Tim Brough's Black Leather Bookshelf

Ah hey ma ma ma ma...
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Long overdue but well worth the wait, "The Morning Lasted All Day" finally collects a solid set of The Dream Academy's best from their three albums, a few B-sides and oddities and the brand new "Sunrising." Augmented with a comprehensive booklet written by Nick Laird-Clowes, exquisitely remastered with his supervision, this is about as good a Dream Academy anthology as a fan could hope for.

While it naturally is heavily weighted in favor of their dynamic debut, both "Remembrance Days" and "A Different Kind Of Weather" are given exposure. (I've always been of the mindset that "Weather," despite the fact that it didn't even chart in the US, has been vastly underrated.) The band's chamber-pop gets much of its otherworldliness from Kate St. John's oboe and other reed instruments flowing beneath Laird-Clowes' folkish guitars and vocal delivery. There's a lovely sort of soft focus to many of their songs that made the majority of them difficult to fit in during the synth-heavy 80's, leaving such contenders as "Indian Summer" and "Power To Believe" (included here both in its instrumental version as heard on the "Planes Trains and Automobiles" soundtrack, and the vocal version from "Remembrance Days") frozen out of the top 40.

The ethereal quality of their songs a times masked the presence of noteworthy contributors. Friend of the band and Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour was a frequent collaborator and co-producer, Lindsay Buckingham co-producing and adding background vocals to "Indian Summer," and The Smiths' guitarist Johnny Marr playing on "Ballad In 4/4." It takes away nothing from the band's presentation, even offering proof just how powerful The Dream Academy 'sound' was to all the stages of the band's recording history.

I have a few of my own favorites to recommend as a fan, one of them being the lovely version of John Lennon's "Love," as featured on "Weather." Actually using a drum-loop, Laird-Clowes brings an emphasis to Lennon's message (including a portion of "#9 Dream") that few covers of Lennon have done. The cover of The Smiths' "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want" is good for a smile, and I have always thought "Indian Summer" was a single cheated out of deserved hit status. Then there's "Sunrising," the first new Dream Academy song in 30 years. It's a welcome treat and fits in with the band's legacy, with Gilbert Gabriel's piano painting the mood (alas, St.John is not featured on it).

Even with that minor wish not coming true, I am very happy to have "The Morning Lasted All Day" to augment my original CD's of The Dream Academy. The remastering enables you to hear things that were tempered in the originals, and makes for a satisfying listening experience. Now if only the original albums could get the deluxe treatment....

I bear more grudges than lonely high court judges (remastered version review)
5 Out Of 5 Stars

After the glitter bomb that was "Your Arsenal," Morrissey decided to slow the pace a bit. "Vauxhall and I" was a much more languid and consistently paced album than any other solo albums. In fact, the guitars frequently hide in the background to allow more more Morrissey's ironic and witty lyrics to come to the fore. This was also one of Morrissey's most successful American albums, even managing to have a scrape of the top 40 with the single " The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get."

Just because the tempo had slowed down, that certainly didn't mean that Morrissey was showing any signs of mellowing out. His literate wit and self depreciating personality frequently shine through. He even dips a toe into progressive rock with a whispered "Lifeguard Sleeping, Girl Drowning." His literary references, be they "Billy Budd" or the World War II denial of the "Lazy Sunbathers," again offer proof that the 80s had a few wordsmiths as clever as Morrissey was. This 20th anniversary edition of "Vauxhall and I" reminds us just how potent Morrissey is at his very best.

The bonus live concert from the period shows just how reinvigorated Morrissey was at the time of this album. Energetic and buoyant, the guitars that had been relegated to the background moved to the foreground. Morrisey gives a delicious, more playful reading to a variety of songs, giving "Billy Budd" more force and making "The More You Ignore Me" into jangle pop. It's a fine complement to "Vauxhall and I's" seemingly mature attitude. The remastering itself is one of those that actually highlights passages you may have missed in the original version. As such this nearly flawless album has a version that is a must own.

Morrissey and Johnny Marr composed the most idiosyncratic duos of the 80's as the core of The Smiths. Morrissey of the complex and quintessentially droll gay Brit lyrical sensibility, Marr of the melodic yet jangular guitar mixture. Despite the dichotomy (and the friction that ultimately broke the band apart), when the two men clicked, they created brilliant bits of hit single obtuseness. "The Sound of The Smiths" captures that perfectly.

The finest examples are songs like "How Soon is Now," where the unbearably devious guitar riff anchors the song, dragging you into the Morrissey's usual tale of desperate relationships with a sickening thud. Then there's the jangling tease of "This Charming Man," about a piece of insecure street trade being solicited by a man of class. And who can resist the sardonic call of "Panic's" "Hang the DJ, hang the DJ, hang the DJ"?

While it is hard for me not to recommend any single Smiths album or the many compilations, I can also safely say that any of their four proper albums (especially the debut) is likely a better buy than their multiple best ofs. But if all you're really looking for is the brilliant decade of genre defining singles, "The Sound of The Smiths" is invaluable.