Monday, November 1, 2010

unfashionable alienation & outlaws under the bad moon

Today I purchased both the reissue of Morrissey’s 1990 compilation Bona Drag, and the deluxe edition of Band on the Run by Paul McCartney and Wings. Both artists, Morrissey being one of my favourite singer/song writers, seem to be fairly unfashionable with Macca being rarely fashionable outside of the Beatles. Since I don’t follow trends, hipsters and petty music fans I listen to what I please.

Band on the Run is well known to be one of Macca’s finest post-Beatles records and on first listen, despite the rather limp Bluebird, it is definitely more outstanding then much of his output. Macca for me has always been a melodic genius, but his approach to song writing has always left me cold. Unlike Harrison and Lennon, he always chose to create his own characters rather than autobiography. I find his music to often suffer from being style over substance. However Band on the Run, which comes in a lush deluxe edition with photos, bonus tracks and a film, is definitely one of the best Macca albums. Stand out tracks include Jet, Mrs Vandebilt, and Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five.

Bona Drag is one of the finest releases by the Moz ever, and the reissue sounds amazing. It also contains six previously unreleased tracks. The record contains November Spawned a Monster and Piccadilly Palare, which are his darkest songs about outsiders and also his best. Bona Drag is an essential record for anyone curious about Morrissey but unsure where to start.

Bona Drag meaning nice outfit in subculture slang Polari (Polari being a form of cant slang used in Britain by actors, circus and fairground showmen, criminals, prostitutes and the gay subculture)

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