Smiths - Live in Irvine California - 1986

I've talked previously about seeing Morrissey live in Lawrence, KS during his Maladjusted tour.  A small little venue where you could feel the heat of the stage lights and see the sweat on Morrissey's brow and wonder if you could just reach out and maybe you could touch him...  Great, great show.  I'd love to have seen the group together, back in the day, during their Shoplifters tour (if they had one called that...)

Not a show that's easily found, this is a great soundboard recording that really brings the band to life.  Moz is at the top of his game, and the track selection is impeccable.  I often feel sorry for Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce, and wonder if maybe they should have hooked up with Stephen and Gillian from New Order and created their own foursome called "Star-crossed and Forelorn" or something like that.  Andy and Mike were their own little "other two" and neither did much after the split...

Found that swell picture one day, and knew I had to use it for a Smiths album....  Wouldn't you agree?

Smiths - Live in Irvine California - 1986

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

Electronic - Twisted Tenderness - 1999

Although I really liked Electronic, I still preferred Revenge and Monaco, simply due to their darker edge.  But, as always, it is Bernard's voice that always sucks me in.  And when you couple that with Mr Marr's excellent skills of writing and musicianship, Electronic's work was always top shelf.

After Raise the Pressure, I was a little nervous about how this album was going to turn out.  I never cared much for RtP, as it seemed tired and worn out.  It was as if they had phoned the performance in.  I guess they were also competing with Grunge and Britrock at the same time.  The fact that Twisted Tenderness was also only going to be released in the UK even furthered my concern.  If you can't even get a US label to pick your album up, there's got to be trouble.

Needless to say, the album was almost as good as their first one, and far better than their second.  Some of the tracks you had to warm up to, but there were other anthems that really stood out as exceptional.  The title track, Twisted Tenderness, and Late At Night are the best ones on the disc, by far.  But, nearly every track is worthy and I will always treasure the work that these guys put forth.

I hate the old man cover, so I switched it with the interior art and staggered the boxes like the LAN single sleeves.  The construction of their covers, too, make it a little odd, as the track listing is on the front.  That being said, When you look at the sleeves above, remember, the two squares go on the front, and the group shot (?) goes on the inside.

For those of you who remember when this album came out...  Can you believe it's twenty years old this year?  And, it's stood the test of time.  Great work!

Electronic - Twisted Tenderness - 1999 - Disc One

Electronic - Twisted Tenderness - 1999 - Disc Two

Smiths, The - Strangeways - 1987

I was well into loving Morrissey solo, long before I fell in love with the Smiths.  It's partially because I was into New Order, DM, OMD and the Cure during the time period that the Smiths were popular.  Plus, everyone knows that Morrissey's melodies are an acquired taste.

I never cared for the "complete-ness" of this album, as it was too short, and there were a handful of non-album singles all around it.  They complied all the singles on Louder Than Bombs, but then you had a bunch of singles, and some of the b-sides collected in a mish-mash, non-linear fashion that defied logic.

Some may think that I ruined the integrity of the album by putting all of the music from that time period on one disc like this.  I feel it is more complete, and also has a better selection of pop-hooked singles included.  Let me know if I've missed anything.

As for the covers, I've always thought the original cover was "meh".  But, some people may be attached to it.  So, I started with the original cover above, along with the single sleeves.  But, then I made another cover, and then another, as I was unable to decide which one I liked best.  So, for the first time ever, I'm offering THREE different covers for this album set.  You decide which one you like best, and use it.

ENJOY!

Smiths, The - Strangeways - 1987