Little Query about Girl least likely to

[GirlAfraid23]

I was listening to Girl least likely to from the album my early burglary years...and the composer comes up as Andy Rourke, am I slow on the uptake? or am I missing something?

 

[ray_afraid]

I believe he did that one and He Knows I'd Love to See Him.

 

[GirlAfraid23]

I believe he did that one and He Knows I'd Love to See Him.

Ah thanks Ray_afraid! Just wondered whether I had missed something there

 

[Born In 1975]

Don't forget Andy's tour de force, "get off the stage"

 

[Orson Swells]

He Knows... was another co-write with Kevin Armstrong.

Rourke co-wrote Yes, I Am Blind, Girl Least Likely To, and Get Off the Stage.

However, as much discussed, the music to Girl Least Likely To (and, oddly, some of the vocal melody) is pretty much identical to the Cookies 'Only To Other People'...

 

[Worm]

Andy's songs aren't bad. But, no offense to Andy, in my view they were the first signs that Morrissey would accept a mediocre songwriting partner so long as he could combine him with a producer who could tweak the songs just enough in the studio to make them sound good, the end result being solid backing music for his vocals.

The album whose creation we have the most information about is "Viva Hate", and it's telling that Street talks about sending Morrissey a tape of half-finished demos that was well-received, yet Reilly says he wrote most of the songs. The truth is somewhere in the middle. Morrissey's method as a solo artist, it seems, is to take so-so songs and spiff them up in the studio under the direction of a good producer. I don't know this for a fact, but I'm pretty sure I'm right. Thus it's misleading to talk about Rourke, Whyte et al as co-writers. "Your Arsenal" is Mick Ronson's album. "Vauxhall and I" is Lillywhite's. "Quarry" is Finn's. And so on.

Does it make a difference if the end product is the same-- a good song? Not really, no. But I think it says something about Morrissey's philosophy about music and helps explain why some of the generic rock sounds on "Years of Refusal" are probably exactly what he wants them to be.

 

[mcrickson]

Andy's songs aren't bad. But, no offense to Andy, in my view they were the first signs that Morrissey would accept a mediocre songwriting partner so long as he could combine him with a producer who could tweak the songs just enough in the studio to make them sound good, the end result being solid backing music for his vocals.

The album whose creation we have the most information about is "Viva Hate", and it's telling that Street talks about sending Morrissey a tape of half-finished demos that was well-received, yet Reilly says he wrote most of the songs. The truth is somewhere in the middle. Morrissey's method as a solo artist, it seems, is to take so-so songs and spiff them up in the studio under the direction of a good producer. I don't know this for a fact, but I'm pretty sure I'm right. Thus it's misleading to talk about Rourke, Whyte et al as co-writers. "Your Arsenal" is Mick Ronson's album. "Vauxhall and I" is Lillywhite's. "Quarry" is Finn's. And so on.

Does it make a difference if the end product is the same-- a good song? Not really, no. But I think it says something about Morrissey's philosophy about music and helps explain why some of the generic rock sounds on "Years of Refusal" are probably exactly what he wants them to be.

I stopped trusting anything Reilly said after he claimed that the string sections on "Angel Angel..." were actually him on keyboard synth.

 

[Worm]

I stopped trusting anything Reilly said after he claimed that the string sections on "Angel Angel..." were actually him on keyboard synth.

Ahahaha.

No, Vini was not what you'd call a "reliable narrator".

But just listen to the album and compare it with some Durutti Column songs. His fingerprints are all over it. There's no way Street came up with all that beautiful music. I readily believe that Vini was far more than a hired session man and contributed more to the songwriting than Street lets on. How much more I couldn't say.

EDIT: I found this article on Vini by Dave Simpson. Pretty good.

 

[speedfreaks ball]

He Knows... was another co-write with Kevin Armstrong.

Rourke co-wrote Yes, I Am Blind, Girl Least Likely To, and Get Off the Stage.

However, as much discussed, the music to Girl Least Likely To (and, oddly, some of the vocal melody) is pretty much identical to the Cookies 'Only To Other People'...

forgot about kevin armstrong, seem to remember he was a part time member of bowies "tin machine" band?

 

[Danny_]

Any artist with a distinctive style will have this charge levelled against them.

All U2's songs sound the same to me.

 

[Proust]

Andy's songs aren't bad. But, no offense to Andy, in my view they were the first signs that Morrissey would accept a mediocre songwriting partner so long as he could combine him with a producer who could tweak the songs just enough in the studio to make them sound good, the end result being solid backing music for his vocals.

The album whose creation we have the most information about is "Viva Hate", and it's telling that Street talks about sending Morrissey a tape of half-finished demos that was well-received, yet Reilly says he wrote most of the songs. The truth is somewhere in the middle. Morrissey's method as a solo artist, it seems, is to take so-so songs and spiff them up in the studio under the direction of a good producer. I don't know this for a fact, but I'm pretty sure I'm right. Thus it's misleading to talk about Rourke, Whyte et al as co-writers. "Your Arsenal" is Mick Ronson's album. "Vauxhall and I" is Lillywhite's. "Quarry" is Finn's. And so on.

Does it make a difference if the end product is the same-- a good song? Not really, no. But I think it says something about Morrissey's philosophy about music and helps explain why some of the generic rock sounds on "Years of Refusal" are probably exactly what he wants them to be.

I agree Morrissey needs a good producer but I wouldn't simply say that was his dictating force behind whether Morrissey succeeding or not. Look at Kill Uncle his first brush away from Street post Smiths. Its mostly the insecurity and shyness Morrissey has, unable to communicate with the people creating songs with him. This wouldn't of helped as coming away from Marr, both having such an intense partnership, its unsurprising he took a while to adjust with such a powerful connection. When sent tapes for Kill Uncle, which were supposed to be simple starting points, Morrissey said they were perfect and took them as a completed song rather than a basis to evolve from... This is due to his only correspondence being through the post and his uneasiness in opening up to anyone.

However I would say the fact Ronson was involved was definitely a defining moment documenting his scale to a more muscular and complete sound in the true sense of the word.