Viva Hate Music Cd

Morrissey - Viva Hate

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Viva Hate      Artist : Morrissey      List Price : $11.98 USD        Your Price : $11.98 USD      ProductGroup: Music      Release Date : 1990-10-25      Studio : Warner Bros / Wea      Label : Warner Bros / Wea      Avg. Customer Rating : (49 reviews)

Reviews Customer Reviews for Viva Hate      September 1987      Rating:      Morrissey's initial foray into solo pop-stardom was a precarious move for the vocalist who had once admitted to being bedridden when his seminal pop-group The Smiths dissolved in September 1987. Many were so used to the names Morrissey/Marr that when the break-up was announced it was as if the world of pop music had stopped turning on its axis. The resulting vertigo brought fans to wonder how each of these songwriters could ever continue without being associated with the other. Not since Lennon and McCartney had dissolved their own musical partnership had such a harrowing thought crept into the collective pop consciousness. But within months Viva Hate appeared on shelves and if there was any doubt as to whose record it was, this was quickly dismissed by the shadowed profile of Morrissey adorning the album cover, a place that, on previous Smiths' records, had been reserved for the formerly famous, be they musical or thespian. It was a striking, elegant cover, not without an almost funereal quality... Stephen Street, producer for the Smiths' final singles, had composed the music for this first solo outing and many were outwardly doubtful if not overly cautious to voice any optimism, for it was widely acknowledged that Johnny Marr's long shadow would haunt any record Morrissey commited to which excluded the name of his former partner. Meanwhile, back in California, my parents were about to take my brother and I on one of those family summer vacations and just before leaving I purchased "Viva Hate" and the Talking Heads' "Naked," the album Johnny Marr had worked on around the time of the Smiths dissolution. I resolved to walk the shores of some distant family vacation resort, walkman in hand, taking in the fruit of each man's efforts. "Suedehead" and "Nothing but Flowers" had permeated the airwaves in the lead up to each album's release and while both were pop gems worthy of repeated play, one couldn't help but hear the seperate contributions Morissey and Marr made to the records and wish they had somehow been wed at the last minute. But for all of the scorn that has been heaped on Viva Hate, it isn't the bad record it's cracked up to be. It stands up quite well, in fact. The orcestrations Street provided were somewhat different than what Marr had created and applied to the Smiths' recordings, but when placed alongside Morrissey's vocals, they did little to take away from the lyrical talents of the eighties most prolific songwriter. There were even a few surprises to be had along the way. "Margaret on the Guillotine" revisits the antiestablismentarianistic sentiments Morrissey often champions in such songs as "The Queen is Dead" and "The Headmaster Ritual," "Alastian Cousin" and "Bengali in Platforms" address some sensitive racial and sexual issues, but it is "Everyday is Like Sunday" and "Suedehead" that cover the most familiar ground for Morrissey, that of the lonely, be they spurned, broken-hearted, abandoned, or simply longing for escape. It is a shame "November Spawned a Monster" wouldn't be ready for at least another year because it would have found a welcome home on Viva Hate.     Customer Reviews for Viva Hate Cd      Viva LOVE....      Rating:      With a rush, a push and then bang! It landed. Morrissey's first album. With such a successful first solo album, one would have thought that happiness is around the corner for Manchester's Black Sheep son, but alas, this is only the first cut of the many wounds he would inflict with his later album releases. It was inevitable and all so sad that the Rogers and Hammerstein of the 80's, Morrissey and Marr, were to break up. But Morrissey must walk the path of gloom alone and this first album is ominous of everything else that was to come. With youth still on his side, sadness and anger was oh so fresh, vibrant and inspired. Morrissey takes the back seat of the internal revolution of life's chaos and misery and pours it out in one, big, voluptous and elegant sigh with this debut album. Welcome to Morrissey's musical misery tour.........