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Still a Charming Man

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Morrissey - Malajusted | Various - The In Crowd
Various - The Ultimate Retro Collection

Morrissey - Malajusted Mercury

Cemetry Gates Moz page

Panned, mocked, bashed and riduculed. Revered, emulated, quoted, devoted to....Morrissey always ellicits various opinions. There's always a song everyone loves, but there's always one everyone hates. And so it goes on. And so does he. The genius of Moz has been that he taps into emotions you thought you could keep secret and twists them out your ears. Add a dash of satire, a drop of sarcasm/cruelty, maybe half a bottle of melancholia, shake and voila - a new LP! "Maladjusted" is the latest offering from the man for whom the sun rarely shines. It's a bag of mixed lollies: the tarty lemon drop of "Sorrow will come in the End" and the fizzy, sherbety "Satan Rejected My Soul" to the smooth caramel of "Trouble Loves Me". Morrissey deals with many subjects with different emotions on this album, but hasn't, for some reason, added the umbiquitious weepy ballad. He takes on his lyrics with a matter-of-factness and occassionally adds a flourish that slides the song into a peculiar movie theme mode (Maladjusted/Ambitious Outsiders). Some fans might be disappointed with this album, others satisfied, but on the general scale, Morrissey is looking very stable, musically and mentally. - Taylor

Various - The In Crowd (20 Mod Classics 64-97) Polydor

Various - The Ultimate Retro Collection Warners

Well I won�t get into an argument trying to defining what mod is (described in the linear notes as �An aphorism for clean living under difficult circumstances�) or what mod music is, except say that the tracks on this compilation are mainly UK punchy guitar pop from the last four decades, with a few soul and r&b tracks thrown in. Included are choice songs from The Who (Can�t Explain), Small Faces (Whatcha Gonna Do About it), James Brown (Nighttrain), The Birds (Leaving Here). Other contributions come from Rod Stewart, The Birds, The Jam, The Lambrettas and more recent britpop from Gene, Dodgy, Menswear, The La�s and the modfather himself, Paul Weller. Of course �real� mods will most likely sneer at this, as let�s face it they�ll have all the records on limited edition vinyl anyway. But for the rest of it it�s a good starting point and/or history lesson. - Caleb

Men with Hats - Frankie Goes to Hollywood This compilation meanwhile is for the people who grew up in the 80�s and aren�t ashamed to admit it. This 18 track compile includes such one hit wonders like M, Gary Numan, Haricut 100, ABC, Flock of Seagulls, Yazoo, Cutlure Club, Men Without Hats, Kids in the Kitchen and Bronski Beat to name but a few. Tacky and embrassing, yet enjoyable in a kitch kind of way. As a bonus it also has a CD-ROM enhanced games section, which includes classic 80�s video games like pacman and asteroids. Retro or what? - Caleb (if 80's child) (if not)