When we posted Your Arsenal on Facebook as "the last Morrissey solo album that mattered," Labheads rushed to the defense of Vauxhall and I. On the strength, I revisited the 1994 release, and immediately realized I was wrong. Is there a better Moz opener than "Now My Heart Is Full"? "I Am Hated For Loving" perfectly encapsulates the asexual Moz prose-speak floating over simple melodies. "The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get" is the lineage of Moz declarative songs such as "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now," and "The Lazy Sunbathers" creates another vague character in the Moz-verse next to Fatty, Alsatian Cousin, Bengali In Platforms, etc. And apparently, the original pressing of this is super-rare, going for $150-200 on the secondhand market (before this, the first vinyl repressing).

• 180g black vinyl pressing
• UK import
• housed in gatefold jacket w/ printed insert
• original release year: 1994
• music label: Parlophone 2014

reviewed by the mgmnt 06/2014