Morrissey reissuing 'Bona Drag' with 6 unreleased tracks

I like the remaster. Nice full warm sound that is absent from the original CD. Just listen to the drums on Disappointed or the bass and strings on Everyday is Like Sunday - and that's just for starters.

It's a slightly different version of the original album though. Will Never Marry is the short edit, Piccadilly Palare has the extra verse. Plus the beginning of Suedehead is cut off.

If you want the album as it originally sounded on CD, get the original. If not, the remaster is just fine.

 

Will Never Marry has always been edited this way on Bona Drag. The full length version is only available on the original Everyday Is Like Sunday single or the 3 CD Singles Collection.

 

Good point. But did you know the first US cassette of Bona Drag had the longer edit?

 

Does anyone know why the edited version of Will Never Marry was used on the original Bona Drag in the first place? Was it due to vinyl side space? Or is it just the case that Moz himself hates the full version?

 

How about the crossfade at the end of Picadilly Palare and the start of November Spawned a Monster?

 

Vinyl space.

 

I had no idea!

 

There are more tracks crossfading on this new edition of Bona Drag ...

 

Which ones? I have only listened to the bonus tracks.

 

The first seven, then Lucky Lisp into Suedehead.

 

Thanks, I just checked my disc.

It sounds like a few of those are crossfaded, but most are played in immediate succession, without gaps, but without overlap.

I'm really enjoying the bonus tracks.

 

Just got the new reissue vinyl and CD of this. The vinyl is very nicely pressed. Thick, flat, no marks of any kind and properly centered. Side four says "CHRISTIAN @ ABBEY ROAD". The packaging and printing for both is very nice. The inner sleeves are a bit tight so use caution when removing them for the first time. The new CD and vinyl sound similar though the drums sound slightly less compressed to me on the vinyl. I've also compared the first track from both new versions to the original UK CD and original UK vinyl versions. The new CD is louder than the original of course but not as bad as it could have been. The original UK vinyl seems to have a little bit more "air" in the drums compared to the new version but it's not a huge difference. The new vinyl seems to have more emphasis in the bass but again not a huge difference. All in all I like both versions and am glad to have each for different reasons.

 

Just got through the end of side three of the new vinyl and found myself a little disappointed by "Disappointed". I remembered it sounding a lot more powerful than it is represented on the reissue so I took out the "Everyday Is Like Sunday" 12" and gave it a spin. The difference is really noticeable. Better bass, much more realistic drums and a wider soundstage that really envelops you. Probably not a really fair comparison since the 12" plays at 45 and has more room for the grooves but I thought I'd mention that IMO if you're interested in the best possible versions of specific tracks the original UK 12" is usually the way to go.

 

I love that song.

 

Yes, indeed. The whole thing seems a bit haphazard...just like the "Maladjusted" reissue.

You've gotta be kidding. NO SALE!

 

I hated the Southpaw and Maladjusted reissues. What was he thinking, messing with the tracklisting? Southpaw originally started and ends brilliantly, with those two epics - and its best songs. The 'new version' is shapeless. Nobody Loves Us is a brilliant song, which should have replaced the throwaway, dated and thoroughly inconsequential Dagenham Dave on both the album and as a lead single. But, the outtakes are pretty rubbish.

Maladjusted is even worse. I haven't cared for anything Moz has released since Southpaw Grammar. Maladjusted is, in hindsight, slightly better than what followed, but at the time it sounded dreadful. Again, he consigned one of his finest songs - Lost - to a B side, while putting out mediocre tosh like Satan Rejected My Soul and Roy's Keen as singles. No amount of revision and resequencing can save that album from Turdsville.

 

Have you heard the 1997 Centenary Edition remaster/reissue of Viva Hate (with bonus tracks)? If so, I'm wondering how you think the sound of that one compares to the sound of the Bona Drag 20th anniversary edition?

(I bought the original releases of Viva Hate and Bona Drag shortly after they were issued in 1988 and 1990 respectively, but just picked up the 1997 Centenary Edition of Viva Hate for the bonus tracks...I also happen to prefer the sound on the Centenary Edition over that on the original).

 

I love the sound of the Centenary Edition. I just wish they'd left the cover intact and hadn't slapped on those unrelated B-sides as extras. Great songs all, but unrelated to the album.

Rumour is that the forthcoming Viva Hate remaster (due out next year - ''first quarter" is all I've been told) will retain the Centenary Edition mastering - but not the terrible cover or tracklisting.

 

Yeah, though I love both Viva Hate and Bona Drag for their music, I haven't been a big fan of the sound on the originals.

Given that, would you say that the sound on the Bona Drag 20th cent. edition is closer to the Centenary-style sound or closer to the original Bona Drag...not to split hairs, but I'm just trying to decide whether it would be worth springing for Bona Drag 20th cent. anniversay edition largely on the basis for sound (as I already have the original).

BTW, I'm not one of those purists who really gets obsessed with this 10 second edit or that fade...I'm much more concerned about overall sound than minor adjustments here and there.

 

I just recently happened to find this in a pawnshop, for the extremely low price of(you ready?) $1.00...in MINT shape. Like it better than the original. I actually enjoyed all the bonus tracks on that one........nice additions, despite them having nothing to do with the original release. I'd wished "Blackeyed Susan" wouldve been included as well?

Ive actually heard nothing but good things about the new release. I'll buy it regardless, for the bonus tracks alone.

By the way, Maladjusted is a very good record IMO, very underrated. I also love YATQ, nice return for him.

 

We'll agree to disagree here. I haven't liked any of his albums since Southpaw. He does still write the odd corker though - Life is a Pigsty, I'm Not Sorry, It's Not Your Birthday Anymore, The Never Played Symphonies - so I'm staying around for those.

 

Never Played Symphonies, I agree.....loooovvvveeeee that song. Thats "old" Morrissey, wouldnt you agree? least it sounds that way to me. I loved Roys Keen/SRMS/Alma/and a few others on Mal.......Mercury didnt do a lick of promo work for this album(not their fault, he was difficult to find @ the time...for some reason, refused to show for any promo). So, they released it, to piss him off. He's said he both likes it and hates it, Ive heard interviews saying one or the other.

I thought "Irish Blood, English Heart" was very very good.

Not a big fan of YOR, although, I love "Im throwing my arms around paris".

Lemme ask you: do you think(as I do), he has another killer record in him? I do...I really do. I think this next release... will really surprise some people. He recently re-signed w/EMI, so we'll see.

 

I do think he has another great album in him. I know I'm in a minority here, but I really wish Southpaw had done better because it was a great 'answer' to Vauxhall & I, following that album's reflective tenderness with loud, brash anger. Granted, Moz's world view was already shrinking (the lyrics to Dagenham Dave, having a go at journos in Reader Meet Author etc), but there was a wild abandon to that album. The album's failure led Moz to try and recreate Viva Hate with Maladjusted (look at how the album's structured - the feedback laden opener, the orchestral track, the 'my fans have forgotten me' song etc, etc).

He fell out with Mercury because there was a change in management. The original CEO had pulled out all the stops to sign him, including organising a lunch between him and David Johansen. When the management changed, so did relations with Moz. On top of that, he hadn't exactly given them much to work with. Rumour was they chose the least flattering picture to put on the cover just to piss him off.

 

Vauxhall is my all time favorite record.......I agree with you, that he tried to recreate success w/Maladjusted.

My buddy(who used to work for Mercury) said they had all this promo work ready for him for Mal, and they couldnt find him, he did zero promo work for it. They even went so far as to send someone to his home in Hollywood, to knock on his door, and he wasnt there. He was supposedly in London.

 

I never heard that. I'm sure it's true. He did do some interviews in the UK. There were a couple of newspaper ones. Grumpy, defensive and lacking his usual barbed wit.

I think Vauxhall's an extraordinary album. Arguably the best thing he's ever done. You know EMI sat on it for over a year after it was delivered? He wanted to release no more than one single from the album - The More You Ignore Me, as a four track EP - Black-Eyed Susan was meant to be the fourth track. Boxers was meant to include Sunny. And then there was Interlude with Siouxsie - another standalone single. EMI had other ideas.

He'd also signed to Rod Stewart's (Stiefel-Phillips) management at the time. They'd booked him to play two nights at Carnegie Hall when Vauxhall came out in the US, but he pulled out of the dates and fired them.

Vauxhall has been remastered. Not entirely sure what the bonus tracks are going to be. I'm guessing Moon River, Interlude, I'd Love To, Black-Eyed Susan, the Boxers EP, Sunny and a couple of the alternate mixes of album tracks that have since leaked. There is also talk of a bonus DVD of the Morrissey In Person VHS. No idea when this is coming out.