Morrissey's most overrated and underrated album
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countthree
Well-Known Member
Underrated: World Peace
Overrated: Vauxhall
Overrated: Vauxhall
DrStatham
Spicy Chickpea Curry
I agree about the first two. All the lazy dykes... Well the actual message of the song is not wrong, I guess it is just him being a bit controversial/saying stuff in a sort of controversial way, can't think of the word for it, still an emotional song. And I like how can anybody possibly know... Nothing special, but good, relateable, kinda funny in their understatement and hyperbole, lyrics. And nothing wrong with the music for me. Just decent backing track to the vocals.
Etiennehanratty
Member
Viva Hate-Loved it when I first heard it. Tails off towards the end but generally holds up. Seems to have fallen off the radar a bit. Verdict: Underrated.
Bona Drag-Not sure whether you'd count it as an album or not, but pretty strong throughout with only the odd weak track-lucky lisp, I'm thinking of you. Verdict: Neither.
Kill Uncle-Some terrific stuff, but insubstantial and badly sequenced on the whole. As someone said above, it might have made a decent EP, though, more realistically, perhaps a fairly good CD1 and CD2 for Mute Witness. Verdict: Neither.
Your Arsenal-This was his current album when I started getting into him. For some reason, it never did it for me. All of the songs are good (except Tomorrow, I can't stand Tomorrow) but I always preferred the Beethoven was Deaf versions (sorry, Ronno). Nowadays, this is the one pre-comeback album which I never listen to. Verdict: Overrated.
Vauxhall and I: Loved it at the time, but in all honesty, who good can an album be when it contains Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself? And I Am Hated For Living. A collection of homogenous filler bookended by two killer tracks. Verdict: Overrated.
Southpaw: Lazy and uninspired. The Teachers Are Afraid Of The Pupils was an interesting idea taken too far and The Operation would've been a decent album track if it hadn't been for the 20 minute drum solo, but otherwise dreadful. The critics had it right. Verdict: Neither.
Maladjusted: Bad title, awful cover. I very nearly didn't bother with this. With hindsight, the title track is fantastic, Trouble Loves Me would've been a career highlight if he'd ditched the rhyming dictionary and Ambitious Outsiders was one of the most powerful things he's done; the rest of it was the sort of stodgy rubbish that made the nineties such an artistic nadir. Verdict: both.
Quarry: Proof he still had it, even if he'd lost his edge as a lyricist. This is the last album of his that has really held my attention. It's flawed, and his refusal to stump up for a string section still irks but, together with A Grand Don't Come For Free, this was my soundtrack to 2004. Great suit on the sleeve, too. Verdict: underrated.
Ringleader: If you waved the track listing in front of me, I doubt I'd be able to tell you what a single one of these songs sounded like. All the more disappointing for the Tony Visconti production credit. Verdict: overrated.
Refusal: A decent pop album. Nothing special, but consistent. I'd never make a point of listening to any of these tracks, but when the come up on my iPod I don't skip them. And Jeff Beck's solo on Black Cloud sounds a bit like the theme tune to The Bill. Verdict: underrated.
World Peace: He'd become a parody of a parody of himself by now, to the extent I wouldn't have bought this myself. As it was, my wife surprised me, but not as much as Mozza and the gang. This was his most sonically inventive album since Strangeways and, in Oboe Concerto, it had the best album closer since Speedway. It wasn't quite enough to make up for the embarrassing comments in the press but, as compensation for years of putting up with Morrissey , it left me feeling more like Mike Joyce than Andy Rourke. Verdict: underrated.
Low In High School: Who knows? I'm still hoping I won't succumb to morbid curiosity and buy it, but I'm weak and, in the absence of a new album from Half Man Half Biscuit, I rather suspect I will. Based on the pattern above, it's bound to be a dead duck but he's surprised me before so I'm hoping he'll pull it off again.
Bona Drag-Not sure whether you'd count it as an album or not, but pretty strong throughout with only the odd weak track-lucky lisp, I'm thinking of you. Verdict: Neither.
Kill Uncle-Some terrific stuff, but insubstantial and badly sequenced on the whole. As someone said above, it might have made a decent EP, though, more realistically, perhaps a fairly good CD1 and CD2 for Mute Witness. Verdict: Neither.
Your Arsenal-This was his current album when I started getting into him. For some reason, it never did it for me. All of the songs are good (except Tomorrow, I can't stand Tomorrow) but I always preferred the Beethoven was Deaf versions (sorry, Ronno). Nowadays, this is the one pre-comeback album which I never listen to. Verdict: Overrated.
Vauxhall and I: Loved it at the time, but in all honesty, who good can an album be when it contains Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself? And I Am Hated For Living. A collection of homogenous filler bookended by two killer tracks. Verdict: Overrated.
Southpaw: Lazy and uninspired. The Teachers Are Afraid Of The Pupils was an interesting idea taken too far and The Operation would've been a decent album track if it hadn't been for the 20 minute drum solo, but otherwise dreadful. The critics had it right. Verdict: Neither.
Maladjusted: Bad title, awful cover. I very nearly didn't bother with this. With hindsight, the title track is fantastic, Trouble Loves Me would've been a career highlight if he'd ditched the rhyming dictionary and Ambitious Outsiders was one of the most powerful things he's done; the rest of it was the sort of stodgy rubbish that made the nineties such an artistic nadir. Verdict: both.
Quarry: Proof he still had it, even if he'd lost his edge as a lyricist. This is the last album of his that has really held my attention. It's flawed, and his refusal to stump up for a string section still irks but, together with A Grand Don't Come For Free, this was my soundtrack to 2004. Great suit on the sleeve, too. Verdict: underrated.
Ringleader: If you waved the track listing in front of me, I doubt I'd be able to tell you what a single one of these songs sounded like. All the more disappointing for the Tony Visconti production credit. Verdict: overrated.
Refusal: A decent pop album. Nothing special, but consistent. I'd never make a point of listening to any of these tracks, but when the come up on my iPod I don't skip them. And Jeff Beck's solo on Black Cloud sounds a bit like the theme tune to The Bill. Verdict: underrated.
World Peace: He'd become a parody of a parody of himself by now, to the extent I wouldn't have bought this myself. As it was, my wife surprised me, but not as much as Mozza and the gang. This was his most sonically inventive album since Strangeways and, in Oboe Concerto, it had the best album closer since Speedway. It wasn't quite enough to make up for the embarrassing comments in the press but, as compensation for years of putting up with Morrissey , it left me feeling more like Mike Joyce than Andy Rourke. Verdict: underrated.
Low In High School: Who knows? I'm still hoping I won't succumb to morbid curiosity and buy it, but I'm weak and, in the absence of a new album from Half Man Half Biscuit, I rather suspect I will. Based on the pattern above, it's bound to be a dead duck but he's surprised me before so I'm hoping he'll pull it off again.
Eustace Walks
Well-Known Member
Overrated: World Peace - I say this because I literally cannot stand any of it bar Staircase and Oboe Concerto, the latter of which is just phenomenal - even more so for its dire context. I thought his whole narrow world-view thing was really obnoxious, and I don't know; the spirit of the sentimentalist I love seemed to be retired almost entirely here. So much so, that I couldn't get excited about the instrumentation - so any praise of this record lands with a thud for me...
Underrated: Southpaw Grammar - this album is so gnarly, and experimental, and sprawling. I love the gritty guitar textures, I love the symphonic sampling on Teachers and I think it's yielded some really funny lyrics - the stanley knives thing in Reader; insecurity at the urinal in Boy Racer, a proper Britpop belter. I love this album.
^ All of the above being, of course, entirely subjective!!
Underrated: Southpaw Grammar - this album is so gnarly, and experimental, and sprawling. I love the gritty guitar textures, I love the symphonic sampling on Teachers and I think it's yielded some really funny lyrics - the stanley knives thing in Reader; insecurity at the urinal in Boy Racer, a proper Britpop belter. I love this album.
^ All of the above being, of course, entirely subjective!!
ExpectingToFly
Active Member
Really interesting to read other people's opinions, it's funny how we're all fans and yet have wildly different opinions on the albums/songs! Some people aren't much of a fan of Vauxhall and I, for me it's just perfect!
Ringleader doesn't get a lot of love. Again, maybe it's because it came out around the time I was a newish fan, but I think it's a pretty decent album. It sort of falls off a cliff after Life Is A Pigsty but it's pretty solid before that in my view.
Have never been a fan of Maladjusted. Save about three or four songs, I find it pretty dross. People often say Kill Uncle is his worst, but I think Maladjusted beats it. I think Kill Uncle has some really great songs on it, but it feels let down by the production - a lot of those songs sort of came alive when played live.
Ringleader doesn't get a lot of love. Again, maybe it's because it came out around the time I was a newish fan, but I think it's a pretty decent album. It sort of falls off a cliff after Life Is A Pigsty but it's pretty solid before that in my view.
Have never been a fan of Maladjusted. Save about three or four songs, I find it pretty dross. People often say Kill Uncle is his worst, but I think Maladjusted beats it. I think Kill Uncle has some really great songs on it, but it feels let down by the production - a lot of those songs sort of came alive when played live.
Eustace Walks
Well-Known Member
Papa Jack man... god-damn... I mean, I was like fourteen and listening on the bus on the way to school, so hardly a connoisseur, but that's a shockingly bad song
ZOOM FROM GLOOM
LASCIATE OGNI SPERANZA!
D
Deleted member 1074
Guest
So, like, 2 weeks ago?
Underrated: Ringleader of the Tormentors. I was tempted to put Southpaw Grammar here but I tend to feel ROTT is a better album and not appreciated as a whole. You have a great opener in "I Will See You in Far-Off Places", great slower tune in "Dear God, Please Help Me", fan favorite single "You Have Killed Me" as well as a lot of other quite solid songs like "The Youngest Was the Most Loved", "In the Future When All's Well" and my personal favorite off the album and one of my favorite Moz songs in general, "Life Is a Pigsty".
Overrated: Viva Hate. Very solid debut solo album that I still like a lot but I feel aside from the few singles that everyone knows and loves it hasn't aged well and there's a few songs here that are clunkers. I think "Late Night, Maudlin Street" and "Margaret on the Guillotine" are both standouts but "Dial-a-Cliche" and "The Ordinary Boys" are low points. I'd put Viva Hate towards the middle of my top Moz albums list. Good but not amazing.
Overrated: Viva Hate. Very solid debut solo album that I still like a lot but I feel aside from the few singles that everyone knows and loves it hasn't aged well and there's a few songs here that are clunkers. I think "Late Night, Maudlin Street" and "Margaret on the Guillotine" are both standouts but "Dial-a-Cliche" and "The Ordinary Boys" are low points. I'd put Viva Hate towards the middle of my top Moz albums list. Good but not amazing.
A
Anonymous
Guest
Agreed.
countthree
Well-Known Member
Thanks
George the 23rd
Still-Mostly-Mute Witness
Time to disagree entirely with the above posters....
Most underrated for me is definitely Maladjusted, which other than the excretable Sorrow Will Come in the End (mercifully omitted in the original UK release) I find to be a great Morrissey album. You've got the heaviness of the title track, a classic single in Alma Matters, one of his best ballads with Trouble Loves Me and possibly his most positive song in Ammunition. Roy's Keen and Satan Rejected My Soul are great fun pop tracks, and Alain's harmonies shine throughout, particularly on the oft-derided Papa Jack. I see it as Morrissey's Britpop album, had it been released a year or two earlier before the court case and at the height of Britpop (and with a better cover) I think it would've fared much better critically and comercially.
As for overrated, I would say Ringleader. The first two tracks are great, but I've never seen the appeal of You Have Killed Me and from there it descends into monotonous chug-rock.
Most underrated for me is definitely Maladjusted, which other than the excretable Sorrow Will Come in the End (mercifully omitted in the original UK release) I find to be a great Morrissey album. You've got the heaviness of the title track, a classic single in Alma Matters, one of his best ballads with Trouble Loves Me and possibly his most positive song in Ammunition. Roy's Keen and Satan Rejected My Soul are great fun pop tracks, and Alain's harmonies shine throughout, particularly on the oft-derided Papa Jack. I see it as Morrissey's Britpop album, had it been released a year or two earlier before the court case and at the height of Britpop (and with a better cover) I think it would've fared much better critically and comercially.
As for overrated, I would say Ringleader. The first two tracks are great, but I've never seen the appeal of You Have Killed Me and from there it descends into monotonous chug-rock.
Daddys Voice
Member
Underrated - Southpaw Grammar
I enjoy it all the way through.
Overrated - You are the Quarry
Polished with 15 miles of shit.
Every album has songs I love regardless.
ROTT - I actually love 'At Last I Am Born' but little else.
I enjoy it all the way through.
Overrated - You are the Quarry
Polished with 15 miles of shit.
Every album has songs I love regardless.
ROTT - I actually love 'At Last I Am Born' but little else.
Overrated - Certainly among the fans, Southpaw Grammar is the most overrated. Almost no interesting lyrical ideas and more than half of the album given to the band for instrumental sections. Most of the songs are also twice as long as they should be. It always makes me chuckle when fans start talking about this as if it were part of a golden age.
Underrated - Either World Peace or Years of Refusal among the fans. Neither are Morrissey's best solo albums, but they are certainly superior to several in Morrissey's career. I remember when Wolrd Peace was released that some tried to claim that it was weaker than Kill Uncle. Yeah, right...
Underrated - Either World Peace or Years of Refusal among the fans. Neither are Morrissey's best solo albums, but they are certainly superior to several in Morrissey's career. I remember when Wolrd Peace was released that some tried to claim that it was weaker than Kill Uncle. Yeah, right...
Sidnettle
Death to Racists
Quarry most overrated (I hate it)
Vauxhall also overrated but far better than Quarry
Kill Uncle and Maladjusted have their flaws but much better than other albums
Southpaw is not as bad as people make out and if you replaced Boy Racer and Dagenham Dave with
You Must Please Remember and Nobody Loves Us (and ditch the silly drum solo) you have a pretty solid album
(∴ underrated)
Vauxhall also overrated but far better than Quarry
Kill Uncle and Maladjusted have their flaws but much better than other albums
Southpaw is not as bad as people make out and if you replaced Boy Racer and Dagenham Dave with
You Must Please Remember and Nobody Loves Us (and ditch the silly drum solo) you have a pretty solid album
(∴ underrated)
Bhoy_least_likely_to
Member
I've never really liked YATQ. always thought ROTT was a cracker and is overlooked by most people
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