B
Belligerent Ghoul
Guest
I could, and any single one of us could write a song by song breakdown of each of these albums, pitting Trouble Loves Me against Boy Racer on a high note, or perhaps Paja Jack vs. The Teachers Are Afraid of The Pupils on a lower note. I have thought long and hard about this post, normally I just wing it. Initially I wanted to prove to you why Southpaw was the better album by elevating it, and putting Maladjusted down. Clever? I think not. Then I thought instead of taking a song by song approach, I'll take a holistic one. Now I am at this place, and this is where I shall remain.
I like every Smiths album and every Morrissey album ever released. For Moz, I love Viva, Bona, Arsenal & Vauxhall equally. I like K. Uncle, & Southpaw & Maladjusted.
My sense, to be as simple as possible, is that Southpaw was better produced. We can talk about Southpaw's edge vs. Maladjusted tamer tone, or mostly Alain's music, or Morrissey's ability to pen and deliver (two very distinct things) his lyrics in each album until we are blue in the face.
What I HEAR, is that Lillywhite was able to capture the Southpaw sessions such that, whatever you think of them, and I think they are terrific, that energy was transferred over to the actual recording and remains like that in perpetuity.
By contrast, Maladjusted, just sounds to me like it was recorded with muffled drum, the songs sound flat, the band uninspired, or at least on several tracks. I don't find the production lacking in Southpaw. I hear a band that was like a fine oiled machine on Southpaw, and I don't hear that on Maladjusted.
So all things hypothetically, music, lyrics, Moz's delivery, being equal, I think Lillywhite was not able to capture the sound in the right way, or that the studio sessions themselves were somewhat lackluster on Maladjusted.
This has been IMHO. Please forget it as quickly as you read it.
I like every Smiths album and every Morrissey album ever released. For Moz, I love Viva, Bona, Arsenal & Vauxhall equally. I like K. Uncle, & Southpaw & Maladjusted.
My sense, to be as simple as possible, is that Southpaw was better produced. We can talk about Southpaw's edge vs. Maladjusted tamer tone, or mostly Alain's music, or Morrissey's ability to pen and deliver (two very distinct things) his lyrics in each album until we are blue in the face.
What I HEAR, is that Lillywhite was able to capture the Southpaw sessions such that, whatever you think of them, and I think they are terrific, that energy was transferred over to the actual recording and remains like that in perpetuity.
By contrast, Maladjusted, just sounds to me like it was recorded with muffled drum, the songs sound flat, the band uninspired, or at least on several tracks. I don't find the production lacking in Southpaw. I hear a band that was like a fine oiled machine on Southpaw, and I don't hear that on Maladjusted.
So all things hypothetically, music, lyrics, Moz's delivery, being equal, I think Lillywhite was not able to capture the sound in the right way, or that the studio sessions themselves were somewhat lackluster on Maladjusted.
This has been IMHO. Please forget it as quickly as you read it.
