We all know someone who worships at the altar of The Smiths. I\u2019m not sure that I can entirely blame them\u2014there\u2019s a biblical sense of perfection to the band. Two virtuosic, exactly complementary musical minds coming together with an immediate artistic vision and the precise tools to execute it. It was a band by immaculate conception, free from the original sin of needing any time at all to figure out what the fuck they were doing. On impact, it was jangly, verbose guitar pop with an obscure, colorized movie still to pull it all together. <\/p>\n
Call me a blasphemer, but I don\u2019t prescribe to this line of thinking. The Smiths are a great band. I\u2019d even go so far as to call them an amazing one. Their four-album run and slew of non-album singles were truly some era-defining shit for indie music in the \u201980s. But they\u2019re not a perfect band, neither in their aesthetics nor in their execution of said aesthetics. And I don\u2019t think there\u2019s an album in their catalog that displays this imperfection quite like Meat Is Murder<\/i>, an album clearly convinced of its own greatness while too inconsistent to actually achieve it. <\/p>\n
Now, before I get any further: I actually think that Meat Is Murder <\/i>is a pretty solid album, at least in the macro sense. This tracklist actually features some of their best material, and the album has some great highlights to show for it. The opener \u201cThe Headmaster Ritual” strikes a deft balance between a shimmering melodic sensibility and Morrisey\u2019s chilling portrait of British education. \u201cI Want The One I Can\u2019t Have\u201d feels like a smash hit that never was, with its sticky refrains and guitar lines approaching \u201cThis Charming Man\u201d levels of memorability. The waltzing \u201cThat Joke Isn\u2019t Funny Anymore\u201d is an amazing, swirling centerpiece to the record. And then there\u2019s \u201cWell I Wonder,\u201d which might be one of the band\u2019s best songs, period. The track is a bleakly gorgeous ballad with the Smiths-ian dramatics turned up to ten (\u201cDo you hear me when you sleep? \/ I hoarsely cry \/ Do you see me when we pass? \/ I half-die\u201d). It\u2019s a reminder that nobody writes an anthem of unrequited love quite like Marr and Morrissey.<\/p>\n
Undoubtedly, Meat Is Murder <\/i>has great ideas. It\u2019s a Smiths album, so of course it does. But I think that the album just has too many tracks where the ideas aren\u2019t executed up to the band\u2019s typically lofty standards. I\u2019ll be the first to confess my love for the post-punk groove on \u201cBarbarism Begins At Home,\u201d but the track doesn\u2019t have nearly enough progression or dynamics to justify it running seven minutes long. And although I enjoy (at least, in concept) the blitzkrieg performance by the band on \u201cWhat She Said,\u201d I can\u2019t help but feel like the muddy mix and scant song structure would both be improved on the faster-paced moments of their subsequent albums. <\/p>\n
And then there are the spots on this album that really sink its enjoyability for me, where ill-conceived ideas and lackluster execution come together in a really unflattering way. I\u2019ve always found the more rockabilly-inspired moments on this album (\u201cRusholme Ruffians,\u201d \u201cNowhere Fast\u201d) to be incompatible with the band\u2019s musical strengths. The former is just too noodly and directionless to have any sort of impact, and the latter\u2019s clash of swinging rock riffs and more typical jangly passages is something I\u2019m glad the band never attempted again. <\/p>\n
Not to mention that this record closes with the album\u2019s title track, which is a strong contender for the worst song The Smiths ever laid onto one of their core albums. Is this what The Smiths sound like to people who hate their music? The genuine theatricality that usually makes their songs so special is traded in for cheap shock, their poeticism swapped out for unabashed sloganeering. And, at six minutes long, it isn\u2019t merciful either. <\/p>\n
As sour a taste as the closer leaves, I think that Meat Is Murder <\/i>is definitely a worthwhile listen on the power of its highlights alone. Some of The Smith\u2019s most essential material lands on this album, no doubt about it. These standouts are just too few and far between, and the rest of the tracklist features either: 1) ideas that were done better on other Smiths projects or 2) ideas that should have never landed on a Smiths project at all. For the hardcore fans\u2014well, the hardcore fans have probably already heard and adore this record. But for the uninitiated and curious listener: go listen to The Queen Is Dead<\/i>. Then go listen to the debut. Then check out one of the compilations. And maybe check out an R.E.M. record or two. If you\u2019re still pining for more, Meat Is Murder <\/i>will be here waiting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":34835,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7740],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-46702","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-smiths","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=46702"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=46702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}