posted by davidt on Wednesday June 25 2003, @09:00AM
David T. (different) writes and sends:

review of Under the Influence from the Daily Mail. The Daily Mail is a the paper favoured by right wing moral majoritarians.

Mope springs eternal
Review by Adrian Thrills
Verdict: Mozzer prepares for his comeback
4 out of 5 stars

With School Disco-type compilations flooding our record shops, and Paul Young, Kim Wilde and ABC priming themselves for another nostalgic trek around Britain's arenas, the Eighties revival shows no sign of waning.


But while the current wave of interest has focused on the stylised 'glamour' acts of the New Romantic era, the decade's more bookish stars -- the angst-ridden idols of bedsit pop -- have remained untouched by the resurgence.

Until now, that is. These two albums are a reminder that the Eighties wasn't all about robot dancing and frilly shirts. The first is a fascinating trawl through Morrissey's personal record collection; the second is a new studio release from Lloyd Cole.

Former Smiths frontman Morrissey has kept a ludicrously low profile since his last album, 1997's underrated Maladjusted. Then, his introspective, enigmatic songs were at odd with Britpop's brash, all-lads-together mentality, and it was no surprise when 'Mozzer', who went six years without a record deal, abandoned Britain and moved to Los Angeles.

Now, with Britpop long gone and many music lovers bored with gangsta rappers, pop princesses and nu-metal numbskulls, the notion of an erudite singer-songwriter with an Oscar Wilde fixation is something that the music industry thinks it can sell back to the mainstream.

Earlier this month, it was announced that Morrissey had secured a new record deal, with Sanctuary, and he is working on a solo album.

In the meantime, the singer who once said he wanted to 'hang the DJ' (on Panic, a classic Smiths single) is spinning the discs himself, rummaging through the record collection on Under The Influence, an entertaining album packaged in a Smiths-style, black and white period sleeve.

Morrissey's reputation as the Pope Of Mope wasn't undeserved; but he was also famous for a wicked wit, and his more vaudevillian songs, such as the comical Vicar In A Tutu, wre hardly the work of a depressive.

That mischievous side is well to the fore here. Morrissey describes the 15 acts he has chosen as artists who played 'with a lopsided grin'.

And that explanation certainly fits The Sundown Playboys, Nat Couty and Charlie Feathers, whose raw-boned offerings emphasise the Mancunian singer's curious affinity with vintage American rockabilly and cajun music.

Elsewhere, the more expected figures of The New York Dolls (Trash), Ramones (Judy Is A Punk) and Patti Smith (A cover of Jimi Hendrix's Hey Joe) pay homage to Morrissey's punky past.

There are surprises, too. Considering that Morrissey once proclaimed that 'reggae is vile', the presence of a ska cover of Swan Lake, by The Cats, is just one shock on a suprisingly upbeat collection -- one which whets the appetite nicely for his comeback.

...
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scan of review in PDF format.
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