Vauxhall And I

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Despite this, Morrissey still can’t resist ‘tweaks’ to the front cover, changing the typefaces, removing the quotation marks around ‘Vauxhall And I’ and adding a horrible red square Parlophone logo, bottom right. The latter is like a splat of blood drawing unwanted attention to itself and rather spoiling the beauty of the matinee-idol front cover image with its soft pink hues. Vauxhall And I (AlbumStereo) - Discogs release: https://www.discogs.com/release/12355178-Morrissey-Vauxhall-And-I Another great title, another great refrain, another flurry of great couplets (“Beware! I bear more grudges/ Than lonely high court judges,” anyone?) – in short, another great single from someone who went from being a disciple of the art to one of its consummate practitioners. Morrissey‘s 1994 solo album Vauxhall And I will be reissued in June, just four months after Parlophone Label Group re-released its 1992 predecessor Your Arsenal. Sometimes though the cleverness works, as with the people concentrating on minor personal pleasures rather than world issues in the clever allegory "The Lazy Sunbathers" which sees folk sunning themselves in denial of the fact that, days earlier, Germany has invaded Poland.

A wheelchair-bound Morrissey, cultivating an air of suitable boredom, is pushed down a winding corridor by footballer Joey Barton. Cut to the band cranking up the song, with Moz now sprawled on a plastic chair, hands winged enigmatically behind his head. From here, it’s a sedentary performance enlivened slightly by a blink-and-you-miss-it scarf-twirling artiste of indeterminate gender. Barton, meanwhile, pops peanuts and manages to look both impressed and indifferent. Released in February 1988, the NME said: “It makes you feel vulnerable and provokes emotions you’ve forgotten about.” It was a loved-up Morrissey who decamped to Rome for the recording of Ringleader Of The Tormentors. With producer Tony Visconti drafted in to work his magic on a dozen compositions, the album also features a cameo from Italian maestro Ennio Morricone, whose string arrangements adorn Dear God Please Help Me. Vauxhall And I was Morrissey’s fourth solo album and is widely regarded as one of his very best, although this writer still thinks Viva Hate has the edge. The record was produced by Steve Lillywhite and features the hit single The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get. It also saw significant commercial success for the singer with the album reaching the top 20 in the US and number one in the UK.It has been stated that Vauxhall feels and sounds like it was intended to be a swansong. A final, epic recording, after which Morrissey could go out on top. Evidently we know now that this was not the case, but the album’s honest, confessional lyrics hint towards it. The second single from You Are The Quarry, after Irish Blood, English Heart, The First Of The Gang To Die gave Morrissey his first brace of Top 10 hits since The Last Of The Famous International Playboys and Interesting Drug in 1989.

The album's title may be a reference to the 1987 film Withnail and I. Vauxhall is an area of London noted for its gay clubs, and there is also a British car manufacturer of the same name.Peaking at No.5 in the UK charts, it’s difficult to argue with NME‘s contention that Suedehead was: “The best No.1 1988 ever gave us.” For fans of Morrissey, 5/5. This is the Holy Grail of Morrissey’s career. Your Arsenal is more fun, Viva Hate is more closely related to Smiths music, but Vauxhall and I was Morrissey at his peak. But it’s not as simple as that, I’m afraid. You see, I was always appreciative of The Smiths. So many great tunes, tapping into the more angst-ridden aspects of my psyche. And as lead singer of said band, Morrissey was one quarter of the collective and whilst he had his outspoken moments, the band were the most important thing. After the split, Morrissey became numero uno and he seemed – to me anyway – to become increasingly vocal and patronising on a great many things. To hear his rants and raves, surly political faux pas and general pomposity, simply put me off giving any of his musical endeavours the time of day. For someone almost as quintessentially English as the Carry On movies, Morrissey possesses a particular Irish sensibility, perhaps most pronounced in his proclivity for sadness.