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Anonymous
Guest
It seems this is the most hated moz album and I never seem why. It sounds like a lost smith album.
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Anonymous
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Kill uncle ftw
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Anonymous
Guest
It's a bit slight but it still great. Much better than southpaw
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Anonymous
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What's Southpaw got to do with it? Why is that the comparison?
bob-first1
New Member
I wouldn't really compare it to a Smiths album, but really do hold this one close. Maybe due to the timing, being 17 when it came out, in full blown Smiths/Moz wonder, waiting for the follow up to Viva Hate. I remember listening to it new, and trying to find a way to like Asian Rut. In the Creem Magazine interview of the time, they compared (lazily) Driving Your Girlfriend Home to There is a Light. I've tried for years to connect the two, but can't really aside from the driving reference. Again, being a gullible little teenager, I went with it. The biggest thing I recall too is how those songs translated live during the first US tour in 91. They talk back about that time like the band couldn't play, but I was blown away.
TheBoyWithTheDragonTattoo
Accountant, rampant.
If more time was spent fleshing out the songs on Kill Uncle and they took a different production route I really think fans would rank it as one of his best albums. I like it. A lot. I reach for Kill Uncle more often than Maladjusted, Southpaw, and certainly more than World Peace... in fact, take out the blips, bells, whistles, and production gimmicks and World Peace is a lot weaker lyrically than Kill Uncle. I've always viewed Kill Uncle as his true transition album- where he made a statement by purposely NOT sounding like the Smiths. I feel Kill Uncle is Moz showing the world that he had sweat the Smiths out of his system. For better or worse!
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Anonymous
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Just in response and agreement with butely and southpaw is considered, by General common press opinion, to be one of his worst or least popular albums.
I kind of rank it parallel to maladjusted with maybe maladjusted creeping ahead and reach for each just depending on mood. I think it's lyrically not as good as world peace. Sing your life is sweet and works for the song but it's a simple song (not a real critism) and while mute witness is a neat image and good song it's still kinda trite. King leer and found don't do it for me.
Jamie
Bluff, Ardour & Assoc.
The production has dated very poorly, perhaps more so than any other album in his catalog with or without the Smiths. It starts with two songs that have the frisson of something exotic because of the violin, but it all gets very staid. Nevin's guitars never have any real "bite" to them and the keyboards often sound tinny. You also had a marvelous drummer in Paresi - who gave bravura performances on Viva Hate and several of the early singles - being reduced to little more than a drum machine playing dial-a-texture. The live version of "Sing Your Life" found it finally reaching its potential, with a full-blooded rockabilly heart and not the artificial one pulsing weakly at Hook End.
I agree that some of the lyrical content is uncomfortably trite or unpolished. "Found, Found, Found," in particular, has a whiff of "that'll do" about it. The themes become an ill-fitting assemblage of character sketches, weak jokes, and stock Morrissey sentiments. Very few songs end without inviting the listener to say: "That was it?"
Thank goodness Michael R. and the Th'Lads were just around the corner.
I agree that some of the lyrical content is uncomfortably trite or unpolished. "Found, Found, Found," in particular, has a whiff of "that'll do" about it. The themes become an ill-fitting assemblage of character sketches, weak jokes, and stock Morrissey sentiments. Very few songs end without inviting the listener to say: "That was it?"
Thank goodness Michael R. and the Th'Lads were just around the corner.
Also...Tony The Pony, on the US version, should have been a universal choice. A story of sibling jealousy, a great song.
TheBoyWithTheDragonTattoo
Accountant, rampant.
I agree- Tony the Pony is a great song and still routinely makes it on my Morrissey mixes. On the flip side- Journalists Who Lie was the first real whiff that Moz was to become who he is now. The first real sign of trouble IMO.
TheBoyWithTheDragonTattoo
Accountant, rampant.
The entire album reeks of "that'll do." Aptly put. Reading and hearing interviews with the people involved though it sounds like that's how Morrissey wanted it. Langer and Winstanley and Nevin have all been very up front in stating that they felt like they were creating demos and were shocked at how often Moz basically said "thats a wrap!" Nevin in particular. Explains the lack of depth/bite in his guitar playing.
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Anonymous
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I guess the man himself doesn't like Tony the Pony. Or was he just being sarcastic?
I think the recording musicians for the Kill Uncle album were far better than the current ensemble.
Marvelous album, love every song.
TheBoyWithTheDragonTattoo
Accountant, rampant.
He supposedly hates Michael's Bones as well and that's another underrated gem.
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Anonymous
Guest
Very true about the demo comment and probably adds to that slight feeling. The need or desire to get a proper follow up to the successful viva hate with an aborted album already behind him might have helped push the that will do mentality. It's still a good Morrissey album just not a very deep one but it got written about as some super low point until it became part of the myth and blindly repeated by everyone everywhere . Agree about the production even if I don't know about tech specifics . Sounds sorta cheap
nicky wire's legs
Christ is king!
ugh, he is SO fantastic...
evennow
Writers on the storm
This was the first concert tour I saw him on, and KU always holds a close place in my heart. I view the album as more intimate than VH. It was hit or miss in parts, but The End of the Family Line really spoke to me. The entire lyric described and laid bare how I felt at the time...and still do.
The production is a bit muddied like ROTT, but overall I found it to be a glimpse into the man himself. I enjoy his music the most when he speaks from the heart.
The production is a bit muddied like ROTT, but overall I found it to be a glimpse into the man himself. I enjoy his music the most when he speaks from the heart.
evennow
Writers on the storm
No answer to our questions posed to the moderators. I hope everyone's OK. Maybe they are on holiday.
nicky wire's legs
Christ is king!
ah we are on the same wavelength. i have a vision of lil bieber chained up to a radiator in a basement and being thrown off cuts of meat. the daily internet allowance i believe is mandatory so as not to deprive him of total humanity. he doesnt know how to write yet though, and possibly also doesnt know how to read.
