Morrissey - Viva Hate (re release) (Mar. 26, 2012)

Morrissey would disagree with you. He does plenty of complaining.

 

I'm aware of that. If I had had the career that he has had, I should like to think I wouldn't complain about it, but, when you're the guy who wrote "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now," complaining is built into your act.

 

To listen to "Life Is A Pigsty" you need to pass "The Father Who Must Be Killed" that is usually where I stop

 

I liked the new songs he was playing live last year which he recorded for a BBC Radio 1 Janice Long session. His live shows in the UK last June were superb. I hadn't seen him live since the Smiths but my wife is a huge fan so i went along with her and i was very impressed. Didn't like the second guitarist (not Boz) stepping forward for all those guitar solos but the man himelf was in great voice.

It does seem the case that he is impossible to work with now from a record company point of view. He seems to think everything is someone else's fault and he is being maltreated. I suppose it feeds into his longstanding persona of being hard done to by life. Seems a shame that his myriad prejudices (and also his legendary capriciousness) are now at such a level that he is completely unable to forge any longstanding or even short term business relationships in order to get his work out to his public.

It also seems pretty clear despite his many frustrations that Stephen Street would relish rekindling a working relationship with Morrissey and finally produce and write that follow up to Viva Hate that never was allowed to happen. Not a chance the man himself would have the clarity of thought or humility to even entertain that idea though.

 

Co-incidentally, I listened to this the other day for the first time in forever, and yes, its still awful. Still two and a half good tracks; 'The End of the Family Line' which I think wouldn't sound out of place on one of the Smiths albums, 'Driving Your Girlfriend Home' are the two. 'Mute Witness' is the half.

 

I must be alone, in quite liking Kill Uncle

 

No way, I think it's quite good, too.

 

Ok, somebody start a Kill Uncle appreciation or elimination thread

 

I like this album too, and never bought into the hate. Although it is different to most of his other material, so I can see why it gets neglected. However I am probably biased because it is actually the first Morrissey album I ever heard, before I had even heard any Smiths albums. When it came out in 1991, I was in high school and some of my new friends were into Morrissey and The Smiths and introduced me to the album. The next thing I heard from him was the My Love Life single (US version), which has a similar style. So my first impression of Morrissey was different from a lot of people's.

 

There Is A Place In Hell For Me And My Friends is a good song, the problem is the version on Kill Uncle is awful.

 

No. It's for 'Vauxhall & I'.

 

Ringleader Of The Tormentors is a really really really really good album. My dad beat up a guy who didn't like it and the judge let him off off 'cos he agreed the guy should have ended up in hospital for a while.

 

But seriously, Ringleaders should have been called Viva Poop.

 

Maybe I'm just missing the joke here, but the tracklist you posted is obviously Kill Uncle.

 

That's the joke.

The idea that Morrissey would "fix" one of his best albums by replacing it with one of his worst.

 

The joke is that in the Vauxhall and I re-ssue he will manage to remove tracks from V&I to replace them with tracks from Kill Uncle. I would be careful with these jokes because they might end up being true.

EDIT: George was faster than me!

 

Which vinyl pressing of the original version should i be looking for?

 

My UK original is great and they are not expensive at all.

http://www.discogs.com/Morrissey-Viva-Hate/release/580041

 

I'm very happy with my CP32. (different mastering than the original domestic CD)