Morrissey – Lazer Guided Melody – Tangents From Listening To Too Many Records

September 20, 2015

There is a Place in Hull for Me and My Friends: Morrissey, Hull Arena, 18 September.

We live in strange times. Britain, and an old-school socialist – one resembling a college lecturer fired for inappropriate behaviour, and thus left to spend his days down the local Wetherspoons – has somehow become leader of the Labour Party. In the US, the world’s most vulgar man is still a serious candidate for the … Continue reading There is a Place in Hull for Me and My Friends: Morrissey, Hull Arena, 18 September.

March 22, 2015

Review: Morrissey, Glasgow, 21 March

Morrissey, on stage at Glasgow’s Hydro, Saturday 21st March. Photo courtesy of Darren Hargreaves (@springbearddaz). The insidious contours of the arena gig. Skewed timbres, kinky scale. The last occasion Morrissey played these parts he eschewed the big cities for bijou, out-of-the-way places such as Dunoon and Dunfermline. His previous Glasgow gig – almost six years … Continue reading Review: Morrissey, Glasgow, 21 March

December 14, 2014

LGM’s Favourite Albums of 2014, #1 – Morrissey / World Peace…

<<<LGM’s Favourite Albums of 2014, #10 – #2 Back in the summer I somewhat presumptuously announced my Album of the Year just that little bit early. How to paint oneself into a corner – as Syd Barrett apocryphally did whilst adding stripes to the floorboards during The Madcap Laughs photo-shoot. And … Continue reading LGM’s Favourite Albums of 2014, #1 – Morrissey / World Peace…

December 11, 2014December 11, 2014

Twitter’s Favourite Albums of 2014: The Results.

The votes are all in. A big slice of gratitude for taking part; 182 albums championed by not far off a hundred of you discerning types – eclecticism married to some fascinating selections; if there’s anything worthwhile to soliciting votes, then laboriously plotting on a spreadsheet like some Eurovision Song Contest without the … Continue reading Twitter’s Favourite Albums of 2014: The Results.

October 27, 2014October 27, 2014

Morrissey: A Definitive Top Ten – Part Two

Previously on LGM – part one is here – we pretty much established that drafting a list of Morrissey’s finest moments is a foolhardy endeavour. We’re dealing with too much subjectivity; you’ll have your favourites, I’ll have mine, and we’ll all be for changing our mind by cocktail hour. Recently you would have spotted me … Continue reading Morrissey: A Definitive Top Ten – Part Two

October 26, 2014October 27, 2014

Morrissey: A Definitive Top Ten – Part One

Having pondered some kind of Morrissey Top Ten for a while. Because we talked about it down the pub. Because it sounded like a good idea at the time. Because it’s the music blog easy option; a stock character choice of format in which instinct and reflex are as important as thought, and no-one … Continue reading Morrissey: A Definitive Top Ten – Part One

August 3, 2014August 3, 2014

Announcing LGM’s Favourite Album Of 2014, Just A Few Months Early

Because I’m a music blogger, and therefore possess zero imagination, you’ll usually find me each December penning over-elaborate paeans to LPs released during the previous twelve months. Culminating in a 2,000 word treatise with an Album of the Year bent. This year, however, is different. Because I already know the title of 2014’s best in … Continue reading Announcing LGM’s Favourite Album Of 2014, Just A Few Months Early

May 17, 2014May 17, 2014

The Moz Single: Separated At Birth

Anyone else get this… …whilst listening to this? Yeah, thought as much. As you were. Continue reading The Moz Single: Separated At Birth

November 2, 2013November 2, 2013

Exploring Morrissey’s Autobiography Through A Felicity Kendal Context

The telephone call from my literary agent. ‘I think you should write an article on Mr Morrissey’s Autobiography.’ ‘Oh. Narcissism has spoken; I had heard. Although why I should be spending my precious time throwing words in that particular direction escapes me – unless The Guardian has misplaced all of the little hacks-for-hire it usually … Continue reading Exploring Morrissey’s Autobiography Through A Felicity Kendal Context

May 1, 2013May 1, 2013

How to Dance Like Kate Pierson Of The B52s

The thing about the great modern novel is that everybody’s busy writing it. Or if they’re not actively scribbling, they’re at least planning to write it, the time put aside in some vague and fuzzy future. Others go one better still; so confident are they that the great modern novel rattles around their psyche, there’s … Continue reading How to Dance Like Kate Pierson Of The B52s

April 16, 2013

Nostalgia In A Different Hue, Or Two: The Most Significant Albums Of 2006

For the past six months or so, we’ve been mooching in and about the Significant Albums released every year since 1980. And if we’ve learned anything at all, it’s that we really shouldn’t be changing light bulbs with wet hands. That young people are evil. And that, when you compare these release schedules side-by-side, there’s … Continue reading Nostalgia In A Different Hue, Or Two: The Most Significant Albums Of 2006

April 1, 2013April 1, 2013

It’s The Records That Make Us Who We Are: The Most Significant Albums Of 2004

Oh 2004, you cold, hard seductress. Heightened emotions, and the musical pilings to go with them. These were strange days, backlit by a flicker-bug glow of aural enticement. Except that it feels counter-intuitive to be writing about Funeral – the début album by The Arcade Fire – in a 2004 context. Because it wasn’t released … Continue reading It’s The Records That Make Us Who We Are: The Most Significant Albums Of 2004

March 8, 2013March 9, 2013

Sandie Shaw > Dusty Springfield. Discuss.

As controversial statements go, this isn’t going to blow a hole in anybody’s credibility; when it comes to the acme of the British chanteuse aesthetic, Dusty Springfield is pretty much the default option. To fashion an argument to the contrary feels like quite hard work indeed; it’s in the voice, the image, the poise. It’s … Continue reading Sandie Shaw > Dusty Springfield. Discuss.

January 24, 2013January 24, 2013

The Most Significant Albums Of 1997 – Maladjusted, Revisited

Certain things arrive like a shadow. There’s little fanfare; no marching bands, no ticker tape, no frenzy whipped up by a media indentured to voguish constructs. It’s not that Maladjusted was smuggled out into the open in the dead of night – the name, plus the fey (and somewhat ineffectual) portrait of the artist himself on the … Continue reading The Most Significant Albums Of 1997 – Maladjusted, Revisited

December 8, 2012December 9, 2012

A Stereo Full Of Wasps And Wow: The Most Significant Albums Of 1995, Part Two

The two biggest selling albums on this year’s list are both examples of commercial, adult-orientated “rock” music that operate under intriguingly slanted parameters – albeit the “rock” epithet is used in its widest configuration, and any fascination is derived from contrasting sources. The intelligence behind Radiohead’s The Bends is how it manages to exist as a mass-market … Continue reading A Stereo Full Of Wasps And Wow: The Most Significant Albums Of 1995, Part Two