The Guardian: Clive Langer interview with mention of Morrissey (January 29, 2025)

Fantastic interview with Clive Langer, some great anecdotes.

Morrissey mention:
Morrissey was another client, and “working with him was brilliant, because he didn’t write his own music, so I could either co-write the songs [including November Spawned a Monster] or shape them. But he would invite guests to the studio then disappear to his room. I’d have to look after them, thinking, ‘Who are these people?’”

From everyone's favourite UK newspaper

 
Kinda crazy how many different
folks gave Moz music and he made
a great song out of it.


Exactly. Morrissey may not "write his own music" but he has a musicality that totally transforms a song with his vocal melody and arrangement. Take Irish Blood, English Heart, listen to the original song (Not angry, just bored or whatever it was called) and Morrissey makes it into his own masterpiece...Clive Langer is taking a bit too much credit here, November spawned a Monster may be brilliant but Kill Uncle as a whole is a f***ing awful album.
 
Exactly. Morrissey may not "write his own music" but he has a musicality that totally transforms a song with his vocal melody and arrangement. Take Irish Blood, English Heart, listen to the original song (Not angry, just bored or whatever it was called) and Morrissey makes it into his own masterpiece...Clive Langer is taking a bit too much credit here, November spawned a Monster may be brilliant but Kill Uncle as a whole is a f***ing awful album.
There are some great songs on that album. He should have stayed with Stephen Street. To make Viva Hate and then ditch the producer who helped make that album with you, was madness. It took his career a while to recover from that decision. It took Mick Ronson.
 
Exactly. Morrissey may not "write his own music" but he has a musicality that totally transforms a song with his vocal melody and arrangement. Take Irish Blood, English Heart, listen to the original song (Not angry, just bored or whatever it was called) and Morrissey makes it into his own masterpiece...Clive Langer is taking a bit too much credit here, November spawned a Monster may be brilliant but Kill Uncle as a whole is a f***ing awful album.

Kill Uncle ain't a fav, but it still has
it's own kinda charm.
Moz was goin' through a in-between
period and that's kinda what the album
sounds like.
King Leer shoulda been the single.
Actually gonna have to listen to Kill
Uncle now, cause it's been a couple.
 
Kill Uncle ain't a fav, but it still has
it's own kinda charm.
Moz was goin' through a in-between
period and that's kinda what the album
sounds like.
King Leer shoulda been the single.
Actually gonna have to listen to Kill
Uncle now, cause it's been a couple.
In hindsight, Kill Uncle seems incongruous with where Morrissey wanted to be at the time. You can see the difference clearly in the album vs KROQ version of "There is a Place in Hell...," and in how the songs were played live on the Kill Uncle tour vs album versions. I've always criticized the producers as being a major problem, but in fairness, I don't think Morrissey knew where he wanted to go until he had the new band. Then, of course, with the band in place, it was fully realized with Your Arsenal.
 
In hindsight, Kill Uncle seems incongruous with where Morrissey wanted to be at the time. You can see the difference clearly in the album vs KROQ version of "There is a Place in Hell...," and in how the songs were played live on the Kill Uncle tour vs album versions. I've always criticized the producers as being a major problem, but in fairness, I don't think Morrissey knew where he wanted to go until he had the new band. Then, of course, with the band in place, it was fully realized with Your Arsenal.

The songs just weren't there. There's half an album at best.
 
The songs just weren't there. There's half an album at best.

I agree but I think several things came together tragically for Kill Uncle. Mark Nevin said he gave Morrissey what he intended as rough stretches of songs to be further developed. Instead, Morrissey used them as-is. There were better songs used as b-sides and singles like Tony the Pony, My Love Life, and I've Changed My Plea To Guilty that would have vastly improved Kill Uncle. I don't know if some of those came about too late to be included on Kill Uncle or they just didn't know what they had at the time.

In any case, it seemed to be the kick in the butt he needed to rebound with Your Arsenal. His disdain for Kill Uncle was apparent by its immediate exclusion on the very next tour. Thankfully due to Alain, we got Our Frank again for a brief period.
 
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And yet so many people who have got into Morrissey in more recent times, rate Kill Uncle highly. There is something disarming and 'pop' about the songs, and the production. Maybe it is Morrissey's most accessible album, so a good entry point into the strange and wonderful world of Morrissey? No one would recommend Southpaw Grammar, for axample, as a good place to start if you were new to Morrissey.
 
I think Kill Uncle wouldn't seem so bad if it didn't come after Viva Hate and Bona Drag, then followed by Your Arsenal. On it's own, it's not a bad album, but my God, I hate Sing Your Life. My Love Life should have made it on the album and it should have been a proper duet with Chrissie Hynde, that song is perfect for her voice and she and Morrissey would have sounded amazing together.
 
And langer f***ed up a lot of mark e nevin songs…..if I was mark I would have been kin fuming. Mark wrote the music langer and his mate winstanley butchered his music so it sounded like a madness album….apparently Morrissey wanted a madness sound to the music…it wasn’t his music to piss about with. Mark nevin should be allowed to go back and mix the songs how he wanted them to sound….imagine Johnny having that shit pulled on him, well it would not happen would it. I wonder what kill uncle could have sounded like if these two bellend producers hadn’t got their hands on it.
 
In hindsight, Kill Uncle seems incongruous with where Morrissey wanted to be at the time. You can see the difference clearly in the album vs KROQ version of "There is a Place in Hell...," and in how the songs were played live on the Kill Uncle tour vs album versions. I've always criticized the producers as being a major problem, but in fairness, I don't think Morrissey knew where he wanted to go until he had the new band. Then, of course, with the band in place, it was fully realized with Your Arsenal.
Yeah it’s fair to say he was goin through a ‘in-between period’. And probably the burden of what to do in regards to touring again and what band, with pressure from the record company, I could imagine also played a role in that. But to add, Morrissey being the troublemaker that he charmingly is, I think got a kick out of going against the grain, moving in that music direction which clashed with the music scene in Britain at the time. Would have been great if Mick Ronson produced Uncle instead, now that would have been something.

On another note, I didn’t care for the KROQ sessions, preferring the piano version of There is a Place, etc. Also feel the same way about Angel, preferring the Viva Hate version.

Went ahead and listened to Kill Uncle
(the US version with the Tony bonus).
After the first listen, I really loved it.
Was surprised how I still remembered
all the words to the songs.
Also thought the production was really
good and had a lot of fun little details.
Kill Uncle is kinda like a weird little art pop record.
I heard it was against the grain of all the
stuff like Happy Mondays, but never really paid much attention to that stuff,
so I'm not really sure.
Sing Your Life sounds like a updated version of rockabilly, so Moz was kinda
plantin' the seeds of the future.
Still think King Leer shoulda been the
first single.
After the second listen I still liked it, but
wasn't really interested in hearin' it again.
It's not the best Moz, but it's a fun record
to listen to every once in awhile.
 
Went ahead and listened to Kill Uncle
(the US version with the Tony bonus).
After the first listen, I really loved it.
Was surprised how I still remembered
all the words to the songs.
Also thought the production was really
good and had a lot of fun little details.
Kill Uncle is kinda like a weird little art pop record.
I heard it was against the grain of all the
stuff like Happy Mondays, but never really paid much attention to that stuff,
so I'm not really sure.
Sing Your Life sounds like a updated version of rockabilly, so Moz was kinda
plantin' the seeds of the future.
Still think King Leer shoulda been the
first single.
After the second listen I still liked it, but
wasn't really interested in hearin' it again.
It's not the best Moz, but it's a fun record
to listen to every once in awhile.
i always quite liked Kill Uncle , yes its a bit slight and underproduced but there's some great little pop songs on it. only the awful Found x3 should be jettisoned !
Our frank is great , King Leer is hilarious and of course the brilliant "Driving your Girlfriend Home" . it was my first Morrissey tour ( just too young to see The Smiths ) and though the band were crap live if we are being honest the atmosphere was amazing !!
 
i always quite liked Kill Uncle , yes its a bit slight and underproduced but there's some great little pop songs on it. only the awful Found x3 should be jettisoned !
Our frank is great , King Leer is hilarious and of course the brilliant "Driving your Girlfriend Home" . it was my first Morrissey tour ( just too young to see The Smiths ) and though the band were crap live if we are being honest the atmosphere was amazing !!

Always thought of Kill Uncle as havin'
a real bare bone production, but after
listenin' to it with a good pair of
headphones, the production sounded
really good. Lots of weird little music
parts under the surface. Gonna have
to listen to the updated version next
time and see how that sounds.
 
Kill Uncle is sensitive and beautiful and charming beyond words, not to mention completely captivating then, and completely captivating now.

It’s unique and it’s exactly its bare simplicity and its completely unselfconscious allure that make it enthralling and otherworldly, even in 2025.

I never comment on Kill Uncle threads or on Kill Uncle commentary - because they are always - not what I’ve just said here.

I don’t know what people are looking for when they listen to this album, but this album lives and breathes, and it deserves and defends every inch that it occupies.

A time capsule. And the aggregate culmination of something that was never captured again. Certainly not in the same way, at least.

An album that clearly wasn’t setting out to do anything other than exactly what it did, and one that was never trying to be anything other than exactly what it is.

A time capsule containing a moment caught in time, and a heart kept in a box. I understand this last part, because it’s exactly where i also keep mine.
 
Exactly. Morrissey may not "write his own music" but he has a musicality that totally transforms a song with his vocal melody and arrangement. Take Irish Blood, English Heart, listen to the original song (Not angry, just bored or whatever it was called) and Morrissey makes it into his own masterpiece...Clive Langer is taking a bit too much credit here, November spawned a Monster may be brilliant but Kill Uncle as a whole is a f***ing awful album.


I love Kill Uncle...... the production is weak. Maybe Moz should get someone in to do a Legacy remix
 
I actually like Kill Uncle - Side B is awesome (on vinyl anyway) .........it is quite layered but you have to get down deep in the grooves. I also love "Sing your Life" - 12 inch single is amazing.
It just bounces along and makes me feel happy. Morrissey does rockabilly so well.
 

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