Alain Whyte YT: "Mute Witness" acoustic (May 15, 2020)

Regards,
FWD.

 

[Deleted member 29227]

Another nice little performance.

I concur that this is possibly the best song on Kill Uncle although it is maybe a tie with Driving Your Girlfriend Home. Not much other competition...

End of the family line? Harsh truth?

 

[Deleted member 28251]

I remember my brother giving me the £ to buy it on CD in Galway on my way home from university. I remember it was a Friday. We played it on his big Pioneer stereo. Our shock at what we heard. Understated melodies, a flat production. Moz out of breath after a long race. A travesty. Only later did we force ourselves to appreciate it more. With The Smiths and Viva Hate we loved EVERY song. With Kill Uncle we loved maybe 3 or 4, and that was being generous. Thankfully Your Arsenal renewed our faith. Also the Kill Uncle tour was far better than the album, with the songs given life. He should have waited and included My Love Life and I've Changed My Plea To Guilty on the album. That would have dragged it from the ashes. Just as Nobody Loves Us would have helped Southpaw.

I think it’s a transition album.

It was the first Morrissey album I bought. Frankly, I was disappointed. However, I bought it in America and the US version featured Tony the Pony—which I loved: it helped keep me interested. I guess, for me, that Tony was the additional great song needed, to save it from becoming a beer mat.

 

[marred]

Hmmm. I always liked 'Driving Your Girlfriend Home'. I also liked King Leer and There Is A Place and Sing Your Life. Certainly not Moz's best album and possibly his worst, but genius compared to 95% of the crap that sells these days. When Kill Uncle gets the vinyl reissue (this year?) I'll be buying it. I'll sit down and soak up the album and see if I still enjoy it. Listening to an LP (compared to CD or mp3) makes you focus and lets you hear instruments and undercurrents that pass you by on other media.

Driving Your Girlfriend Home is one of the best songs Morrissey has ever written.

 

[marred]

I can't work out why everyone thinks it's such a bad album. Is it because of the track listing or what? It's short? I used to hate Found Found Found. I'd skip it every time, but I've warmed to that one lately. The songs by themselves are great so is it the production people don't like. I'm biased because I'm a bot, I mean.. a fan. I'm sure there are some on this site that will tell me why I should get in line and hate Kill Uncle.

 

[Flibberty]

I don't think there is any particular way that people should respond to the album. The reasons why it doesn't work personally for me though are...

- Mark Nevin has admitted that he only wrote sparse musical sketches and expected to elaborate on them later.
- The production is also very thin.
- The album is short and yet still feels stretched in places (The Harsh Truth of the Camera Eye is far too long).
- Lyrically Morrissey didn't seem to have many points to make and came up with some very weak efforts. King Leer has often been cited as one of the worst of all time.
- Found Found Found was written in a few minutes and sounds like it.
- Morrissey knew that it wasn't good enough at the time and thought about doing a full rockabilly album instead. You can hear the lack of dynamism and lack of confidence throughout.

 

[Flibberty]

While it's in no way definitive, there was a poll on another site recently to discuss the 264 solo songs and the Kill Uncle songs were ranked thus:

Our Frank - 192
Asian Rut - 254
Sing Your Life - 105
Mute Witness - 124
King Leer - 215
Found Found Found - 256
Driving Your Girlfriend Home - 89
The Harsh Truth of the Camera Eye - 262
The End of the Family Line - 97
There is a Place in Hell for Me and My Friends - 142

 

[Deleted member 29417]

I can't work out why everyone thinks it's such a bad album. Is it because of the track listing or what? It's short? I used to hate Found Found Found. I'd skip it every time, but I've warmed to that one lately. The songs by themselves are great so is it the production people don't like. I'm biased because I'm a bot, I mean.. a fan. I'm sure there are some on this site that will tell me why I should get in line and hate Kill Uncle.

I love the ennui of it. It's like Edward Gorey, but songs.

A Gorey cartoon:

 

[Deleted member 28251]

While it's in no way definitive, there was a poll on another site recently to discuss the 264 solo songs and the Kill Uncle songs were ranked thus:

Our Frank - 192
Asian Rut - 254
Sing Your Life - 105
Mute Witness - 124
King Leer - 215
Found Found Found - 256
Driving Your Girlfriend Home - 89
The Harsh Truth of the Camera Eye - 262
The End of the Family Line - 97
There is a Place in Hell for Me and My Friends - 142

Blimey, that’s harsh on Our Frank: great song, and an extraordinary video.

 

[Deleted member 28251]

Hmmm. I always liked 'Driving Your Girlfriend Home'. I also liked King Leer and There Is A Place and Sing Your Life. Certainly not Moz's best album and possibly his worst, but genius compared to 95% of the crap that sells these days. When Kill Uncle gets the vinyl reissue (this year?) I'll be buying it. I'll sit down and soak up the album and see if I still enjoy it. Listening to an LP (compared to CD or mp3) makes you focus and lets you hear instruments and undercurrents that pass you by on other media.

Is that your own Steve Austin figure? I spent half my childhood gazing through that bionic eye.

 

[ACTON]

I think it’s a transition album.

It was the first Morrissey album I bought. Frankly, I was disappointed. However, I bought it in America and the US version featured Tony the Pony—which I loved: it helped keep me interested. I guess, for me, that Tony was the additional great song needed, to save it from becoming a beer mat.

I forgot Tony The Pony. Great song that should have been on the KU album, not just the US version. When you look at the quality b-sides you have to wonder why they weren't on an album (Tony, Jack The Ripper, I can have both, nobody loves us, changed my plea, munich, etc.). I guess some were written after album release and some just had to accompany the single but the sheer quality of some of them. Same comment for Suede. Unbelievable b-sides.

 

[ACTON]

Is that your own Steve Austin figure? I spent half my childhood gazing through that bionic eye.

Unfortunately it's not my own. Mine is in my room but not in great condition. One shoe is missing, the red clothes are loose and the rubber bit is gone from his arm. Plus the orange girder is lost. Sickened. I still love him though! His arm still lifts when you press his back. Best toy ever.

 

[Deleted member 28251]

Unfortunately it's not my own. Mine is in my room but not in great condition. One shoe is missing, the red clothes are loose and the rubber bit is gone from his arm. Plus the orange girder is lost. Sickened. I still love him though! His arm still lifts when you press his back. Best toy ever.

It was impossible to keep those shoes on—they simply didn’t have the technology for that.

 

[Deleted member 29227]

- Found Found Found was written in a few minutes and sounds like it.

I agree; written while having a cup of coffee/tea I guess.
Coming in at c.01:59 it must surely be one of his shortest ever tracks?

 

[ACTON]

I agree; written while having a cup of coffee/tea I guess.
Coming in at c.01:59 it must surely be one of his shortest ever tracks?

Was it about him becoming friends with Michael Stipe? If so the song lasts about as long as their time together.

 

[ACTON]

Blimey, that’s harsh on Our Frank: great song, and an extraordinary video.

Didn't Alain say he was obsessed with Our Frank? You can hear the influence of Our Frank in an early live version of We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful. I remember seeing this on TV for Amnesty International and thinking: ooh they're still working on it cos the drums are from Our Frank.

 

[9 x Fined]

KU was my starting point – for better or worse – back in 1991. Still holds a very special place in my heart.

 

[Deleted member 28251]

KU was my starting point – for better or worse – back in 1991. Still holds a very special place in my heart.

It was my starting point too. But if asked about Morrissey, the last thing I would ever say is ‘You want to start with Kill Uncle’.

 

[Amy]

Hmmm. I always liked 'Driving Your Girlfriend Home'. I also liked King Leer and There Is A Place and Sing Your Life. Certainly not Moz's best album and possibly his worst, but genius compared to 95% of the crap that sells these days. When Kill Uncle gets the vinyl reissue (this year?) I'll be buying it. I'll sit down and soak up the album and see if I still enjoy it. Listening to an LP (compared to CD or mp3) makes you focus and lets you hear instruments and undercurrents that pass you by on other media.

I like "Driving..." and I can cope with Sing your Life, but I'd never seek out anything from Kill Uncle these days. They're just nothing-songs to me, whereas his earlier solo stuff was brilliant.

 

[Amy]

I agree; written while having a cup of coffee/tea I guess.
Coming in at c.01:59 it must surely be one of his shortest ever tracks?

"William, It Was Really Nothing" was 2.09.

Which really doesn't make Found, Found, Found look any better...

 

[Deleted member 28251]

Didn't Alain say he was obsessed with Our Frank? You can hear the influence of Our Frank in an early live version of We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful. I remember seeing this on TV for Amnesty International and thinking: ooh they're still working on it cos the drums are from Our Frank.

I’ve never seen this before, and yes it arguably shows how important Kill Uncle was—in steering him towards that, as yet, unmatched creative streak (1992-1997). Even the quiff, here, was a high point!