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Rating:
This is the album of the collapse, where the beginning of the descending curve coincides with the end of the group that had given so much to the History of Rock with their previous works. The album indeed marked the transition from a small record label to a big Major, and this responsibility, this "becoming" big and becoming "real rock stars" greatly influenced the moods and compositional freedom of the Morrisey/Marr duo.
The songs here are well-crafted in terms of sound and introduce effects and refinements never dared before, but alas, it's the quality of the writing and the general mood that suffers, with an album of songs that feel restrained and "born tired": they lost that anger, that defiance, and that out-of-the-box essence that had characterized the band in previous years. It starts with the half-ska of "A Rush And A Push And The Land Is Ours" to the classic "I Started Something I Couldn't Finish" with a clean and unremarkable sound. "Death Of A Disco Dancer" returns with a slow build reminiscent of other works while the single "Girlfriend in a Coma" is cute and catchy in its teen approach. Prophetic is the following "Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before," which urged the band itself to put into practice what was declared, while the subsequent "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me," a slow ballad, almost a waltz, keeps the Smiths' flag high with a slow and relentless track, so poignant and evocative of a certain malaise that our Morrisey began to feel. The following "Unhappy Birthday" returns to give us a typical high-level Smiths song while the subsequent "Paint A Vulgar Picture" and "Death At One's Elbow" are easily forgotten. With the last "I Won't Share You," the group bids farewell to their official career (followed, as usual, by live performances, bootlegs, best ofs, and a thousand other things...), realizing that most of their work was done when they were small, unknown to most, and niche.
With the transition to the Major, their delicate strands unraveled, and the Smiths project, already fragile, fell into a thousand pieces. A real pity. And a real pity that they came out with this "almost pop" album in sounds and intentions, with a nod to the "major Market" that added nothing, but if anything took away from their greatness. Who knows why at a certain point almost everyone gets the urge to "expand": more concerts, more pomp, more promotion, all to have more fans and more money (I suppose)... well, it certainly takes big, sturdy shoulders to be "Professional Rockstars" and our four pale British boys with that frail and unhealthy look just couldn't do it. A stain on their discography, so small it's insignificant.
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
02 I Started Something I Couldn't Finish (03:47)
The lanes were silent:
there was nothing, no one, nothing around for miles
I doused our friendly venture
with a hard-faced,
three-word gesture
I started something, I forced you to a zone and you were clearly
never meant to go
Hair brushed and parted
Typical me, typical me, typical me, I started something
...and now I'm not too sure
I grabbed you by the guilded beams
Uh, that's what tradition means!
And I doused another venture
with a gesture that was absolutely vile
I started something, I forced you to a zone and you were clearly
never meant to go
Hair brushed and parted
Typical me, typical me, typical me, I started something
...and now I'm not too sure
I grabbed you by the guilded beams
Uh, that's what tradition means!
And now eighteen months' hard labour seems...
... fair enough
I started something and I forced you to a zone and you were clearly
Never meant to go
Hair brushed and parted
Typical me, typical me, typical me, I started something
and now I'm not too sure
I started something
I started something
Typical me, typical me, typical me, typical me
typical me, typical me, typical me
I started something and now I'm not too sure!
04 Girlfriend in a Coma (02:02)
Girlfriend in a coma, I know
I know - it's serious
Girlfriend in a coma, I know
I know - it's really serious
There were times when I could have 'murdered' her
(But you know, I would hate anything
To happen to her)
NO, I DON'T WANT TO SEE HER!
Do you really think
She'll pull through?
Do you really think
She'll pull through?
Girlfriend in a coma, I know
I know - it's serious
(Bye, bye, ... baby, goodbye)
There were times when I could have 'strangled' her
(But you know I would hate anything
To happen to her)
WOULD YOU PLEASE LET ME SEE HER?
Do you really think
She'll pull through?
Do you really think
She'll pull through?
Let me whisper my last goodbyes
I know - IT'S SERIOUS
07 Unhappy Birthday (02:45)
I've come to wish you an unhappy birthday
I've come to wish you an unhappy birthday
Because you're evil
And you lie
And if you should die
I may feel slightly sad
(But I won't cry!)
Loved and lost
and some may say:
"When usually it's Nothing
Surely you're happy
It should be this way?"
I say. "No, I'm gonna kill my dog
May the lines sag, the lines sag heavy
And deep tonight"
I've come to wish you an unhappy birthday
I've come to wish you an unhappy birthday
Because you're evil
And you lie
And if you should die
I may feel slightly sad
(But I won't cry!)
Loved and lost
and some may say:
"When usually it's Nothing
Surely you're happy
It should be this way?"
I say. "No"
And then I shoot myself
So drink, drink, drink
And be ill tonight
From the one you left behind
From the one you left behind
From the one you left behind
From the one you left behind
Behind, behind..
Oh unhappy birthday!
10 I Won't Share You (02:48)
I won't share you
I won't share you
With the drive and ambition
The zeal I feel
This is my time
The note I wrote
As she read, she said:
"Oh has the Perrier gone
Straight to my head?
Or is life sick and cruel, instead?"
"Yes"
No-no-no-no-no-no
I won't share you
I won't share you
With the drive
And the dreams inside
This is my time
Life tends to come and go
Well, that's okay
As long as you know
I won't share you
I won't share you
With the drive
And the dreams inside
This is my time
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By igiul
Four albums were enough to make The Smiths the most important band of the ’80s on the British scene.
Better to die young in the end; even if they should have died a moment earlier to ascend to the rank of divinity.
