LP
CD
Tracklisting:
Side One:
1. Piccadilly Palare
2. Interesting Drug
3. November Spawned a Monster
4. Will Never Marry
5. Such A Little Thing Makes Such A Big Difference
6. The Last Of The Famous International Playboys
7. Ouija Board, Ouija Board
Side Two:
1. Hairdresser On Fire
2. Everyday Is Like Sunday
3. He Knows I'd Love To See Him
4. Yes, I Am Blind
5. Lucky Lisp
6. Suedehead
7. Disappointed
Best tracks:
Everyday Is Like Sunday
The Last of the Famous International Playboys
Hairdresser On Fire
Suedehead
Will Never Marry
Currently listening to: LP
This one was randomly selected.
And, I struck GOLD!
Oh, Moz.
It took me a fair while to get into Morrissey's solo stuff. I was pretty late to discover The Smiths as it was (I was 20, and went and saw Morrissey live in 2002. And that started the whole thing). When I first got into The Smiths, I became obsessed for a few years. In the midst of the Smiths obsession, I bought the crappy 1995 compilation, The World Of Morrissey (on cassette. For $2, no less), and didn't really care for it. In retrospect, it wasn't exactly the best introduction to Morrissey's post-Smiths work. I then bought the Hulmerist DVD, which features many of the songs from Bona Drag. I remember lying in bed watching it, late at night, and enjoying it. But, none of the songs really grabbed me. Except for, 'The Last of the Famous International Playboys', which was also on The World Of Morrissey. I fucking loved that one. In retrospect, I'm not sure why I didn't fall in love with some of these songs straight away. But, there you go. I can only put it down to the fact that it wasn't The Smiths.
Thankfully, I've seen the light. It took some time, but I got there. I had that Suedehead best-of. I think I got another album or two as time went on. I didn't mind bits and pieces. I wasn't taken with You Are The Quarry when it came out. Nor was I that taken with Ringleader Of The Tormentors when that came out, either.
Then, in 2009, Marianne Faithfull put out Easy Come, Easy Go. And covered, 'Dear God Please Help Me'. Somehow, I hadn't noticed it on Ringleader Of The Tormentors. But, I absolutely adored Marianne's version of it. I revisited Ringleader Of The Tormentors, and this time I loved it. Then, I revisited the rest of Morrissey's back catalogue. This time, it made sense to me in a way it hadn't before. Like The Smiths, I was late to the party. Who cares? I'm just glad I finally discovered the treasures contained within Moz's back catalogue (and, perhaps ashamedly, I'm not done. I still need to get my head around most of Your Arsenal, Southpaw Grammar and a few others. At least, this blog will give me an excuse to revisit those ones).
The clear winner of the lot, once I'd seen the light, was Bona Drag. Even though it was a compilation. It stuck like shit to a blanket. I loved it, and still do (though, oddly, it's been replaced by disc one of The HMV/Parlophone Singles '88-'95 as my favourite Morrissey album).
'Piccadily Palare' opens this set, and I have grown to love this one. In fact, I've grown to love all of them. It took me a long time to appreciate a lot of these songs. His first three singles, 'Suedehead', 'Everyday Is Like Sunday' and 'The Last Of The Famous International Playboys' were easy to love. 'Piccadilly Palare', 'Interesting Drug', 'Ouija Board, Ouija Board' and even 'November Spawned A Monster' took a little longer. I love them all now.
Plus, that video for 'November Spawned A Monster':
It somehow captures everything that Morrissey fans love and everything that Morrissey detractors hate. Pure poetry!
I don't understand how it took me so long to love 'Everyday Is Like Sunday'. It's one of those songs that I can't fault. I love everything about it. Even listening to the album tonight, I had to stop writing while it was on, so I could listen to it properly. It has that affect. It stops me in my tracks. Often, I'm not ashamed to admit, it will bring me to tears for no good reason. Sometimes, my favourite songs will bring a tear to my eye just for being so good, so perfect. 'Everyday Is Like Sunday' is one of those.
I was lucky enough to see Morrissey play in Manchester in 2012. As I was planning my UK trip that year, following Madonna's tour, I saw that Morrissey had announced his only UK headlining show around the same time. I decided I had to go. It felt like seeing Morrissey in his home town carried some importance. And, I wasn't disappointed. Aside from the fact that he opened the show with a few lines from Patti Smith's 'Land', the highlight of the show was 20,000 people passionately singing along to every word of 'Everyday Is Like Sunday'. It was a beautiful moment. I may have been a little teary then, too.
It was that same UK trip that I finally picked up a vinyl copy of Bona Drag. It doesn't seem to pop up much in Australian record stores, but sure enough, there it was in one of my beloved Music Exchange stores. I think this record was from the Greenwich store.
Listening to Bona Drag tonight, I realised just how how much I'm used to listening to The HMV/Parlophone Singles '88-'95. Which is basically Bona Drag-complete, and in chronological order. It's also made me really wish that Bona Drag had 'I Know Very Well How I Got My Name' (possibly my favourite Moz song) and 'Sister, I'm A Poet'. It would be the perfect distillation of Morrissey's early years, if it did (I don't know why they weren't included on the 2010 reissue). That said, Bona Drag is still the first Morrissey album I go for.
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