Actually, I almost agree, to an extent. But let's clarify some stuff since none of has anything better to do:
1) The production lets it down. It's unmistakably late 80s, and so most of the songs now sound dated. This will happen to Quarry because like Viva Hate was very 1988, Quarry is very 2004.
2) The bass noise intro on "Alsation Cousin" is excellent.
3) "Leather elbows on a tweed coat oh, is that the best you can do?" one of the funniest lines ever.
4) "Little Man What Now?" is a bit silly.
5) "Everyday is Like Sunday" sounds not so great on that album now, the live versions are always miles better. I was tiring of it until I saw him perform it on Wossy.
6) "Bengali in Platforms" still stands up and has some good lines.
7) "Angel" is boring, OTT, and crap. Sorry all you people operating at the emotional intelligence level of a 14 year old schoolgirl.
eight) "Late Night, Maudlin Street" is excellent poetry but no song.
9) "Suedehead"- his best single? Best refrains? Very probably. Untouchable.
10) "Break Up The Family" is the one tune that actually REALLY benefits from the late 80s production values on it, and it's an excellent tune anyway.
11) "The Ordinary Boys" is a good laugh.
12) "I Don't Mind If You Forget Me" isn't worth a wank. There I said it. This is the "Do Your Best And Don't Worry" of this album.
13) "Dial-A-Cliche" is eminently quotable, funny and a memorable tune anyway.
12) "Margaret On The Guilitine" has balls and I like it.
So basically you are right to say it's overrated, I think, but not to the degree you claim. It's still a very good album, a 4 star effort but several things let it down. Lots of people just seem to be very emotionally attached to this album, probably because they were a certain age when it came out.
And if we're honest, that's probably the reason we like "Vauxhall" so much, even though the difference of course, is that we're right. LOL!
*prepares to be flamed and destroyed*
> Viva Hate is an overrated collection of "songs", with about
> three half decent tracks on it and the rest being blippy bloppy waste of
> time with Moz talking about NOTHING but how much he misses Johnny Marr.
> There. I got it off my chest. But I can only imagine the users of these
> forum will decend on me rather violently now.
> (Vauxhall & I foreverrrrrrrr)
