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The Best of Morrissey by Morrissey
The Best of Morrissey is the Morrissey greatest hits collection for the American market. In Britain, and here in Australia, we get Suedehead: The Best of. This version covers the first ten years of his solo career (1988-1997), and contains 21 tracks.I remember when I first heard Morrisseys music. It was the last year of high school, and I was studying Oscar Wilde in literature. To help me study, I went on the net and searched the P2Ps for Oscar Wilde, in case there was a reading or performance of one of his works I could download (I dont use that sort of thing these days, mind you). Nothing much came up except for something by a Morrissey. I downloaded it, and there was a smooth voiced man speaking passionately on it about how incredibly quotable Oscar Wilde is, and how he thought that the upcoming Importance of Being Earnest Film was hopefully going to be really big. At the end of the track, there was a snippet of a song sung by Morrissey, singing his heart out. I found out much later the track was Alma Matters, a kind of an appropriate song lyrically for the last year of high school. At the time, I had no idea, but I wanted to hear more, so I ended up getting a couple of compilations, one from his old band The Smiths, and the other from his solo career. Catchy tunes, witty lyrics, great voice, I quickly became a fan.A lot of rock listeners prefer The Smiths to Morrisseys solo stuff. Though the quantity of classic tracks is a fair bit higher of a Smiths record than a Morrissey solo CD, I do prefer a good Morrissey solo song to a good Smiths one. The production is brighter, playful and colorful. The band toys with a lot more styles than The Smiths did. Morrissey sounds more like himself too, free to explore his interests more fully in his lyrics, be they the romance of crime, boxing matches, or the music industry, along with his usual themes of unrequited love, boredom and the struggles of youth. Its a little deeper in its Britishness that the Smiths too (if that makes sense). Hes a brilliant lyricist, and in this part of his career its just as good as it was when he started.If youre getting into Morrissey, Ive got to warn you. Choose the compilation you get carefully. If you like what you hear and want to get more, you will end up with overlap, as Morrissey has rereleased and repackaged his songs in so many different ways. For that reason, I prefer the Suedehead compilation, as there are rare tracks there you wont find on any other full length CD. Heres a rundown of how many of the songs on The Best of! youll find on Morrisseys other full length discs:3 are on Viva Hate (1988)7 are on Bona Drag (1990, compilation)1 is on Kill Uncle (1991)5 are on Your Arsenal (1992)3 are on Vauxhall and I (1994)2 are on World of Morrissey (1995, compilation)10 are on Suedehead: The Best of (1995, compilation)1 is on Southpaw Grammar (1995)1 is on Maladjusted (1997)1 is on My Early Burglary Years (1998, compilation)1 is on Rare Tracks (1998, compilation)The rare track is Lost, a B-side originally from the Roys Keen single. I would have preferred the B-side I Can Have Both (one of my favorites, and one Morrissey used to do live often), but Lost has grown on me. Its a mid-tempo song with lush production about a skywriter, a pilot of one of those planes that writes things with the smoke. Its well sung, and has some touching lyrics. Everybodys lost, but pretending they are not. I know what he means...This compilation comes with a nice thick booklet, which I always like. It contains full lyrics, a few pictures of Morrissey, a lengthy foreword of sorts by Michael Bracewell, speaking very highly of the music and its singer. I think he overanalyses a bit in it, but no matter. Where each song charted in both the UK and US is also listed, which is interesting. (Lost peaked at #671 in the UK. Hehe!). I also just notice that Morrissey himself recommends some albums for the listener to check out in the back page of the booklet. (Jobriath, Phil Ochs, The Ramones, Nancy Sinatra and Burt Bacharach). Interesting choices...If youre looking for a one disc overview of Morrissey, this is probably the best one to get. If you think you may become a fan, (and if you like this, you probably will do) you might want to pick up another compilation (like Bona Drag or Suedehead) to avoid a bit of overlap later. For More 5 Star Reviews The Best of Morrissey by Morrissey
The Best of Morrissey by Morrissey
The Best of Morrissey is the Morrissey greatest hits collection for the American market. In Britain, and here in Australia, we get Suedehead: The Best of. This version covers the first ten years of his solo career (1988-1997), and contains 21 tracks.I remember when I first heard Morrisseys music. It was the last year of high school, and I was studying Oscar Wilde in literature. To help me study, I went on the net and searched the P2Ps for Oscar Wilde, in case there was a reading or performance of one of his works I could download (I dont use that sort of thing these days, mind you). Nothing much came up except for something by a Morrissey. I downloaded it, and there was a smooth voiced man speaking passionately on it about how incredibly quotable Oscar Wilde is, and how he thought that the upcoming Importance of Being Earnest Film was hopefully going to be really big. At the end of the track, there was a snippet of a song sung by Morrissey, singing his heart out. I found out much later the track was Alma Matters, a kind of an appropriate song lyrically for the last year of high school. At the time, I had no idea, but I wanted to hear more, so I ended up getting a couple of compilations, one from his old band The Smiths, and the other from his solo career. Catchy tunes, witty lyrics, great voice, I quickly became a fan.A lot of rock listeners prefer The Smiths to Morrisseys solo stuff. Though the quantity of classic tracks is a fair bit higher of a Smiths record than a Morrissey solo CD, I do prefer a good Morrissey solo song to a good Smiths one. The production is brighter, playful and colorful. The band toys with a lot more styles than The Smiths did. Morrissey sounds more like himself too, free to explore his interests more fully in his lyrics, be they the romance of crime, boxing matches, or the music industry, along with his usual themes of unrequited love, boredom and the struggles of youth. Its a little deeper in its Britishness that the Smiths too (if that makes sense). Hes a brilliant lyricist, and in this part of his career its just as good as it was when he started.If youre getting into Morrissey, Ive got to warn you. Choose the compilation you get carefully. If you like what you hear and want to get more, you will end up with overlap, as Morrissey has rereleased and repackaged his songs in so many different ways. For that reason, I prefer the Suedehead compilation, as there are rare tracks there you wont find on any other full length CD. Heres a rundown of how many of the songs on The Best of! youll find on Morrisseys other full length discs:3 are on Viva Hate (1988)7 are on Bona Drag (1990, compilation)1 is on Kill Uncle (1991)5 are on Your Arsenal (1992)3 are on Vauxhall and I (1994)2 are on World of Morrissey (1995, compilation)10 are on Suedehead: The Best of (1995, compilation)1 is on Southpaw Grammar (1995)1 is on Maladjusted (1997)1 is on My Early Burglary Years (1998, compilation)1 is on Rare Tracks (1998, compilation)The rare track is Lost, a B-side originally from the Roys Keen single. I would have preferred the B-side I Can Have Both (one of my favorites, and one Morrissey used to do live often), but Lost has grown on me. Its a mid-tempo song with lush production about a skywriter, a pilot of one of those planes that writes things with the smoke. Its well sung, and has some touching lyrics. Everybodys lost, but pretending they are not. I know what he means...This compilation comes with a nice thick booklet, which I always like. It contains full lyrics, a few pictures of Morrissey, a lengthy foreword of sorts by Michael Bracewell, speaking very highly of the music and its singer. I think he overanalyses a bit in it, but no matter. Where each song charted in both the UK and US is also listed, which is interesting. (Lost peaked at #671 in the UK. Hehe!). I also just notice that Morrissey himself recommends some albums for the listener to check out in the back page of the booklet. (Jobriath, Phil Ochs, The Ramones, Nancy Sinatra and Burt Bacharach). Interesting choices...If youre looking for a one disc overview of Morrissey, this is probably the best one to get. If you think you may become a fan, (and if you like this, you probably will do) you might want to pick up another compilation (like Bona Drag or Suedehead) to avoid a bit of overlap later. For More 5 Star Reviews The Best of Morrissey by Morrissey