Mild Mannered Army: "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter – Southpaw Grammar at Thirty" (January 3, 2025)

Spotted this on Twitter a few minutes ago.

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter – Southpaw Grammar at Thirty

Fourteen days after Blur and Oasis fought the ludicrously overblown “battle of Britpop”, a race to be top of the pops between two of the biggest bands in the country with two of the wor…

mildmanneredarmy.wordpress.com

 

[Jamie]

Dear old Southpaw, still volatile and resisting the dustbin of time nearly 30 years later. If Morrissey feels his current band is in excelsis, he should do what he did with the Bridgwood iteration of Th'Lads and have them track a new record fresh off the road and live in the room. Spare the Chiccarellian click tracks, gew-gaws and diuretic synthesizer burbles. Stand and deliver, overdub judiciously around the basic tracks.

I understand the impulse to rehabilitate the track listing with tracks from "Boxers" and/or "Sunny" but they were all under HMV/Parlophone's control so it was a non-starter. You could well make the case to include "Nobody Loves Us" and "You Must Please Remember" but it was unlikely to change the overall fortunes of the album much. I don't see any likelihood of the former's chances as a single rising higher than the low Top 20. The title alone would have been used by the music press firebrands to dust off the usual "old misery guts" jabs.

I relate to the sentiment given my avatar signature - "A Swallow On My Neck" was a top 10 in my soul.

 

[Phranc & Open]

Southpaw and the school of hard knocks for life.

 

[Roman Holiday]

Spare the Chiccarellian click tracks, gew-gaws and diuretic synthesizer burbles.

Perfectly put.

 

[Phranc & Open]

With the first and last song on the album, Morrissey dares more musically, than ever before in his solo career. 2 big chunks that frame Southpaw Grammer like 2 rugged poles and in between the "Hammerhead Powerpop" ("Reader meet author" should have been the second single) takes no prisoners. Absolutely innovative and at the same time disturbing for many, who longed for a second Vauxhall. It sounded completely natural to me at the time and I was hooked after the blistering February 1995 UK tour, when the record was released in late summer. But how nice to find out later, that the Miraval recordings from December 1994 were based on the Vauxhall Vibes first ("You should have been nice to me"). After The Smiths royal court "massacre" in 1996, the spectacularly failed Maladjusted in 1997 and his move to LA at the end of the 90s, he was no longer the same british artist with irish roots. Sadly.

 

[Phranc & Open]

I also think, it's worth mentioning, how Maladjusted, the last album in the Lillywhite trilogy, combines elements from Vauxhall and Southpaw. The monolotic, unmelodic (but glorious) title track jumps straight from Southpaw, while Trouble loves me or Wide to receive exude the anachronistic grandeur of Vauxhall. Commercially, however, the train had left the station. Sadly.

 

[Thewlis]

Still, Alma Matters is one of his most treasured songs, to this day. What lets Southpaw Grammar down is its lack of a hit song. Apart from its shortness of only 8 songs.

It was criminal to let Nobody Loves Us pass by, too.

 

[ACTON]

Spare the Chiccarellian click tracks, gew-gaws and diuretic synthesizer burbles.

I agree with your well-written and heartfelt post. I have to say that (in my opinion) synths have a place in music. The Fontaines D.C. latest album features synths which really compliment and lift the songs to sonic heights. Same for other artists like Gary Numan, John Foxx (his Metamatic album, soon to be reissued this month, is sublime), Sack, The Cure (especially the new album), etc. Moz's band seem to throw in synths in a disposable way but I don't believe that Moz and synths are incompatible if done properly. The synths on There Is A Light is proof of this, if proof were needed.

 

[hand in glove]

I love Southpaw Grammar. One of his bests in my opinion, though they all are special in one way or another. Can't believe it's been 30 years...

 

[Fact Checker]

Like the recent albums and also Kill Uncle, the band behind him supplied some new juice but the weakest link was the man himself. There really should be some sort of editor or maybe Executive Producer with the privilege to send back poor lyrics for more work. "Dagenham Dave" was half of a good song, but he didn't write the other half. "Reader Meets Author" was a great title and idea, but the actual lyrics were a rough draft, not more than a page of notes that needed working over.

 

[Southport Grandma]

Thought the album tracks that were played live around the time it was released worked well. I recall an incendiary (to my ears any way) take on “The Teachers….” at Northgate Arena in Chester in 97.

 

[Multi]

The monolotic, unmelodic (but glorious) title track jumps straight from Southpaw, while Trouble loves me or Wide to receive exude the anachronistic grandeur of Vauxhall.

love, LOVE, the track Maladjusted.

while the album has its moments, the song Maladjusted is the last piece of true poetry that we've ever gotten from him.

 

[DagenhamDan]

Enjoyed that. Southpaw Grammar is up there with his very best I think. Rubbish reviews mostly, terrible sales but it's still wonderful.

 

[Dirk Blaggard]

I’m not sure I agree it’s one of his best .
To me it’s kinda like Yesrs of Refusal , it has a nice energy but it misses. I think Years Of Refusal is a better record . It has a proper classic single , All You Need Is Me , it has better lyrics with Black Cloud etc
Reader Meet Author would have been a good song if Common People would not have beat him to the punch and
delivered the same kind of message 1000 times better
common people had the social bite that Smiths M had .
Reader Meet is bit half assed and the lyrics on that lp are the first real indication that he had kind of taken his foot of the gas and what his future songs would be like , lyric wise
Maladjusted was a return to form but even that really had 3 great tracks.

 

[Odbmke]

I always loved this one, and as an American, it felt like it came and went very quickly, which was weird coming off of YA and Vauxhall, which were both huge here.

 

[Dirk Blaggard]

I always loved this one, and as an American, it felt like it came and went very quickly, which was weird coming off of YA and Vauxhall, which were both huge here.

I was in America a fair bit when this came out
Boy Racer was played a fair bit on the radio. At least in NY ,Philly , Boston and LA
But of course in M world , he is never played on the radio. lol

 

[Dirk Blaggard]

I always loved this one, and as an American, it felt like it came and went very quickly, which was weird coming off of YA and Vauxhall, which were both huge here.

I think YA and VandI where Ms high point
In terms of sales and frenzy
The internet and the truth were yet to arrive

 

[The Wild Turkey]

Great article.
Kinda wonder if this Jazz Butcher
was any inspiration for the end of
The Operation (4:54).

 

[Juan Dulces]

Terrific LP! Morrissey's great undiscovered album. The first and the last track make such a big statement for him musically! He should definitely be proud of that record, even though it didn't sell that well.

 

[Banbury Moz Army]

Spotted this on Twitter a few minutes ago.

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter – Southpaw Grammar at Thirty

Fourteen days after Blur and Oasis fought the ludicrously overblown “battle of Britpop”, a race to be top of the pops between two of the biggest bands in the country with two of the wor…

mildmanneredarmy.wordpress.com

The exit music on "Southpaw' still gives me the chills, and I would put this track in my top 3 Moz songs. "You Must please Remember" & Nobody Loves Us" absolutely brilliant. 30 years....."Time Moves to fast"