simply astonishing, the album itself leaves me cold.

 

[CrystalGeezer]

Nicely articulated. It really is a beautiful album, full of longing. It stated Morrissey's aim. It does feel like an artist opening himself out. Not a group album.

E X A C T L Y. ANd thank you for the compliment. FOr some reason it's really hard for me to articulate my thoughts about his work, all of it, it means so much to me.

 

[jwizjam]

It is definitely a cathartic album for Morrissey. One of my favorite songs is on the album, Ordinary Boys, and at least three or four others that I thoroughly enjoy. However, relatively speaking it is not near the top of my list of favorite solo work albums by Moz. Not that it isn't good. It is. He has done so much since then to compare it to that I find myself not playing it as much as some of the others. Still a wonderful first solo album.

 

[CrookedLittleVein]

The main problem, I think, is that the b-side is so much weaker than the, frankly incredible, a-side. If some of the weaker b-side tracks had been replaced by the b-sides from the singles (Hairdresser, I Know Very Well, Disappointed etc), Viva Hate would have been Morrissey's greatest album bar none (including The Smiths' output -- Heresy!).

The choice of tracks is a little bizarre. I mean, you've got Will Never Marry and Sister I'm a Poet in the can but you plump for Margaret on the Guillotine and Dial-a-Cliche.

Why?

Self sabotage? Lack of objectivity? Sheer devilment?

 

[prisoner77]

It's incredibly well produced and that somehow takes away some edge to the songs.

I loved it and still do.

 

[Johan de Witt]

5,0 of course! The best Morrissey album with Vauxhall.

Those into rating albums should visit the site Rate Your Music, a site where you can rate all your albums and see how others rate them.

Here's Morrissey's page:
http://rateyourmusic.com/artist/morrissey

His ratings:
Viva Hate, 1,591 votes, average: 3.89
Kill Uncle, 629 votes, average: 3.12
Your Arsenal, 1,089 votes, average: 3.82
Vauxhall and I, 1,295 votes, average: 3.95
Southpaw Grammar, 538 votes, average 3.36
Maladjusted, 485 votes, average: 3.21
You Are the Quarry, 1,961 votes, average: 3.70
Ringleader of the Tormentors, 1,293 votes, average: 3.45
Years of Refusal, 923 votes, average: 3.28

 

[Kewpie]

I still have very ambivalent feelings to this album.

It was great that Morrissey was recognised as a very successful solo artist.
However, at the same time it meant the end of The Smiths which I found very hard to accept.

 

[Lost]

Fine album. Some great tracks, (apart from Margaret on the Guillotine.)

It proved a lot of doubters wrong and showed he could hack it as a solo artist.

 

[Maurice E]

Fine album. Some great tracks, (apart from Margaret on the Guillotine.)

It proved a lot of doubters wrong and showed he could hack it as a solo artist.

well, not exactly! Morrissey has never really been a solo artist per sé. it just meant he found different people to write and play the music.
when others go solo (e.g. McCartney, Coxon, Weller) they genuinely go solo and write all the stuff themselves.
it did mean, however, that Morrissey wasn't dependent on J Marr to provide him with great music.
and it was all the more impressive that he managed this with an unknown songwriter, as Street was at the time (previously he'd just been a producer).

 

[Qvist]

Here's Morrissey's page:
http://rateyourmusic.com/artist/morrissey

Seemed like good fun, but that's the worst f***ing interface I've ever had the misfortune to encounter. I still haven't managed to figure out how you actually get to rate songs - I can find them through search, but as soon as I do I have to log in again, which just brings me back to my profile page. Bloody annoying.

cheers

 

[mcrickson]

I have tremendous respect for it being the first solo album and his breakaway from the Smiths.
That being said, I personally don't find anything too inspiring about the second half of the album. It really all comes down to a matter of taste -- for me there is not ONE Smiths' album I can listen to the whole way through without loving every single song on it. The Smiths were a hard act for Morrissey to follow up. At the time of Viva Hate's release, he had written his best material with them. In my opinion, it would be outrageous to assume he'd be able to equal that with his first solo album. Like I said, the first half of the album I find absolutely brilliant. I could even go as far as saying that some of the songs rival certain Smiths' songs. But to me it just seems like the second half of the album contains many filler songs. As a whole I don't think it is a very well-rounded album because of this.
But again, to each his own