Morrissey - Kill Uncle - 1991

Sandwiched between two of Morrissey's best albums - Bona Drag (a comp, I know) and Your Arsenal, comes this little number that was as dull as a square ball.  Nothing there, no fun, not going much of anywhere.  BUT, it is still Morrissey, and I will still have it and keep it and listen to it when I feel the mood creep over me.  All of the b-sides, but I kept a couple of mixes off, just to keep it real.

Morrissey - Kill Uncle - 1991

Untitled - A Compilation

This is the track listing from the very first time I sat down to make a real mixtape.  I was probably 18 or 19, and had dabbled with taping my favorite songs off of the radio or other tapes.  But those other tapes were cobbled together with no rhyme or reason, just a hodge podge of miscellaneous tracks that I had put onto tape so I could listen to them in my Walkman when I was out.  I mean, you can't very well take a record player out with you.

At the time I made this tape, you can look at the track listing and see that a lot of fantastic material had been released pretty much all at once.  I had my favorite tracks from every album release by these artists, and I wanted to listen to them all, without having to haul 10-12 tapes/CDs around with me, trading them out as each track ended.  So, I pulled my favorites, and sat listening to them, then arranging them in a way that sounded good.  Back then, you didn't have any music on your computer (if you even had a computer), so it wasn't like you could load the tracks in your WinAmp and hit shuffle.  No, this was a very careful and deliberate process that took a while for me to come up with the right arrangement.

I made the tape, though, and used it in my car, listened to it while I mowed the yard, and played it when I went to friends' houses.  It was pretty good.

I've rearranged some of the tracks as years have gone by - only added the Ian McCulloch about 1998 and traded the Cocteau Twins track from Heaven Or Las Vegas to Dials (and then plugged it on the end of the mix).  But, as for the rest, this is the same setup I made back in 1990-91.  And, I still listen to it about every other month or so, to this day.  To me, this comp represents the best these groups had to offer, at the peak of their popularity.  Every song is quintessential to what these groups/artists are.  They are all lush, romantic, and full of emotion.  They are perfectly written, and perfectly performed.

To this day, I still don't have a name for this collection.  It's still, to this very moment, Untitled.  But, to me, that might be the best way of describing it, too.

Untitled

Smiths - The Queen Is Dead - 1986

SO, my second favorite Smiths album, with several of my favorite Smiths songs.  Big Mouth, Ask, Boy with a Thorn, and Some Girls Are Bigger.  ALL are classic, CLASSIC Post Punk and classic Smiths.  For me, this was their break out/breakthrough album right before they went huge, and then imploded.  I was never a huge Smiths fan, but I really got into this album in late 96 and early 97.  I was working in Ames, Iowa for a restaurant chain as management trouble shooter.  I'd travel from Ames to Des Moines to Nebraska and back working for this chain in their stores, staying in hotels and racking miles up on my vehicle.  I was living in Nebraska at the time, working far from home, and had plenty of alone time in the car to listen to music.  I played this album time after time after time after time, memorizing it from the first note to the last breath.

Don't get me wrong, I think - by FAR - that Strangeways is a much better album.  But this one was an album that touched me when I was alone at a time when I needed people close to me.  My wife and I had only been married for 4 or 5 months, and then I was on the road for 5 months straight.  I think that it affected us in ways that still stay with us today. And this album was there for me (along with Monaco's first album, Radiohead's Ok Computer and D2's Medazzland.)

Of course, I've added all the time period appropriate singles with their b-sides, so we have a more complete picture of the year this came out.  The single sleeve images are fantastic, and I wouldn't mind using them elsewhere, but that's for other posts and collections.  I slightly augmented the color of the original cover image to give it a little more definition, not so dark.

But, you should like the arrangement here.  It flows naturally, and you won't have to change your disc for a full hour!  I don't know if I can handle an hour of the Smiths in one sitting.  I guess unless I'm at their concert, and that sure as hell ain't happening...

Smiths - The Queen Is Dead - 1986

Morrissey - Southpaw Grammar - 1995

After becoming mainstream with Vauxhall, I was a tad nervous of this release.  I didn't want it to change his music and style as it did with New Order, Depeche Mode and Cure.  Well, I wasn't disappointed.  In fact, I think he purposefully avoided that with his elongated compositions in Teachers and Southpaw, on opposite ends of the albums.  To be honest, I never liked those particular tracks, as they seemed to drag on forever without point.

I got this album on cassette at Best Buy, back when they still sold cassettes and had a huge music department.  It never really stood out as an album for me, but I really liked Reader and Dave individually.  These two (and Boy Racer) would probably be on a Morrissey GH album, if I ever decided to make one.  Just another mid-90s album that got lost in the glut of "alternative" releases from that time.

This is the album and all of the B-Sides, and I think there's even a demo or unreleased in there, too.  I never cared for the original cover, so i made this one that looks pretty cool, and could even pass for a real Morrissey cover.

Have at it...

Morrissey - Southpaw Grammar - 1995

Morrissey - Bona Drag - 1987-1989

Bona Drag is a wonderful collection of singles released between 1987 and 1989.  Wiki has the best descriptions as to what was on it and why, whole little back story included.  This was my first exposure to Morrissey solo, and it's what kept me with him through good and bad to today.  This collection set the standard.

I reworked this collection as a mix of the original release, the 2010 re-release, some additional random b-sides that had been left off, some demos, and finally some unreleased tracks.  All of them are pretty easy to find, so don't get to worked up about finding that long lost hidden treasure, it isn't here.  But as for treasures, this one abounds.  I can think of six without even looking at the track listing.

I preferred the picture sleeve of the EDILS single over the original Bona Drag release.  I feel the pic totally captures the spirit and the mood that is Morrissey.  His handsome face, yet he raises his hand to hide it.  Classic.  And his hair looks great, too.  As for the back, I just took a standard stock pic of marbleized paper art from the internet, and it worked.

Morrissey - Bona Drag - 1987-1989

Morrissey - Vauxhall & Maladjusted

So, if I was starting this blog posting my FAVORITE albums by my favorite artists, I probably wouldn't be posting these two, for Morrissey.  I've always had a special place in my heart for Bona Drag, since it first came out.  But, since it's been "remastered" "remixed" "re-released with bonus tracks", I haven't been able to go through the album again and rearrange it.  As you all know, Bona Drag was a collection of Morrissey's singles up to that point, with b-sides and all.  Well, lovely, that's right up my alley!  Now, though, there are a bunch of new tracks that I'm still not familiar enough with to make a final track order.

BUT, when these two were remastered, there wasn't much new that I didn't already have, so they were both easily completed.

Two very solid, yet easily forgettable Morrissey albums.  Don't get me wrong, I love them both, but there's nothing on these two that really make the stand out.

Of course, Vauxhall & I is Morrissey's American alternative break out album, released just when alternative music became mainstream in the US.  The More You Ignore Me became the alternative radio go-to for Morrissey, sandwiched right in between Matthew Sweet's "Baby We're the Same" and Spin Doctors "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong".  So, you can see how this album can easily be sullied simply by association with the music it was surrounded with....

Maladjusted was another story, though.  When this album came out, I was troubleshooting Boston Market restaurants in Des Moines and Ames Iowa.  We were seeing a shrinking of record labels.  Alternative music in the US was dying slowly whilke the music scene becoming more and more saturated with boy bands, "Electronica", R&B and "Industrial Metal".  A brief look at the remaining big alternative acts sees an aging population of artists beginning to reveal that they may have maxed out their creativity.  New Order had broken up, Depeche Mode had become an industrial band, Cure had one decent song off of their Mood Swings album, and even that was a pop hook giveaway.  Underworld was big, Chemical Brothers was bigger, Orbital was freeking HUGE, and Prodigy was, well, they were trying too. 

Anyway, Maladjusted appeared without any fanfare, and was rumored to be Morrissey's last.  It had a harder, rawer edge than most of his other material, and it seemed as if it would be a fitting exit.  My wife and I got together with another couple that we enjoyed doing things with, let's say their names were "Tim and Robin".  Anyway, we got together with Tim and Robin to go to Lawrence Kansas to see Morrissey play at this little venue there in college town.  It was open seating (actually standing), and only accommodated 500-700 people TOPS.  We weren't right up in front, but we were close enough to see Morrissey sweat.  And it was a GOOD THING.  Anyway, we were just getting into the groove, when he wraps it up.  We look at each other, and we were like "Is this intermission?" Only 45-50 minutes.  Not even an hour.  I mean, there wasn't even an encore! Yeah, we heard "Shoplifters of the World", and Interesting Drug, but you'd think he'd play for more than that!  We go outside and wait by his bus, with the rest of the crowd.  Someone shouts a distraction, and suddenly I see his head duck into the bus door and he was gone. 

Since that time, I've seen plenty of live performances online or whatnot, but that was my only "live" live performance.  Meh, maybe I was a little disappointed, but I DID get to see him.  And, that's all that matters.

Morrissey - Vauxhall & I - 1994

Morrissey - Maladjusted - 1997