MP3: Morrissey – “Maladjusted” from Maladjusted (Expanded Edition) out now on Island (UMG).
The 1997 album, produced by Steve Lillywhite, has been re-sequenced by Morrissey and remastered, adding several b-sides and ditching two songs (“Roy’s Keen” and “Papa Jack”). Packaging includes a new cover, a 24-page booklet, a new essay by Morrissey, and rare photos.
This was during my Morrissey blackout period, so I might actually have to pick this up…
Morrissey: iTunes, Amazon, Insound, wiki.
Worth it just for the new cover:
Good heavens, that 1997 cover was horrid! Didn’t the label have a graphics department back then? Quotes around the title? Really?
Update: Found this outtake of the new cover photo session in MOJO…
jake, if you look back through the smiths catalog you’ll find quotes used plenty enough… “louder than bombs”, “ask”, “rank”, etc. it’s just keeping with character.
as for the album, i picked it up when it came out. there’s some good stuff on there and some filler as well. maladjusted, alma matters, roy’s keen, and satan rejected my soul are all fine tracks.
as for the cover, yeah i always thought it was a bit off. though not as much as any other morrissey solo album cover. also, it was pretty much par for the course in 1997. i absolutely hated the shiny silver background.
but what do i know, i liked “kill uncle” as well.
re-issue, repackage, re-evaluate the songs.
Look how great Moz is in the new cover though. Class.
Vit, are you really sticking up for that album art?
Okay, I admit that quotes around the album title are the least offensive thing about that album cover. But everything about that album cover is terrible: the photo, Moz’s face, the shoes, the crouch, the blank background, the font. It all just looks totally low-budg. Cheap cheap cheap. And ugly ugly ugly. Jo Slee would be appalled.
jake, i agreed it was off. didn’t say i liked it, just said it fit within the timeframe it was from for crappy british pop album cover art. yeah, there were some great covers from that time period. remember, he was up against spice girls, robbie williams, boyzone, etc. of course, as mentioned, there were great acts with fantastic covers as well, the verve and radiohead.
i chalk it up to the move to mercury records at the time.
again, not defending the album, just saying that it fits into the time period for morrissey. the font is similar to all his early solo releases for emi/sire and on to this one with mercury. i mentioned the background was horrible. the picture is unflattering to say the least. he sort of looks like ian brown in it.
hindsight provides an easy view.
Update: Added an outtake of the new cover photo session that I found in MOJO.
pick it up yet, jake? any thoughts you’d care to share?
Not yet.