Morrissey's most overrated and underrated album

[Bluebirds]

Maladjusted came at a point where music was just getting bad all around. The college rock/alternative/grunge thing had been co-opeted and watered down to the point where you had overly earnest sensitive growlers like Live and Bush at the top of the charts and it was all starting to swing very strongly back into mindless pop territory, and the less said about Nu metal, the better. Most bands that I would consider Morrissey's peers struggled to maintain exposure and fan base in the late 90's because it all seemed to turn to shit somewhere in the middle of the decade and left bands without a compass.
Maladjusted had some really corny numbers- IE: Roy's Keen, Satan rejected my soul, etc, but it had some strong songs as well. Alma Matters is as good as anything he's done, but the timing and album cover were piss poor.

1997 was a fantastic year for music.
OK Computer
Fat of the Land
Vanishing Point
Ladies and Gentleman We Are Floating In Space
Either/Or
The Boatman's Call

 

[Bluebirds]

Vauxhall and I isn't (for me) just about the songs. It works as a long-playing record. It is easily the equal of his previous band's work. It's luxurious, resigned yet comforting. Morrissey will never surpass this record imo.

Most underrated is Bona Drag but that's not a proper LP so I'd have to say Maladjusted. It's an album that has improved with the passing of time and I would say the reissue is, for once, arguably better than the original.

 

[Gregor Samsa]

Underrated: Maladjusted.
- Warm, melodic, melancholy, personal and earnest. Musically it's Vauxhall with muscles.

Overrated: WPINOYB
- Lyrically somewhat poor (with some magnificent exceptions), and with too many "meh"-like songs. The title track is his worst ever song.

 

[Quando quando quando]

I tried to listen to You are the Quarry this morning and I cringe through half the songs. Then I got thinking about Years of Refusal and realized it's my favorite since VauxHall and I.
I just love it all the way through. It seems more confident than the previous three albums and it's a lot more fun to listen to.
Ringleader seems like the last in a Trilogy starting with Kill Uncle, then Maladjusted. His least impressive stuff. Although the first two had some great material.

I seriously have a hard time with the cold, claustrophobic sound of Ringleader. It doesn't feel alive.

Also which boy does he want to see happy so damn much?
Is it Dagenham Dave or Keen Roy?

Is he full of tears and singing about the loneliness of his heart? Still?

“Boy Happy” IS about himself of course.

Really digged “Ringleader” for just 4 or 5 exceptional songs despite the strange and uneven production sound.

Far-Off Places
The Father Who Must Be Killed
Life IS A Pigsty
On The Streets I Ran
At Last I Am Born

Exceptional tracks and “Life IS A Pigsty” is a monument of a song.
Maybe number one of my all time favourite Moz songs.

Still like to relisten to all his music and still find songs that for a sudden unknown reason really appeals to me when I wasn’t that bothered much at first listening to them.

A great joy and pleasure!

 

[Quando quando quando]

Overrated - Vauxhall & I
Underrated - Southpaw Grammar

Agreed about “Southpaw”.

 

[MozIsGod]

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.

Definitely agree with you regarding Maladjusted. IMO, Quarry is the most overrated as it had two great singles, a lot of filler, but the b-sides made up for it. My opinion is the reversal of what Mark Simpson thinks; he said in the Jewel in the Crown DVD, "[Quarry] is the better album than Maladjusted, but it's not much different."