I don't think Kill Uncle is THAT bad

[Worm]

Morrissey probably shouldn't have cover songs on his main albums, even though 'That's Entertainment' would indeed be a strong addition. I think 'Pregnant For The Last Time' would essentially do the same job.

Good point. Your substitution works. The trouble is I don't think I've ever heard a really good version of that song. I like it "in theory" but it just never came together, as far as the music goes. The title and lyrics are wonderful of course.

In light of that, I'd propose "I've Changed My Plea To Guilty" in place of "That's Entertainment". And because the tune is piano-laden, we must then exchange the studio version of "There Is A Place..." with the KROQ version, since too much piano on an album is...too much piano. He's not Tori Amos for crying out loud. For which I applaud him.

 

[Worm]

You're right, that is a better description, though in any case my problem is the lack of dynamics. "Last night" maybe might have worked in earlier contexts too, if they'd stripped off the strings - that actually has one of the more discernible and intricate guitar melodies on the album, but it's drenched under the orchestral layer and the rhytm section is hardly present. But you could imagine it in a "Vicar in a Tutu"-sort of guise.

I've never really hit it off with Rank, for some reason (except for the glorious intro to "Still Ill"), but I don't have it on CD and haven't listened to it for years. Maybe that'll be the next frontier as I run out of Morrissey, as I am very close to doing.

cheers

"Rank" proves the truth of Morrissey's assertion that "The Smiths as a live entity were so powerful and, for me personally, almost untouchable...the feeling of power onstage was just like having a vacuum cleaner shoved up your blazer!" Ignore it at your peril.

Trust me, it has a bewitching quality. Proof? I've convinced myself that "The Draize Train" is a great Smiths track.

Since you are exhausting your stash of Mozamphetamine, I do recommend setting out for the frontier of live recordings. Besides "Rank" there are some good boots out there. I've come to love instrumental soundcheck versions of a few Smiths songs as fondly as their usual studio tracks. The Smiths are long gone, but The Holy Ghost is alive and well.

 

[Qvist]

I've come to love instrumental soundcheck versions of a few Smiths songs as fondly as their usual studio tracks.

A sure sign that you've acquired one of those few rare forms of deranged fanaticism that is actually laudable.

Any bootlegs you'd recommend in particular?

cheers

 

[Worm]

A sure sign that you've acquired one of those few rare forms of deranged fanaticism that is actually laudable.

Any bootlegs you'd recommend in particular?

cheers

Laudable and laughable. I've gone 'round the bend. You have to with a band that released only four albums.

Give me time and I shall see what I can recommend...

Get the full version of "Rank", for sure. The bootleg is excellent quality (taped off the radio) and the live versions of "How Soon Is Now?", "Frankly, Mr. Shankly", and "There Is A Light" are not to be missed.

 

[Nikita]

I think Kill Uncle is good, except Found Found Found of course, and that its live rendition was total crap.

But funny that Morrissey always quotes Wilde's, more or less, don't give the audience what it is waiting for, because when it comes to Kill Uncle, he obviosuly listened too much about what some people have said.

 

[morrissey02]

Re: I don't think Kill Uncle is THAT bad.

It is not THAT bad. It is just the least of my favs, but theres is no way it is bad.

 

[joe frady]

Cleanliness is the death of urgency.

As everyone knows, the first Smiths album was gutted by appalling production, and I think it was their best, most urgent work. As for the rest of their catalog, I think it still sounds pretty damn good. I'd also like to know whether their low-fi approach was mostly a matter of aesthetics, or a matter of a lack of capital, and I wonder who made the call. J. Marr seems like the kind of person who knows his way around a studio. Morrissey strikes me as a bit of a technophobe when it comes to the twiddling of the knobs.

Kill Uncle was murdered by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley, who drowned it in a bowl of porridge. We're all lucky that none of The Smiths stuff got that kind of treatment.

Having listened to all the recent re-mastered Smiths material I would plump for it being an aesthetic decision. I didn't detect a significant difference to the basic production issues with which I had my problems. Johnny directed those re-masters. A slightly interesting question might be if the original production deficiencies were financially forced, just how much could you do, in our bright new digital present day, to rectify matters in the re-mastering suite?
It's always intrigued me about how much Morrissey had to say about production issues. Clearly Johnny is a very accomplished person in the studio enviroment, but really we've never really got to know how much Moz knows about that realm. He's rarely talked at length about producing or what he does in the studio. Others have talked about how he operates, but not the man himself. On the rare occasions that he does I find it very interesting and surprising (that last 'Hot Press' interview that was excerpted in the 'Swords' liner notes). I think he's more sonically savvy than it appears. I don't think he likes to talk about it cos it whiffs of 'muso'. It gets behind the curtain a little too much, shatters the star myth, etctera.
I would respectfully disagree with "murdered". 'Lightly Winded Uncle' perhaps, but not Killed. I still believe that to be Morrissey's Return To Valium LP, written and recorded whilst Moz was in a pretty bad place (and I aint talking about Reading.) To my ears the slightly muffled, even tranquilised patina evokes, not just pastoral, Autumnal, English ennui, but pretty pale blue pills.
I would disrespectfully agree about Jack White. I don't really like his voice or most of his songs, but my ears always drool at the sounds he gets. All that ToeRag/Liam Watson sound right up to his recent stuff sounds amazing. I'd love to hear what he could do with Morrisey, but it'll never happen.
Then again...I never would have pegged Morrissey to approach Brian Eno, so stranger things do happen.