Paperjam

Morrissey's Greatest Hits: Not Great

Music // Jim // 4th February 2008

Morrissey (or perhaps his record label) has a fairly poor record when it comes to choosing the singles off each album. Hence the rather eccentric (bizarre) line-up for the new greatest hits offering, although you get a couple of classics the rest of it is pretty average (shonky) when you compare it to the rest of his back catalogue.

In a rather Paint A Vulgar Picture way there are a couple of extra tracks tacked on to encourage the bedroom-dwelling Moz-loving completist to part with the reddies. That’s How People Grow Up is a bit of a MOR plodder albeit with some shrieking and some wry stuff about how you might be a sad lonely bastard, but at least you haven’t got spinal injuries. The other new track is a storming gem called All You need Is Me: pounding, catchy, funny and with the memorable closing refrain “You don’t like me but you love me – either way you’re wrong. You gonna miss me when I’m gone”. Total genius.

So guess which one he’s put out as a single? Sigh. I give up.

Still you can get hold of All You Need Is Me on its own from iTunes I suppose or alternatively via this possibly naughty link here – which is what I did. Bedroom-dweller I may be, but even I’m not shelling out to own two copies of the dreary In The Future When All’s Well.

Actually, while I’m at it if you really do want to get hold of the fifteen best Morrissey songs I suggest that you could do worse than scouring your favourite (legal, obviously) MP3 source for the following:

1. Black Eyed Susan
2. Why Don’t You Find Out For Yourself?
3. Jack The Ripper (live version off Beethoven Was Deaf)
4. Angel Angel Down We Go Together
5. Reader Meet Author
6. Our Frank
7. Suedehead
8. Teenage Dad On His Estate
9. The Loop
10. The World is Full Of Crashing Bores
11. The National Front Disco
12. Everyday Is Like Sunday
13. Friday Mourning
14. Billy Budd
15. Margaret On A Guillotine