755 Morrissey - Vauxhall and I (1994)

Studio Album - Alternative Rock

About the Act:

Morrissey was the frontman of the Manchester band The Smiths from 1982 to 1987, since which he has had a solo career and a singer and songwriter.

About the Album:

This was his fourth solo album.

My History with this Album:

None

Review:

I knew this day would come, when I had to face Morrisey. I mean, there are all sorts of things on this list of mine that are a challenge, featuring music I have avoided and even derided over the years.

I first saw Morrisey on the TV with the Smiths on Top of the Pops singing (I think) The Boy With The Thorn In His Side, and was impressed that somebody would flounce about with a flower in his back pocket. That was the high point of my opinion of The Smiths. The problem from there on was that I was at Uni in Manchester at the time, and The Smiths attracted a highly dedicated student audience, especially in Manchester, and I have a tendency to react against such rabid adoration - and they really did attract adoration - and it was particularly rabid. The Smiths were the best band ever, and Morrisey was the voice of the generation, and he was such a poet in his lyrics, yada yada, as if nobody had managed to have poetic lyrics and express urban chaos or vague disgruntlement before. There were other bands and artists that I had similar reactions to, and got over it, like Frankie Goes to Hollywood, and U2, and even The Beatles and Elvis. The Smiths, I never warmed to, or to Morrisey as a solo artist.

This is all preamble, because of course I listened to this album, and tried to put aside my prejudice, and to imagine how I would feel about it if I heard it and had no history of irritation.

Musically, it's mostly medium rock, with sometimes a kind of indie edge to it, maybe like Suede or some such, but actually much of it sounds potentially older than that. It's reasonably well-produced in the main, although the song with sound clips for a film might have done better if they weren't a constant background noise to the track. The music is not objectionable, but not remarkable either.

The sung tunes, there is something distinctive about a Morrisey Tune, an economy with different notes, there will often be two or three notes that he jumps about between at any point in time. Most of the songs on the album are like that with a couple of exceptions.

His voice, well, I have trained myself to find it irritating. He is distinctive (which is usually a plus), and he can sing. His voice has a ringing resonance, a strident quality that some other singers have that I don't intrinsically dislike. 

The songs and lyrics, it is true that they are at times unusual, and there is a maudlin quality to the whole thing, wistfully unhappy, but happy to be so. The songs are not always about pleasant subjects, but not in themselves objectionable.

So, being as objective as I can, trying very hard to be, my reaction is "meh, it's OK". I genuinely think that there is nothing in this as an album in isolation for me to be irritated by, and that this is a learned reaction. I also genuinely think that if I came upon this in isolation, I would not be particularly attracted to it. I did look up information about Morrisey and wasn't enamoured of him, particularly his politics, but I do try to separate my musical opinion from such things, so I am trying to here also. So when I give this score, and it is quite a low score, please realise that this is the result of a determined effort, and considerably higher than my prejudice wants me to give.

6.5/10

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/5lKYNLYykoFAVRAeV5EqPE

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5GvMOlpGQw7XwimRGtX8_pyejehtrwnf

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vauxhall_and_I