Best song on original issue of KILL UNCLE

"Sing Your Life," a sentimental favorite.

How can this be his weakest album when Malajusted and Ringleader of the Tormentors exists?

The first Moz solo album I bought. I'm still pretty fond of "Our Frank," but he's written it out of his history.

exists = exist

Driving Your Girlfriend Home. That swooping chorus just gets me.

"Driving Your Girlfriend Home" is one of the gayest songs never acknowledged as such.

You mean Morrissey is in love with the boyfriend?

Possibly, and the point of view too: the boy listening to the tale of woe, and to my ears he's not interested in her at all. It's like he's her gay pal.

My personal least favourite is Quarry. I'm just going by what I read and hear.

not much of a pal if you're not interested lol

uninterested = won't jump her bones

Now you've made me think of the song in a whole different way. "and I can't answer" means he knows but he can't tell her that her boyfriend is secretly gay.

Maladjusted is a better album than this one imo. Which isn't saying much, but still, it's got "Satan Rejected My Soul."

The swaths of echo and its languid pace adduce his detachment

xpost

Thing is you don't need to be gay to be disinterested in such things. You might pretend to be interested if you wanted to get into her knickers, but that's assuming you fancy her.

My God what was she doing there?

There is a Place in Hell for Me and My Friends

The Loop and Pregnant for the last Time are both great tracks. Saw him do the Loop live twice in the early 90s and it was a highlight of both shows. For album tracks it's probably Mute Witness or End of the Family Line. I'm a sucker for his songs about the 'differently abled' and Family Line is a ballad almost on par with the best of the Smiths ballads.

love the "Cosmic Dancer" cover from this era

voted "Our Frank", but I never had a lotta time for this album. or really any of his albums. love the heck out of the singles through 1992 or so.

I went with 'Sing Your Life', but yeah, the non-album singles from around this time are so much better it's not even funny.

1) Sing Your Life

2) Mute Witness

Voted Sing Your Life which is in my Morrissey top 10 for sure. <3

"Mute Witness" sounds a bit like "Virginia Plain."

Mute Witness all the way.

"Sing Your Life", though the version on the "Live at KROQ" EP is where it becomes transcendent.

Have a fondness of sorts for 'There Is A Place In Hell', even the full band version. Probably got to give this to 'Our Frank' though. Struggling to make a decent case for it because in most respects this song (and album really) feels like Morrissey-lite. But it's sort of jaunty and catchy I suppose.

Things changed when Moz changed guitarists, against Clive Langers wishes I feel. He replaced Kevin Armstrong (Piccadilly Palare, November) with Mark Nevin for Kill Uncle. His new band appeared in the Sing Your Life video and played on the B-sides of that single and then on Pregnant onwards. So having Nevin as guitarist was responsible for the 'liteness'.

Sing Your Life

http://media.spincds.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/265x/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/m/o/mossiseykilluncle.jpg

um

What exactly did the U.S. do to deserve 'Tony the Pony'?

Our frank and open
Miami Vice offices...

give it a rest woncha?

this album is so painfully terrible and awful

it's sort of like, if you're going to listen to this album, why don't you just hire someone to repeatedly kick you in the ears because it's about the same effect

</usefulthreadcontribution>

your frankly vulgar
dan palaver

seems odd that I have never listened to this album. I think I always skipped it cuz of the lack of hits

I actually like the new cover. Can't stand that he's put pashernate love on it though. Great song but from wrong period.

he should have used the old tour program cover for the reissue:

http://rockworldrocks.com/shopsite_sc/media/tb_morrissey_uncle.jpg

Edith Sitwell?

I can't imagine actually hating this album but god is it bland, tinny and utterly forgettable. How were the reactions at the time of release?

Rather generic xgau review:

What kills the faithful is the anonymously supportive production, never distinctive enough to threaten (or challenge) a fading superstar in the throes of permanent identity crisis. But though they do meander into the insufferably ruminative self-pity that never used to bother Smiths fans, the songs start out plenty striking, guitar signature or no guitar signature. Tart as a grand aunt, louder on the gay subtext now that he's no longer an antipinup, Morrissey isn't just another English eccentric. He exemplifies what's made eccentricity a staple export of that once-proud nation for generations. Good show. B+

king leer is my favorite

yeah that's Edith Sitwell

coulda sworn it was WS Burroughs in drag lol

The review in Melody Maker was one of the brutal I have known

David Quanitck gave it 4 stars in Select, LOL

Yes that was odd. He even referred to its 'twinkling insouciance' comparing it favourably to the subject of his NME review of Southpaw Grammar.

Liked it a lot, at the time. Can't remember when I last played it, mind.

at the time Your Arsenal came as a terrible disappointment compared to KU's languor.

Ever tried playing there is a place in hell and you're gonna need someone back to back?

on the other hand Pavement cited "...Family Line" in the CR CR liner notes.

I'll take that as a no

at the time Your Arsenal came as a terrible disappointment compared to KU's languor.

― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), mercredi 27 février 2013 23:30 (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

really? I would have thought it to have been hailed as a "return to form"

It was.

He was being sarcastic (i hope)

as a terrible disappointment to ME. It lasted a couple months.

haven't listened to this in a looooong time and don't remember some tracks... I would say "sing your life". but "our franck" was nice too, if I remember well.

I couldn't argue that it's objectively his best album, but Kill Uncle is the one that gives me the most pleasure.

I really like Morrissey when he's singing frilly dirges - e.g. Ouija Board, All the Lazy Dykes - though these tend to be unpopular, and Kill Uncle is a record with a lot of that stuff. Asian Rut is great, and I may be the only person in the world who actually loves Harsh Truth of the Camera Eye. It's a slight song but such an atmospheric track. The reverb really suits his voice on this album.

King Leer has been referred to as 'the tea-drinking song' and 'the smurf song'.

it boggles my mind that anyone could use the phrase "twinkling insouciance" with a straight face

I think he meant "twink insouciance."

and certainly not straight

*ta-dum*

Found Found Found is shit

well, it's about Michael Stipe.

New Test Leper is about Morrissey

"Leave."

Went with "Tony the Pony" but I won't mind if "Sing Your Life" wins.

listened to this yesterday for the first time since maybe the 90s while having a drink at home... it was pretty nice actually. good cocktail music !

Wonder if there is significance to the album being 33 minutes long. Makes each song an average of 3 and a half minutes long (perfect pop song length). 33rpm?

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

xpost I wouldn't quite say perfect

Maybe Moz thinks so or at least thought so

Anyway my maths is lame. Works out 3:18 per song.

I went with "(I'm) the End of the Family Line" because I remembered it as being ok. Then I listened to it and it hasn't held up, so I prolly should have selected "Driving Your Girlfriend Home." This album is really stinky. The production is indeed terrible - the reverb on Moz's voice is wretched. "Mute Witness" and "King Leer" are abysmal. I was so relieved when Your Arsenal was released and turned out to be pretty awesome after this atrocity.

God what a terrible new cover for the reissue

Better than the original, anyway..

http://www.loudbassoon.com/images/surfing.jpg

Unfortunately, Kill Uncle never did it for me. I tried and tried.

However, "(I'm) the End of the Family Line" is such a great tune (my vote goes to it). I love its simplicity and strip down concept and production. It's true that the album as a whole is very 'bare', though.

"Sing Your Life" is a perfect example. It sounds so lifeless on the album when comparing it to live versions, such as the KROQ version; you really begin to see its appeal live.

btw, is that Rick Astley on the cover of the single?

Yes! Originally it was gonna be a pic of Moz with Bowie (Last of the Famous International Playboys or something) but Bowie wouldn't let him use it. Dunno if Astley is some kind of fuck you or just the next-best thing he found.

I wondered if the b-side "The kid's a looker" has something to do with it.

Whoever the musicians were who played on journalists who lie should be shot

p.s. anybody know who they were?

from http://www.discogs.com/Morrissey-The-7-Singles-88-91/release/2035733

Journalists Who Lie
Bass – Bedders*
Drums – Andrew Paresi
Engineer (Assistant) – Paul Mortimer, Simon Metcalf
Guitar – Mark E Nevin
Lyrics By – Morrissey
Music By – Street*
Producer – Clive Langer & Alan Winstanley

Hmmmmm i'm very suspicious about this song. Seems like the most interim of interim recordings. I mean if street wrote the music (i'm being kind) how was it transferred to this group of musicians considering interesting drug was his last single with Morrissey. This has all the hallmarks of a relic from the street days played with session musicians right at the end of the street tenure when everyone had flow

n the nest. Just listen is that a donkey on drums? and don't try and tell me this is guitar-based!

ah, I see now: I thought you were a journalist taking the gee.

Or possibly one of the very first things recorded after street's departure. That means the line-up would looka lot more like the ouija board one than the kill uncle one eyeball kindly supplied above.

There are a couple of Mark E Nevin-written songs on Your Arsenal, even though he was no longer part of the setup when they were recorded, so it doesn't surprise me that he'd work this way.

It doesn't sound like the band that made Kill Uncle. I can't find words to describe it, however bad kill uncle was, the music on this is so URRRGH!

Andrew Paresi is the best drummer Morrissey has ever worked with, imo.

What you make of drumming on journalists who lie?

If there was ever a poll that needed a "none of these" option, this is it.

my man

Thereby defeating point of poll, like my Moloko one :)

listened to "Our Frank" last weekend, still like it, especially the multitracked Moz driving himself crazy from thinking all the time while the violin saws away.

if given a choice between listening to "Our Frank" and stapling my hands together, I would listen to "Our Frank" but it would only be after several minutes of agonizing internal debate

voted for "Driving your GF Home" in the end

"Driving DJP Home"

"(Because He Stapled His Hands Together)"

Our Frank is a sparkling pop gem next to journalists who lie

I decided to listen to "Journalists who lie" based on this thread - what a dreadful song, dreadful production - what's with the deep reveb underwater bass gtr breaks? And all those stupid noises? And the drumming... Wish I hadn't bothered.

the other song about journalists also sounds like it was recoded in a tureen of broccoli cheese soup.

Reveb = reverb, obv.

Which one is that prince?

"The Harsh Truth That Morrissey's Songs Sucked in 1991"

I always thought that was about glamour photography

I liked Morrissey in 1991. Journalists Who Lie was just a shitty b-side though, even then. But I always rated this one in a similar though more fleshed-out style:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeQdyxaWUpY

Another good 1991 song (performance December 1990, but song released as b-side of My Love Life in 1991 - these details courtesy of my youth):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylwJJfCUFJk

These were the best of those times I think, and both have been left off the reissued Kill Uncle for some reason.

^^ oh yeah -- that's a good one

I think the shock with journalists was until that point he hadn't released anything remotely as bad. Even at amber and get off the stage had something about them.

Journalists was probably the first of his very clumsy and super-literal diatribes against those who had wronged him. He has millions of them now. The most extreme example of this - in its way the weirdest and funniest song by anyone ever - is Sorrow Will Come In The End from 1997. The only version on youtube has a weird montage of Iraq war photos, even though the song is about the drummer that Morrissey didn't bother to pay. This weedy voice threatening gang violence, totally embarrassing, "A man who slits throats has time on his hands". Remember that this song is about a drummer who had to go to court to get paid by Morrissey:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srgmd956khA

"Lawyer!" (whipcrack) "Liar!" (whipcrack) "Lawyer!" (whipcrack) "Liar!" (whipcrack)

That song is desperate and sad. I wonder if the yiddish element is supposed to be menacing cos it's just embarassing. Also truly unforgiveable is that on ammunition on the same album he makes a big point of the fact that he has "no space or time in my life anymore for revenge".

My Love Life came out in 91?! Damn I always thought it came out a bit later - it could have really redeemed Kill Uncle

that EP was terrific

Kill uncle recorded before he met those guys

Place your bets on gulliable Tony...

He's drunker quicker
And he's sicker even quicker

in just before system to vote "none of the above"

this is why they dont let mods edit polls

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Only real surprise for me is Asian Rut.

who defends "Asian Rut"???

Check the wikipedia page for this album, for one

excerpt:

The next track is "The Harsh Truth of the Camera Eye", often cited as Morrissey's most misunderstood song ever recorded.

by whom -- Morrissey?

How is that defending asian rut?

I referred to the "Camera Eye" comment.

So was I

Camera Eye is about soft porn.

How is that defending asian rut?

― OutdoorFish, Thursday, 7 March 2013 00:56 (11 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It isn't, the wiki page does.

Apart from saying that "camera eye" is the more 'misunderstood' track...

Only one person even mentioned it in this thread

I voted for Asian Rut. Great tune.

Tune?

what drugs are you on?

this is mozzer's worst album imo - which was esp baffling and frustrating at the time b/c he had just come off a run of amazing singles. thankfully the lull didn't last for long!

Journalists was probably the first of his very clumsy and super-literal diatribes against those who had wronged him. He has millions of them now. The most extreme example of this - in its way the weirdest and funniest song by anyone ever - is Sorrow Will Come In The End from 1997. The only version on youtube has a weird montage of Iraq war photos, even though the song is about the drummer that Morrissey didn't bother to pay. This weedy voice threatening gang violence, totally embarrassing, "A man who slits throats has time on his hands". Remember that this song is about a drummer who had to go to court to get paid by Morrissey:

I kind of like Sorrow Will Come in the End because it is so hilariously ott, but his bitter diatribes one of the worst things about Morrissey's solo career.

Maladjusted & Southpaw Grammar are fairly patchy as well, tho both repeatedly hit higher peaks than Kill Uncle. I can't really comment educatedly on his last two LPs tbh.

xp

from the pre-comeback era, I would find it hard to belive that Kill Uncle would be worse that Maladjusted or more boring than Southpaw - but then again I haven't listened to any of these records in 15 years

Its worse than southpaw. Maladjusted packs more a punch though it has a couple of horrible songs. It is better than Quarry though.

Seeing as Sing Your Life won, and it is my example of how the album's production ruined a song, can someone set up a "Best Live Version of Sing Your Life" poll?

Specifically, who doesn't like the KROQ version? Or am I overestimating it here?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItawLAKv-4Y

Had this plan a while now, want to burn myself a CD with all the post Kill Uncle pre-Your Arsenal stuff. Starting with the loop and entertainment moving onto pregnant (with skin storm and cosmic dancer #1) my love life (with guilty) plus the KRQQ songs and the live pregnant from friends and cosmic dancer #2. Might put the fatty b-sides on just because I want to. Any thing else I should put on it?

Oh there's a live version of trash out there isn't there

The other live songs on We Hate It are pretty good too - there are versions of Changed My Plea and Alsatian Cousin that are rough as hell but kinda exciting.

Will have to include the live guilty, but cousin is too out of period for me. Is there a decent audio of tge johnathan ross guilty out there cos imo that is the best version there is.

Oh that's Linder at the end of mute witness.