"...and unto Michael Stipe is given a bloody cow..." (Meat Is Murder - The Smiths)

Member Name: Jay Pendragon

Product:	Meat Is Murder - The Smiths
Date:	28/08/01 (204 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots

Disadvantages: Some

Ahhhhh... I just love that faint scent of cynicism in the air at four O'clock in the morning, don't you?.. Well, this is- in the opinions of many- THE seminal Smiths' album. Why shouldn't they? 'Meat is Murder' is the group at their rawest, most dynamic and honest: tackling controversial themes such as child abuse, radical veganism and the plight of the lonely, clad-in-black misfit- WOW! All this within the context of funky basslines, fruity guitar-riffs and the expected moaning and lyrical ambiguity of the UK's version of Michael Stipe Stephen Morrissey. I don't have anything against mister Morrissey other than the fact that hes a racist, self-absorbed slug who watched Jean Cocteau's 'Orpheus' a little too often... Aside from this I think we'd get on just fine.

Johnny Marr, as always, packs the songs with that catchy, almost rockabilly guitar-virtuousity, slipping each song a verifiable kiss-of-the-eternal. This record is as fine a display as any of what made the Smiths such a radical and cool alternative to soulless 80s metal and dorky synth pop. 'Meat is Murder' is a must-have for any serious indie-rock musick fan: a landmark in the genesis of alternative musick.

'the Headmaster Ritual' has this awesome guitar-riff and pummelling drums, not to mention that funky bassline they put into every track for some obscure reason. Its a very neat song which is also a Smiths' classic-to-boot. Morrissey becomes the forlorn, sensitive hero of old- so Wilde-ish in lyrical content and oh-so-S.C. The weird 'Rusholme Ruffians' tells a tale of lite-teenage debauchery and forlorness told through the eyes of various points-of-view with Morrissey narrating the plight of bored, lovelorn teens at a county fair over this Elvish-ish rockabilly acoustic guitar and backbeat. It will remind everyone what it was like to be a kid in the mid-eighties: chainsmoking, bulemic with that 'nobody-loves-
or-understands-me'countenance. EWWW!!!!

'I Want the One I Can't Have' is a nice number with more moaning, as well is 'What She Said'- an indictment of teenage bombast; one for that angry, misunderstood misfit in all of us. It makes you want to smack Morrissey upside the head and yell "GET OVER IT!!!"- but still sorta pleasant.

'That Joke isn't Funny Anymore' is one of my favorite Smiths recordings- touching and sweet with chimming guitars, steady drums and bouncey-wouncey basswhich float ballad-style; drowning into dreamy feedback and Morrissey(WAIT FOR IT...) wailing and drowning in misery. I won't waste precious space on 'Nowhere Fast', as it blows in all fairness, but I'm sure somebody with more patience will appreciate its dry humour. Its got attacks on politics worthy of someone as ostentatious as U2.

'Well I Wonder', opening to the sound of rain-fall, the smell of grey as light-winds wift in as you watch ad ponder the finite worthless existence is a nifty little tune with yet more bleack rhetoric. Geez, and you thought the Cure was depressing!!! 'Barbarianism Begins at Home' is a six-minute funk tour-de-force with pulsating bas and yodelling courtesy of Morrissey, tackling child abuse and really needs no more expounding.

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