Morrissey Solo or The Smiths

Morrissey solo or The Smiths - which will YOU choose

  • Morrissey solo

    Votes: 13 68.4%
  • The Smiths

    Votes: 6 31.6%

  • Total voters
    19

Stephen

Gemini
If you could only listen to the catalogue of music from Morrissey solo or The Smiths (and the other could never be heard again), which would it be?

:eek:
 
Definitely Maybe.

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I would have to say solo. If I look at Queen and Strangeways v. Arsenal and Vauxhall I would personally take Arsenal and Vauxhall. Not to diminish the Smiths because it's more than likely if they continued they as a unit would have evolved more and truly broke out heading through the late 80s into the 90s. Meaning they would have been one of the huge dominant forces along with U2 and R.E.M. co-existing through that same time period. U2 and R.E.M. stuck together through that period and the Smiths obviously didn't and as good as Morrissey is on his own he couldn't (nor could anyone in the same situation) shed the legacy of the Smiths and eclipse it.

With Strangeways the Smiths took a big step forward musically and I imagine if they stuck together that progression would have continued. Right around Kill Uncle Morrissey could have hit that home run and even with that album being a failure the subsequent U.S. tour showed the huge potential for his popularity which would only have been enhanced if the Smiths as a unit existed then and released their best album yet rather than Morrissey releasing his worst.

In fact the Smiths splitting, Morrissey releasing Viva Hate, and then the Smiths reforming would probably have been an ideal scenario since the publicity would have been enormous but I guess this is all pointless theoretical speculation!
 
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It's like the comparison between Street with Whyte.
Similar amounts of great songs but Whyte (and Morrissey solo) have produced tons and tons of filler.
Nearly every Smiths song was a gem.
End of.
 
my heart says The Smiths, but according to last fm:
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it Morrissey "solo" :blushing:
however, I cannot imagine being into the music of Morrissey without first being into The Smiths back in 80s
or for that matter most of the bands in my "top 40" for the last 7 years :o
 
Honestly it took me about 3-4 years of Smiths obsession to really "get" Moz solo. The first one of his albums I bought was "Vauxhall" (not a bad place to start) and then went backwards from there.
 
The Smiths is top quality from start to finish, but there is so much more solo Morrissey material, you'd have more variety and more to choose from.
What is the tally of Moz songs vs Smiths songs by the way - has anyone counted? I'm guessing there are at least twice as many solo songs?
 
As much as Morrissey's solo catalog has grown on me, it still doesn't measure up to the perfection of the Smiths catalog.

I'm kind of glad they broke up when they did, because there would have been the inevitable awful album that would have tarnished their legacy. What they did make was so perfect.
 
This is too difficult to answer! There are Smiths songs that I love equally as much as Morrissey solo songs. So, I can't choose. I won't choose! Banish the thought of this completely! :)
 
Morrissey solo, due to the sheer number of songs to choose from. Songs to suit every mood, whether you want to listen to the early jangly Stephen Street stuff, Kill Uncle's offbeat offerings, the majestic Vauxhall and I, right through to the Quarry comeback era, to Ringleader and beyond.

But pound for pound, The Smiths' output was obviously far superior.
 
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