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Re: The All Smiths/Morrissey Thread

Posted: 24 Jan 2019, 8:03am
by WestwayKid
Curious to know everyone's Morrissey solo LP ranking? Here's mine:

1) Vauxhall & I
2) Your Arsenal (My top-2 are very, very close)
3) Viva Hate
4) Southpaw Grammar (I'm using the remaster - but the original still would have been top-5)
5) Maladjusted (I'm again going with the remaster - the original version would have been further down the list)
6) Ringleader of the Tormentors
7) You Are the Quarry
8) Years of Refusal
9) Kill Uncle
10) Low in High School
11) World Peace is None of Your Business (This has always been a really hard album for me to get into)

I'm not including Bona Drag as it wasn't a proper album - but if you want to include it - go ahead. I'd probably slot it between Viva Hate and Southpaw.

I also used the remastered versions of Southpaw and Maladjusted because I'm buying into Morrissey's revisionist history regarding those two albums.

Low in High School might climb eventually - I'm still working on figuring that one out.

Re: The All Smiths/Morrissey Thread

Posted: 24 Jan 2019, 8:34am
by Marky Dread
WestwayKid wrote:
24 Jan 2019, 8:03am
Curious to know everyone's Morrissey solo LP ranking? Here's mine:

1) Vauxhall & I
2) Your Arsenal (My top-2 are very, very close)
3) Viva Hate
4) Southpaw Grammar (I'm using the remaster - but the original still would have been top-5)
5) Maladjusted (I'm again going with the remaster - the original version would have been further down the list)
6) Ringleader of the Tormentors
7) You Are the Quarry
8) Years of Refusal
9) Kill Uncle
10) Low in High School
11) World Peace is None of Your Business (This has always been a really hard album for me to get into)

I'm not including Bona Drag as it wasn't a proper album - but if you want to include it - go ahead. I'd probably slot it between Viva Hate and Southpaw.

I also used the remastered versions of Southpaw and Maladjusted because I'm buying into Morrissey's revisionist history regarding those two albums.

Low in High School might climb eventually - I'm still working on figuring that one out.
I would swap 1 and 2 and put You Ate the Curry at 6. Otherwise very similar.

Re: The All Smiths/Morrissey Thread

Posted: 24 Jan 2019, 8:54am
by Dr. Medulla
Southpaw
Vauxhall
Viva Hate
Arsenal
all the rest as some indistinguishable boring blob

If Bona Drag is included, maybe between Vaux and VH.

Re: The All Smiths/Morrissey Thread

Posted: 24 Jan 2019, 9:33am
by oliver
Marky Dread wrote:
23 Jan 2019, 5:57pm
Didn't he play a few dates then claim that Bowie tried to upstage him?

I know he tried to mend the rift when Visconti was producing his album. There was a plan for them both to record a cover of "You've lost that lovin' feeling".
I saw him at Wembley on that tour. He probably didn't like playing to a half empty arena with only a handful of devoted fans at the front.

Re: The All Smiths/Morrissey Thread

Posted: 24 Jan 2019, 9:44am
by WestwayKid
oliver wrote:
24 Jan 2019, 9:33am
Marky Dread wrote:
23 Jan 2019, 5:57pm
Didn't he play a few dates then claim that Bowie tried to upstage him?

I know he tried to mend the rift when Visconti was producing his album. There was a plan for them both to record a cover of "You've lost that lovin' feeling".
I saw him at Wembley on that tour. He probably didn't like playing to a half empty arena with only a handful of devoted fans at the front.
I think that was exactly it - he didn't like the poor reception he got and pulled the plug citing an illness...but then was touring in Japan a few weeks later. The proposed duet on "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" never happened because Bowie didn't want to do it. Bowie also refused to allow Morrissey to use a photo of the two as the cover for the reissue of "The Last of the Famous International Playboys" single. I recall a quote from the time where Morrissey acknowledges that he'd said some unkind things about Bowie, but that he was sure Bowie knew it was just "snot nosed junior high ribbing" on Morrissey's part.

Re: The All Smiths/Morrissey Thread

Posted: 24 Jan 2019, 11:16am
by WestwayKid
Listening to Ringleader this morning - it's a really solid album. Alain Whyte's songwriting is really, really solid - probably some of his best moments as a songwriting partner with Morrissey. "Life Is a Pigsty" is a really great track. The album sounds tough - tons of glam riffs from Whyte, Boorer and Tobias. Great rhythm section in Matt Chamberlain and Gary Day. I've always thought Morrissey sounds his best when he has a heavy hitter behind the kit - which is where an album like You are the Quarry falls short. Also - I'm not sure that Morrissey has ever recovered from the loss of Whyte. Years of Refusal was a good album...but World Peace and Low in High School haven't been as good (at least not in my opinion).

Re: The All Smiths/Morrissey Thread

Posted: 24 Jan 2019, 1:27pm
by Kory
WestwayKid wrote:
24 Jan 2019, 11:16am
Listening to Ringleader this morning - it's a really solid album. Alain Whyte's songwriting is really, really solid - probably some of his best moments as a songwriting partner with Morrissey. "Life Is a Pigsty" is a really great track. The album sounds tough - tons of glam riffs from Whyte, Boorer and Tobias. Great rhythm section in Matt Chamberlain and Gary Day. I've always thought Morrissey sounds his best when he has a heavy hitter behind the kit - which is where an album like You are the Quarry falls short. Also - I'm not sure that Morrissey has ever recovered from the loss of Whyte. Years of Refusal was a good album...but World Peace and Low in High School haven't been as good (at least not in my opinion).
Maybe he'll return like Gary Day did. Briefly.

Re: The All Smiths/Morrissey Thread

Posted: 24 Jan 2019, 2:31pm
by oliver
WestwayKid wrote:
24 Jan 2019, 9:44am
I recall a quote from the time where Morrissey acknowledges that he'd said some unkind things about Bowie, but that he was sure Bowie knew it was just "snot nosed junior high ribbing" on Morrissey's part.
This bit from Autobiography always makes me chuckle:

I meet David Bowie for breakfast at a discreet restaurant at the foot of the Hollywood Hills. Both standing at the buffet with our empty plates, David hovers over what are horrifically called ‘cold cuts’. I nestle up beside him.

‘David, you’re not actually going to eat that stuff, are you?’

Rumbled, he snaps: ‘Oh, you must be HELL to live with.’

‘Yes, I am,’ I say proudly, as David changes course and sidles off towards the fruit salad, and another soul is saved from the burning fires of self-imposed eternal damnation.

Re: The All Smiths/Morrissey Thread

Posted: 24 Jan 2019, 2:43pm
by Silent Majority
I'm pretty much a pescatarian these days, but you better believe I'll stuff my face with a beef burger if I ever find myself sitting with Morrissey at lunch.

Re: The All Smiths/Morrissey Thread

Posted: 24 Jan 2019, 3:22pm
by WestwayKid
Silent Majority wrote:
24 Jan 2019, 2:43pm
I'm pretty much a pescatarian these days, but you better believe I'll stuff my face with a beef burger if I ever find myself sitting with Morrissey at lunch.
Ha, ha - agreed!

Re: The All Smiths/Morrissey Thread

Posted: 24 Jan 2019, 3:23pm
by WestwayKid
Kory wrote:
24 Jan 2019, 1:27pm
WestwayKid wrote:
24 Jan 2019, 11:16am
Listening to Ringleader this morning - it's a really solid album. Alain Whyte's songwriting is really, really solid - probably some of his best moments as a songwriting partner with Morrissey. "Life Is a Pigsty" is a really great track. The album sounds tough - tons of glam riffs from Whyte, Boorer and Tobias. Great rhythm section in Matt Chamberlain and Gary Day. I've always thought Morrissey sounds his best when he has a heavy hitter behind the kit - which is where an album like You are the Quarry falls short. Also - I'm not sure that Morrissey has ever recovered from the loss of Whyte. Years of Refusal was a good album...but World Peace and Low in High School haven't been as good (at least not in my opinion).
Maybe he'll return like Gary Day did. Briefly.
...or Spencer Cobrin!

Re: The All Smiths/Morrissey Thread

Posted: 24 Jan 2019, 3:44pm
by Dr. Medulla
Silent Majority wrote:
24 Jan 2019, 2:43pm
I'm pretty much a pescatarian these days, but you better believe I'll stuff my face with a beef burger if I ever find myself sitting with Morrissey at lunch.
Or Chinese food with beef. May as well go full-on sub-human.

Re: The All Smiths/Morrissey Thread

Posted: 24 Jan 2019, 4:09pm
by Kory
WestwayKid wrote:
24 Jan 2019, 3:23pm
Kory wrote:
24 Jan 2019, 1:27pm
WestwayKid wrote:
24 Jan 2019, 11:16am
Listening to Ringleader this morning - it's a really solid album. Alain Whyte's songwriting is really, really solid - probably some of his best moments as a songwriting partner with Morrissey. "Life Is a Pigsty" is a really great track. The album sounds tough - tons of glam riffs from Whyte, Boorer and Tobias. Great rhythm section in Matt Chamberlain and Gary Day. I've always thought Morrissey sounds his best when he has a heavy hitter behind the kit - which is where an album like You are the Quarry falls short. Also - I'm not sure that Morrissey has ever recovered from the loss of Whyte. Years of Refusal was a good album...but World Peace and Low in High School haven't been as good (at least not in my opinion).
Maybe he'll return like Gary Day did. Briefly.
...or Spencer Cobrin!
I gotta say the new band is pretty shit-hot though, at least live. This performance on YouTube is quite energetic:


Re: The All Smiths/Morrissey Thread

Posted: 24 Jan 2019, 4:21pm
by WestwayKid
Kory wrote:
24 Jan 2019, 4:09pm
WestwayKid wrote:
24 Jan 2019, 3:23pm
Kory wrote:
24 Jan 2019, 1:27pm
WestwayKid wrote:
24 Jan 2019, 11:16am
Listening to Ringleader this morning - it's a really solid album. Alain Whyte's songwriting is really, really solid - probably some of his best moments as a songwriting partner with Morrissey. "Life Is a Pigsty" is a really great track. The album sounds tough - tons of glam riffs from Whyte, Boorer and Tobias. Great rhythm section in Matt Chamberlain and Gary Day. I've always thought Morrissey sounds his best when he has a heavy hitter behind the kit - which is where an album like You are the Quarry falls short. Also - I'm not sure that Morrissey has ever recovered from the loss of Whyte. Years of Refusal was a good album...but World Peace and Low in High School haven't been as good (at least not in my opinion).
Maybe he'll return like Gary Day did. Briefly.
...or Spencer Cobrin!
I gotta say the new band is pretty shit-hot though, at least live. This performance on YouTube is quite energetic:

No doubt - his current band is quite good live and it's always great to see Boz still rocking!

Re: The All Smiths/Morrissey Thread

Posted: 24 Jan 2019, 6:33pm
by Kory
WestwayKid wrote:
24 Jan 2019, 8:03am
Curious to know everyone's Morrissey solo LP ranking? Here's mine:

1) Vauxhall & I
2) Your Arsenal (My top-2 are very, very close)
3) Viva Hate
4) Southpaw Grammar (I'm using the remaster - but the original still would have been top-5)
5) Maladjusted (I'm again going with the remaster - the original version would have been further down the list)
6) Ringleader of the Tormentors
7) You Are the Quarry
8) Years of Refusal
9) Kill Uncle
10) Low in High School
11) World Peace is None of Your Business (This has always been a really hard album for me to get into)

I'm not including Bona Drag as it wasn't a proper album - but if you want to include it - go ahead. I'd probably slot it between Viva Hate and Southpaw.

I also used the remastered versions of Southpaw and Maladjusted because I'm buying into Morrissey's revisionist history regarding those two albums.

Low in High School might climb eventually - I'm still working on figuring that one out.
I'm going to include Bona Drag and My Early Burglary Years because I listen to them as frequently as the albums and I think they hang together just as well.

1. Your Arsenal
2. Vauxhall & I
3. Bona Drag
4. Viva Hate
5. Kill Uncle
6. My Early Burglary Years
7. Southpaw Grammar
8. Years of Refusal
9. Ringleader of the Tormentors
10. You Are the Quarry
11. Low in High School
12. Maladjusted
13. World Peace is None of Your Business