Morrissey Mixtape

Even though I would say I ultimately prefer songs from The Smiths' canon to the solo output of their former gladioli-wielding, bespectacled frontman, there's no denying that Morrissey's later work is far more interesting to look upon. As an artist who has fallen in and out of public favour multiple times in the two decades since leaving Marr, Rourke, and Joyce behind, and who has consequently made a habit of his own reinvention, his music covers an incredibly varied set of bases, both in terms of instrumentation and genre.

Yet at the same time, a Morrissey song can only be a Morrissey song. Marked by his witty and learned wordplay and intertextuality, injected with his morose worldview and introspective self-obsession, and cherry-topped with his uniquely off-kilter singing style, even the most contrastive of Morrissey's tracks nonetheless come together as one; they unite and take over, if you will.

For the purpose of consistency, then, the first half of this playlist focuses mainly on Steven's most recent renaissance trifecta, You Are the Quarry, Ringleader of the Tormentors, and Years of Refusal, while the latter half shifts back a little earlier to Kill Uncle and Vauxhall and I. There'll also be a Smiths playlist to follow (which works well on the b-side of this cassette).

1. It's Hard To Walk Tall When You're Small (Swords)
2. How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel? (You Are The Quarry)
3. Something is Squeezing My Skull (Years of Refusal)
4. Irish Blood, English Heart (You Are The Quarry)
5. Hold On To Your Friends (Vauxhall and I)
6. Asian Rut (Kill Uncle) / You're The One For Me, Fatty (Your Arsenal)
7. I Will See You in Far Off Places (Ringleader of the Tormentors)
8. All You Need is Me (Years of Refusal)
9. Don't Make Fun of Daddy's Voice (Swords)
10. I've Changed My Plea To Guilty (My Love Life [single])
11. I Am Hated For Loving (Vauxhall and I)
12. (I'm) The End of the Family Line (Kill Uncle)
13. I Don't Mind if You Forget Me (Viva Hate)
14. There's a Place in Hell For Me and My Friends (Kill Uncle)