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Post by JesusLooksLikeMe on May 31, 2004 15:47:02 GMT -5
No doubt I'll be the only person posting here, but that's okay. Me and Solitude are buddies that go way back.
Which is probably why I have a Smiths obsession.
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Post by JesusLooksLikeMe on May 31, 2004 15:51:13 GMT -5
I shall now rank their albums, in order that I may vehemently disagree with myself at a later date...
1. Hatful of Hollow
2. The Queen Is Dead
3. The Smiths
4. Strangeways Here We Come
5. Meat Is Murder
6. Louder Than Bombs/The World Won't Listen
(7. Rank)
The top five all get 5 stars from me. Louder Than Bombs I'll give 4, though it's still an essential collection of otherwise unavailable singles and B-sides (and better than the European equivalent, The World Won't Listen).
Rank is a typical live album - non-essential except for the diehard fan.
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Post by Rit on May 31, 2004 15:55:04 GMT -5
i'll have a go too:
(1.) The Smiths
(2.) Meat Is Murder
(3.) Louder Than Bombs
(4.) Hatful of Hollow
(5.) Strangeways, Here We Come
(6) The Queen Is Dead
QueenIsDead doesn't appeal somehow. I hate listening to it.
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Post by JesusLooksLikeMe on May 31, 2004 16:01:27 GMT -5
Controversial! Though yeah, I'm not sure how TQID came to be widely acclaimed as their masterpiece.
Morrissey vehemently denies it is their masteriece ("I should know", he said a few years later, "I was there, making the tea and biscuits"). Mike Joyce and Andy Rourke both like Strangeways best.
But it's the early work that does it for me. I prefer Hatful opf Hollow to the debut album because the production is raw and less flat, and nearly all of my favourite tracks from The Smiths LP are there, complemented by gems such as "This night Has opened My Eyes", "William...", "Heaven Knows...", "Girl Afraid" and... best of all... "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want".
So though it's not as cohesive, it's consistently been the one SMiths album I'd take to that ubiquitous desert island. You know, the one full of people who own only one album, and where food is never an issue.
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Post by Rit on May 31, 2004 16:06:08 GMT -5
desert island castaways eat pinapples and listen to their music with homemade styluses.
The debut is a bit flat sounding, but i can't fault the tunes at all. Barring the mistep of Morrissey yodelling away on song number three, it's a fantastic album.
Meat Is Murder is obvously the most fun album, the album most pumped up with funk riffs and stellar Marr guitarwork, so i like that one a lot.
Strangeways is a curious one, melodic, strange and just a bit standoffish. But i like it too.
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Post by Rit on May 31, 2004 16:09:09 GMT -5
whoops, in reference to Strangeways, i should clarify.. all Smiths albums are standoffish, i s'pose, but Strangeways is espeically so. It sounds really clinical sometimes - Smiths by numbers. But the melodies are so strong, it keeps me coming back.
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Post by JesusLooksLikeMe on May 31, 2004 16:11:14 GMT -5
What if you don't like pineapple?
You play guitar, don't you Rit? How would you rate Marr? There's no faulting him for invention, but I wouldn't have much idea whether the fact that I can't play his stuff means he's technically virtuoso or anything.
What I do know is that Rourke was one hell of a bass player, and he deserved a song-writing credit for writing the bassline on "Barbarism Begins At Home". That bass line is the song.
(Agree on the yodelling. A most unfortunate habit)
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Post by Rit on May 31, 2004 16:18:22 GMT -5
yeah, i'm surprised by Rourke's basslines, they were always so professional and flawless..
secret confession - i would sometimes suspect that the Smiths hired studio musicians to play on the albums because the otherwise excellent crisp playing by both Marr and Rourke went against my fantasy that the Smiths were a bunch of adolescent outcasts who got together and played their 'choons. something like that.
i have always been in awe of Marr's playing.. so inventive with subtle melodies and great control over the direction that he wanted the clipped tones to sound like. He must have had tremendous self-control in the studio, is my opinion. At any rate, he showed great vision, is all i can say.
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Post by Dr. Drum on Jun 1, 2004 12:55:27 GMT -5
OK, let me try this. Off the top of my head, the order of preference in which I’m most likely to reach for a Smiths album:
1. Louder Than Bombs
2. Strangeways, Here We Come
3. Meat Is Murder
4. The Queen Is Dead
5. The Smiths
6. Hatful of Hollow
7. Rank
That said, very little to choose between nos. 1 – 6.
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Post by luke on Jun 1, 2004 15:45:54 GMT -5
I saw that new Morrissey video last night, and yeah, that song's amazing. Can't say he's aged so well, though, at least not as good as some of those other old guys still making videos.
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Post by maarts on Jun 2, 2004 8:03:34 GMT -5
OK, here's my ranking:
1. The Queen Is Dead
2. Meat Is Murder
3. Hatful Of Hollow
4. The Smiths
5. Strangeways Here We Come
6. Rank.
Louder Than Bombs would snuggle halfway between them.
There's not much inbetween the top three who are by far my favourites. There's just a cross-selection of songs on them that make the band so great...
...and I am quite surprised at your panning of the latest Moz, Jesus! I found it gaining strength after every play..remarkable because I am a one-play-instant-liking-type of guy.
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Post by JesusLooksLikeMe on Jun 4, 2004 7:05:47 GMT -5
...and I am quite surprised at your panning of the latest Moz, Jesus! I found it gaining strength after every play..remarkable because I am a one-play-instant-liking-type of guy. It's just a reflection of my high expectations really Maarts. It is a grower, and not a bad album by any means. There's a few songs on there which would grace any album, and which most artists could only dream of matching. 1. Come Back To Camden 2. I'm Not Sorry 3. Irish Blood, English Heart 4. First of the Gang To Die 5. I Have Forgiven Jesus The rest are okay and would fit quite nicely on something like Maladjusted, with the glaring exception of that Lazy Dykes song, which is toss. |
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Post by Dr. Drum on Jun 4, 2004 9:47:12 GMT -5
I'd been planning on picking the new Morrissey up but I don't know - Maladjusted really fell flat for me. Bad enough that, à la Frank Black, I swore before the long hiatus that I was through with him. So if this one is going to bring back memories of that one...
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Post by JesusLooksLikeMe on Jul 28, 2004 4:36:54 GMT -5
I'd been planning on picking the new Morrissey up but I don't know - Maladjusted really fell flat for me. Bad enough that, à la Frank Black, I swore before the long hiatus that I was through with him. So if this one is going to bring back memories of that one... It's a lot stronger than Maladjusted. I think I can safely say that now Drum. |
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Post by pattentank24 on Aug 17, 2004 11:22:15 GMT -5
I agree Quarry is stronger but I must ask this ?
If you own Hateful is Louder esstenial?(I can't decide whether I need to buy Louder)
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