Vauxhall and I

There seems to be more than enough Smiths and Morrisey albums on this list and every time one comes up I think it might explain the hype.

Still none the wiser after this.

It wasn’t until I’d listened to 300 albums that I actually realized Robert Dimery’s mission with his book *1001 Albums* is to demonstrate the greatness of British musicianship over the ages. There’s hardly any other explanation for why a total of seven albums by Morrissey and The Smiths are included - none of which, however, are better than mediocre.
Especially in the ’90s, the British scene had fallen somewhat behind internationally, and “Vauxhall and I” must have sounded really odd back in 1994. Instead of being contemporary, this is… well, what exactly? Weird singer-songwriter stuff that wasn’t cool in any decade I’m familiar with - not really bad, but dead boring.
Interestingly, before this project, I didn’t know who Morrissey was, which I’d previously considered a gap in my education. Good to know that’s not the case and that I can continue to skip him in the future.

Almost every song is about how no one likes Morrissey and how he has no friends. When someone tells you who they are, listen.

It was fine.

1.55

'Now my heart is full / & I just can't explain / So I won't even try to.' Yeah, I think this is as good as The Queen Is Dead, & Morrissey is honestly a more impressive storyteller on his fourth solo release. He receives his points for not loosing himself in obscurantist fantasies at the same time that he's not the poster child for realism/naturalism. 'I said, Billy Budd / I would happily lose both of my legs.' Topped off w/ greater rock 'n' roll spirit than he ever did muster w/ The Smiths, Morrissey may not be the greatest songwriter of all time, but he's second to none for a certain brand of pop madness, b/c that is what this is: a mad, mad tribute to pop music.

The opening track wad worrying ok and i might even stretch to say enjoyable, albeit could have been shorter.
Up to ‘the more you ignore me…’ this is actually quite a good album, but the tracks after that dont really maintain that level and its all a bit meh.
Overall its a 2.5/5 but as that’s not possible i think it’s possibly slighter more a 2 than it is a 3

There has been too much Morrissey lately...

I don't particularly like the timbre of his voice, but I think I have a much bigger issue with the way he delivers lines: how he holds notes and jumps around all over the place. Plus he's an arsehole.

I think this is another situation where if someone else was singing the songs, I might really enjoy some of them a lot more. There is some good songwriting here, it's all just not to my taste when sung by Morrissey.

2/5

This one I'm struggling with, because I am appreciating that he's going in a more straight 90's alternative direction vs. his old janglepop/post-punk stuff with The Smiths.

But his voice, especially on the more rocking cuts, kinda gets drowned out, and I've never particularly been a fan of his vocals. This is one of his better vocal performances though.

Hold Onto Your Friends has an amazing melody as well.

I kind of hate that this is pretty good, given how terrible a person Morrisey is now. Not nearly as good as The Smiths, but lots of solid tracks and some nice guitar playing too. I think if I had listened to it when it came out first I would have loved it, but there's too much baggage with this guy now to judge his solo music fairly. It's definitely not "for Loving" that he's Hated.

More jangle slop

Nothing interesting really happened ngl

2

I am somehow at a 5. Lord, forgive me.

I said it the last time we got Morrissey, which was over 500 days ago: I think I like Morrissey when he’s not fucking complaining. This is, for once, an album where he’s not fucking complaining, and what emerges from it is a genuinely strong 40 minutes with good observational tracks that doesn’t feel like it’s a guy bitching about the state of the world. The loose grunge / alt rock soundscape that underlines many of these more personable & slightly intimidating tracks fits well. Morrissey’s delivery has just enough minor vitriol behind it as often as it has some sweeter tones to it, keeping it balanced in a way that really works. He knows when to really HIT on certain lines & pull back on others, controlling the emotional push/pull of each track akin to a director filming a scene. These are all things that normal singers should be able to do consistently, but in Morrissey’s case, he’s only really done it with “Meat is Murder”, so to hear it on a solo effort is a pleasant surprise, given that “Viva Hate” was awkwardly unmemorable & “You Are The Quarry” only did it just over half the time.

It’s not a perfect album, but realistically, all of my complaints boil down to a few longer outros that could’ve been trimmed down, and a very slight weirdness to “Used to Be a Sweet Boy”, if only because it does feel a little blame-y, although some people are very valid in sort of disowning the way their parents raised them & having to bear the emotional brunt of it when things fall apart. Morrissey earns some of that benefit, but the guy’s track record does leave me a little iffy on that track alone. Other than that, I think these are all genuinely good to great tracks, with one of my favorites being “The Lazy Sunbathers”, if only because it’s obnoxiously relevant to the current political landscape in the U.S. There’s other strong tracks, including “The More You Ignore Me, the Closer I Get”, if only because someone taking glee in living in one’s head rent-free is kinda satisfying to me.

Ultimately, I guess I like 1994 Morrissey more than I like 1989 & 2004 Morrissey, and I damn sure like 1994 Morrissey more than I like 2026 Morrissey. This is the best solo effort we’ve gotten from the guy so far, and if his other solo album here is as good as this, along with the 2 Smiths’ albums we’ve yet to get having some strong acclaim to them, perhaps the last 3 times we’ll encounter Morrissey will be better than the first 3 times. I do genuinely think this earns its spot on the list; it feels like a 1994 album should, the lyricism is stronger than I would’ve expected, and instrumentally, it’s just very well produced. I really do think it’s a 5. Lord, forgive me.

Morrissey's take on britpop - the band sounds like Suede or Pulp, but his voice is distinctly his own, all aching melodrama, pained pique, and sweeping nostalgia.

BNP fan boy. ugh.

o trabalho solo desse rapaz não chega aos pés do the smiths, eh bizarro

PORÉM, como previamente dito, minha falha de caráter eh gostar das coisas dele. não sei pq não.
esse tem umas músicas que são bacanas e outras meia boca. eu achei até que sólido, mei bobo só.
pau no cu do morrissey!!

the more you ignore me is alright

Well, i always kinda wanna hate on solo Morrissey stuff, but this wasnt too bad either. Not smiths at all, but pretty enjoyable

Perfectly fine as background music, otherwise completely uninteresting.

Ugh. More Morrissey? There should be LESSissey on this list of albums.

Once again, I'm giving a Morrissey album 1 star, and it's 1 star too many.

Heartbreaking: The Worst Person You Know Just Made A Great Record