FEATURE:
Second Spin
The Smiths – Meat Is Murder
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IN this feature…
IN THIS PHOTO: The Smiths in 1985/PHOTO CREDIT: Pictorial Press Ltd./Alamy
the idea is to shed new light on an album that was either underrated when it was released or has not been given the attention it deserves since. The Smiths’ second album is not often seen as their best. When people compile a list of the top-three Smiths albums, people often put The Queen Is Dead (1986), The Smiths (1984) and Strangeways, Here We Come (1987) ahead of Meat Is Murder. Although my favourite album from The Smiths is Strangeways, Here We Come, I think Meat Is Murder is a lost classic. I have seen reviews from the album – from those published at the time and those since – and there is a mix of the slightly disappointed and positive. I think Strangeways, Here We Come warrants more acclaim, because it is a fantastic album. Maybe it was the fact that there was not a song as instant and accessible, perhaps, as This Charming Man (from their debut) on Strangeways, Here We Come; maybe the more political tone of the record was a bit jarring or unexpected. Since Meat Is Murder, Morrissey (the band’s lead and now-solo artist) has spoken frequently and passionately – and sometimes controversially – about his vegetarianism and political beliefs. I think Meat Is Murder manages to combine accessible and nuanced tracks with serious messages. The Headmaster Ritual is one of my favourite Smiths songs, but it is a track that is ant-corporal punishment.
I love the fact that the band – including guitarist and composer Johnny Marr (lead guitar), Andy Rourke (bass) and Mike Joyce (percussion) – were more muscular and adventurous on The Smiths’ second album. Barbarism Begins at Home has this incredibly catchy riff that makes the song spring and pop. Although the track is almost seven minutes in length, you are hooked until the end. Nowhere Fast is a Smiths classic, whilst the opening two tracks – The Headmaster Ritual and Rusholme Ruffians – are incredibly memorable and have that classic sound. The band sound more confident and adventurous than they did on The Smiths, and they were definitely keen to create a bolder album than the debut. Some say that Meat Is Murder’s title track (which ends the album) is filler; others think it is more noise than a song, but I think it is a hugely arresting and striking song that, appropriately, comes right at the very last. In fact, I do not think there is a weak track on the album, and it bemuses me that there were some mixed reviews back in 1985. At just nine tracks, Meat Is Murder has longer songs rather than a series of shorter songs. Most tracks on Meat Is Murder are three/four minutes in length, and I think the track listing is perfect – opening with those two incredible tracks and ending with a real punch. Although there have been some less-than-impassioned reviews for Meat Is Murder, it has been included in many lists that celebrate the finest albums ever. I want to bring in a review from Rolling Stone from 1985 that is among the more positive and constructive reviews from the time:
“Lead singer and wordsmith Stephen Morrissey (who goes by his surname professionally) is a man on a mission, a forlorn and brooding crusader with an arsenal of personal axes to grind. Drawing on British literary and cinematic tradition (he cites influences ranging from Thomas Hardy and Oscar Wilde to Saturday Night and Sunday Morning), Morrissey speaks out for protection of the innocent, railing against human cruelty in all its guises. Three of the songs on Meat Is Murder deal with saving our children — from the educational system (“The Headmaster Ritual”), from brutalizing homes (“Barbarism Begins at Home”), from one another (“Rusholme Ruffians”). The title track, “Meat Is Murder,” with its simulated bovine cries and buzz-saw guitars, takes vegetarianism to new heights of hysterical carniphobia.
A man of deadly serious sensitivity, Morrissey recognizes emotional as well as physical brutality, assailing the cynicism that laughs at loneliness (“That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore”). Despite feeling trapped in an unfeeling world, Morrissey can still declare, “My faith in love is still devout,” with a sincerity so deadpan as to be completely believable.
Though he waves the standard for romance and sexual liberation, Morrissey has a curiously puritanical concept of love. He’s conscious of thwarted passion and inappropriate response, yet remains oddly distant from his own self-absorption. The simple pleasures of others make him uncomfortable, as if these activities were the cause of his own grand existential suffering. Morrissey’s uptight romanticism wears the black mantle of a new Inquisition.
In contrast to Morrissey’s censorious lyrical attitudes is the expansive musical vision of guitarist and tunesmith Johnny Marr. When these two are brought into alignment, the results transcend and transform Morrissey’s concerns. The brightest example is the shimmering twelve-inch “How Soon Is Now?” (included as a bonus on U.S. copies of Meat Is Murder). Marr’s version of the Bo Diddley beat and his somber, reptilian guitars propel Morrissey’s heartfelt plea — “I am human, and I need to be loved, just like everybody else does” — into the realm of universal compassion and postcool poetry. At this point, his needs seem real, his concerns nonjudgmental, and his otherwise pious persona truly sympathetic”.
I want to source from a couple of reviews, just to give a flavour and tone of what people think of Meat Is Murder. There are a few four-star reviews for the album, but most seem to be two or three-star ones; since 1985, I have not heard Meat Is Murder talked about in the same terms as The Smiths’ debut or The Queen Is Dead. Meat Is Murder turned thirty-five back in February, and I think now is a perfect time to reassess and rediscover a brilliant album.
A lot of reviews for Meat Is Murder laud songs like The Headmaster Ritual, but they tend to turn their noses up at many of the other tracks. (I have not even mentioned the epic How Soon Is Now?, as it appears on the U.S. edition of Meat Is Murder and was not part of the U.K. version). A lot of reviews for Meat Is Murder are a bit unfair to the tracks, which I think are full of life, variation and depth. This review from AllMusic sort of underlines what I mean:
“With their second proper album Meat Is Murder, the Smiths begin to branch out and diversify, while refining the jangling guitar pop of their debut. In other words, it catches the group at a crossroads, unsure quite how to proceed. Taking the epic, layered "How Soon Is Now?" as a starting point (the single, which is darker and more dance-oriented than the remainder of the album, was haphazardly inserted into the middle of the album for its American release), the group crafts more sweeping, mid-tempo numbers, whether it's the melancholy "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore" or the failed, self-absorbed protest of the title track.
While the production is more detailed than before, the Smiths are at their best when they stick to their strengths -- "The Headmaster Ritual" and "I Want the One I Can't Have" are fine elaborations of the formula they laid out on the debut, while "Rusholme Ruffians" is an infectious stab at rockabilly.
However, the rest of Meat Is Murder is muddled, repeating lyrical and musical ideas of before without significantly expanding them or offering enough hooks or melodies to make it the equal of The Smiths or Hatful of Hollow”.
Some will argue that Meat Is Murder has either been celebrated adequately or is underserving of bigger focus – I would disagree on both fronts! Even if you are not a fan of The Smiths, I would encourage people to investigate Meat Is Murder, as it is a fantastic album with many classic moments. Maybe it is not quite as jaw-dropping and accessible as The Queen Is Dead, but it is an album that will linger in the mind. I shall leave things here…but take a moment to spin The Smiths’ second album, because it is a real treasure trove. Meat Is Murder is a record that contains more than its fair share…
OF wonder.