| Product: |
Bona Drag - Morrissey |
| Date: |
05.05.08 (144 review reads) |
| Rating: |
 |
Advantages: An interesting compilation
Disadvantages: You might have some of these songs..or dislike Morrissey!
Bona Drag was first released in 1990. The record is a compilation made up of Morrissey's (then) recent one-off singles and various bits and pieces left over from an aborted album that failed to appear. The range and standard of the songs was suprisingly good for what at the time was considered a 'filler' record. "Quite unashamedly a stopgap. It's also terrific," as Morrissey said at the time.
Bona Drag is now regarded as an excellent introduction to Morrissey's solo body of work and brought deserved attention to lesser known songs like Hairdresser On Fire and Disappointed.
The Songs
PICCADILLY PALARE
A very upbeat and likeable pop song featuring backing vocals by Madness singer Suggs. The song (like the album title) is inspired by sixties gay slang and the Julian & Sandy characters (played by Kenneth Williams and Hugh Paddick) from a famous old radio show called 'Round The Horne'. Morrissey incorporates several 'slang' words into the song which appears to be about a male prostitute;
'Your lovely eek and
Your lovely riah'
It's pretty decent overall and breezes past quite nicely. A good start to the record.
INTERESTING DRUG
'Interesting Drug' features backing vocals from the late Kirsty Maccoll and can be described as a poppy ballad with a nice melody. It's nothing earth shattering but pleasant enough and captures the slight electronic strains that crept into Morrissey's music around this specific period.
Morrissey seems to suggest in this song that life is so awful under the (then) Conservative government that people who take the odd drug or two can hardly be blamed for not being able to face reality all the time. As usual with Morrissey, the outsiders of society are championed or sympathised with, often in the context of a radio friendly pop song. In this case the unemployed of Mrs T's Britain.
NOVEMBER SPAWNED A MONSTER
One of Morrissey's most famous (infamous?) songs. This about a disabled girl and Morrissey's lyrics are controversial;
'And if the lights were out
Could you even bear
To kiss her full on the mouth
(Or anywhere?)'
I like this song a lot and it has a great sense of drama and atmosphere. It has a sort of chainsaw riff running through it with a great intro and wailing backing vocals. By the end of the song Morrissey dreams of a day when the girl will go out and buy some clothes for herself and be more self-reliant.
Overall, Morrissey attempts to tackle this subject without condescension, a delicate task which not quite everyone got. But the song itself is one of the most powerful and arresting of his solo career and inspired a very camp and famous video which featured the singer dancing alone around Death Valley in a diaphanous shirt. As you do...
WILL NEVER MARRY
A short, languid and gentle song in which Morrissey ruminates on loneliness and the unlikelyhood of him ever getting married and being a 'normal' person;
'I will live my life as I
will undoubtedly die - alone'
Despite the sombre theme it has a resilient feel because Morrissey suggests that while he has come to this decision, he wasn't completely without offers. The song has some nice orchestration which lifts it up a bit and makes the song sound a bit richer. It's quite nice overall.
SUCH A LITTLE THING MAKES SUCH A BIG DIFFERENCE
A throway b-side that is nothing special. This song never quite settles into a good hook or melody. Morrissey is in his Carry On/Music Hall mood and is full of suggestive lines that may or may not mean anything. Was that a double entendre? Is he actually saying anything? etc. The music isn't that memorable although it isn't awful by any means. It all just sits there somewhere in the middle. Lines like 'Wielding a bicycle chain' add to the knotty 'What he's going on about?' quality to the song.
THE LAST OF THE FAMOUS INTERNATIONAL PLAYBOYS
An early and brilliant single by Morrissey. One of his better known and most accomplished solo songs. "Reggie Kray, do you know my name?" asks Morrissey amidst an unusual (for him) but fun electronic beat. One of his most and fun entertaining vocals with great lyrics;
'I never wanted to kill
I AM NOT NATURALLY EVIL
Such things I do
Just to make myself
More attractive to you'
Easily one of his most memorable solo songs.
OUIJA BOARD, OUIJA BOARD
A strange song, it was released as a single but widely panned. It isn't that bad but it's nothing incredible either. The music is a bit weedy and nondescript, fairly simple and unmemorable.
But it does however contain an amusing Morrissey lyric. The singer attempts to make contact with a late friend via a Ouija board to cure his loneliness. When the message comes through at the end of the song though Morrissey is told to 'Push off'!
HAIRDRESSER ON FIRE
A big, catchy, very enjoyable pop song in which Morrissey takes lyrical revenge on a Sloane Square hairdresser who couldn't squeeze him in for a quick hair cut! This is a song that could easily have been a single. Hairdresser On Fire is great fun with a distinctive opening riff and a breezy melody.
Some trademark vocal contortions from Morrissey add to the appeal. This is another song on the record that benefits from some orchestral additions to the music.
EVERYDAY IS LIKE SUNDAY
A majestic and brilliant song that crashed the top ten and may rank as Morrissey's finest hour since The Smiths. The song is backed by a beautiful six-piece string section and violins and was later covered by 10,000 Maniacs and The Pretenders. It is absolutely fantastic.
On the surface the song is about a humdrum seaside town but themes of escape and nostalgia make it more complex. The opening lyrics, with the immediate and rich music, pull you in. You know Morrissey is on top form here lyrically and vocally;
'Trudging slowly over wet sand
Back to the bench where your clothes were stolen
This is the coastal town
That they forgot to close down'
HE KNOWS I'D LOVE TO SEE HIM
Another gentle song in which Morrissey touches on the unbelievable incident where the police actually visited him to guage whether or not he was a threat to the PM for writing the song 'Margaret On The Guillotine'! The song is brief and not hugely substantial but it does have a nice listless, introspective quality.
Some decent lines too like 'Oh, my name still conjures up deadly deeds'. Morrissey portrays himself in self-deprecating fashion as a misfit rebel who wants to turn the world on its head by staying in bed!
YES, I AM BLIND
A mournful but ok song, similar in style and sound to the previous one. Morrissey, a lapsed Catholic, ponders on the question of why horrible people often seem to do better than nice ones and why God doesn't do more to rectify this, if he exists.
'Yes, I am blind
But I do see
Evil people prosper
Over the likes of you and me
ALWAYS'
It's ok but not great or anything.
LUCKY LISP
A pleasant pop song that is mildly catchy. Strongly rumoured to be about Johnny Marr, especially with lines like;
'When your name's with the best
Will my name be on your guest list?'
A bit more poppy than some of the other material on the record. Overall it comes off as a less immediate and loveable version of 'Disappointed'.
SUEDEHEAD
A monumental pop single (reaching number 5 in the UK) Suedehead is my favourite solo Morrissey song. A very hooky guitar riff drives the whole thing along and Morrissey, who was raised on the likes of Sandie Shaw and Cilla Black, taps into the radio friendly pop persona of the song with his vocals.
Stephen Street, who later produced Blur albums, wanted a really catchy single on the album and achieved that with this wonderful song. Morrissey seems to end the song by repeating 'It was a good lay' which certainly raised a few eyebrows at the time.
DISAPPOINTED
One of the great 'unknown' Morrissey songs. A clever and very catchy pop song with some wonderful lines, it's strange that this, like Hairdresser On Fire, never turned up as a single.
It has an atmospheric and melodic beat running through it and a great self-deprecting piece of humour at the end. The sound of an audience cheering is heard when Morrissey announces it is the last song he will ever sing. When he changes his mind we hear everybody booing! A great closer to the record.
Overall Bona Drag is a consistently interesting record with several songs that are strong enough to be singles off a regular album. The songs are on the whole well chosen and the addition of some lesser known, more introspective songs alongside more immediate and better known ones makes the record as a whole fit together and become slightly more than the sum of its parts. I could think of one or two other rare songs that would have made Bona Drag even more interesting but this would be a minor grumble.
I would recommend Bona Drag as a good introduction to Morrissey, especially if you aren't familar with too many of the songs available here.
Summary: Pretty good overall.
|
|
