Entertainment For Lively Minds

Word RSS FeedsWord Magazine on YouTubeWord Magazine on Last FMWord Magazine on Share My PlaylistsWord Spotify PlaylistsWord Magazine on FacebookWord Magazine on Twitter

The worst compilation ever

Stephen Merrick's picture

Inspired by nicktf on another thread... one of nick's earliest musical memories was a woeful Beatles compilation that his dad put together.

Choose a worthy artist and create the worst 10 song compilation you can manage.

Here is my Beatles one:

1 - Octopus's Garden
2 - Michelle
3 - Honey Don't
4 - A Taste Of Honey
5 - Till There Was You
6 - I Will
7 - Mr Moonlight
8 - And I Love Her
9 - This Boy
10 - Dig It

(That's right, no "Revolution No 9" or "You Know My Name Look Up The Number": I quite like them!)

0

And I Love Her?

Nooooooo!!!!!!

1
Lucas Hare | 9 June 2010 - 7:21am

Agreed

And Michelle? While Maxwell's Silver Hammer and Ob-La-Di don't make the list? Tsssk, etc.

0
Fraser Lewry | 9 June 2010 - 7:37am

I reeled at And I Love Her too

And I Will.
I suppose some people hate soppy Macca songs.
But when I spotted This Boy on a list of Worst Fabs Songs I had to go and have a little lie-down.

1
Richard Lowe | 9 June 2010 - 8:52am

I'd like to register a complaint

And I Love Her, This Boy, I Will and even Dig It should be nowhere near this list.

Try instead:

What Goes On
Blue Jay Way
Bad Boy
Act Naturally

Totally on board with fabness of both Revolution 9 and You Know My Name though.

0
Steven C | 9 June 2010 - 9:42am

No

'Blue Jay Way'? Surely the worst pile of charmless garbage they ever recorded.

I'm with you on the covers- 'Honey Don't', 'A Taste of Honey', 'Mr Moonlight' and 'Till There Was You' but I think the other choices are somewhat bizarre. 'I Will' is charming, 'Michelle' is gorgeous and intelligent pop, 'Octopus's Garden' is lovely and fun, 'And I Love Her' is one of their best tunes- what's to dislike? 'Dig It' is lazy Lennon and borderline I agree.

I actually like 'Maxwell'.

And 'Ob la Di' too for that matter.

0
eddie g | 9 June 2010 - 7:48am

How has...

...Hello Goodbye escaped mention?

I can still remember the disappointment. It was the late autumn of 1967. The Beatles had released Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever, and then Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and then All You Need Is Love. What on earth would come next?

And they released this sodding jingle...

1
Inky Fingers | 9 June 2010 - 9:25pm

Hello Goodbye,Goodbye Hello

When this poped up on my MP3 player just a few days ago I was struck by how much I was enjoying it and how underrated it is in the Fabs' catalogue.
All You Need Is Love on the other hand is about 3 minutes more than you need.

0
Carl Parker | 10 June 2010 - 1:07pm

Hello Goodbye one of the worst Beatles songs??? Insanity?

And while it isn’t in the same league as Fields / Lane / Pepper, it certainly wouldn’t have struck me as particularly disappointing after the likeable but so-so All You Need is Love (one good chord change in the verse – on the third “All You Need is LOVE” – does not a great song make). While evidently someway down any Beatles best-of list, Hello Goodbye is still a wondrous creation, full of inspired harmonies and (for the final time) the bright and colourful production sound which was the hallmark of their 67 output.

As with Ob-la-di, Octopus, and Rita – I think the song gets bad press because of its overt cheeriness. What I love about Macca was he has never been afraid of being uncool and this has allowed him to play around with a whole range of styles and lyrical themes. Sometimes this has been his undoing (more notably in his post-fabs career) but IMHO it is a big part of what gave the Beatles such a wide palette. I remember Bobby Gillespie slating post-66 Beatles because it wasn’t about rock’n’roll – well how f***ing boring if all pop music had to be about rock and flaming roll??

Okay rant over……………..

0
walker182 | 10 June 2010 - 2:10pm

Octopus's Garden

is amazing! There's plenty of tracks on Abbey Road I'd skip before that one.

0
matthew | 9 June 2010 - 7:59am

Seconded

Its the 'Rocky Racoon' of Abbey Road, and should (easily) be replaced in the original list by 'Yellow Submarine'

0
Rigid Digit | 9 June 2010 - 8:09pm

Ahem

I had And I love Her as my first wedding dance

0
apend01 | 9 June 2010 - 8:15am

I will

was my wedding choice but the superior Alison Krauss version.

0
Steve Turner | 9 June 2010 - 8:44am

Maybe not superior ...

but excellent in a different way perhaps. Good choice!

0
Steven C | 9 June 2010 - 9:34am

pan pipe moods

If we are going to allow cover version in this list, may I simply submit that the worst collection is any of the above, rendered in the stylings of the Andean pipe-wielders?

0
jingard | 9 June 2010 - 10:36am

Run for your lives!

2
Paolo Meccano | 9 June 2010 - 11:29am

Does that really exist?

If so, I'm feeling just a little bit scared right now.

0
Patrick Crowther | 9 June 2010 - 12:40pm

Oh...

0
Paolo Meccano | 9 June 2010 - 12:58pm

Good...

grief.

0
Patrick Crowther | 9 June 2010 - 1:07pm

I feel happier knowing it exists

And also that I never need to hear it. Laughed and laughed...

0
FakeGeordie | 9 June 2010 - 4:18pm

10 woeful Zeppelin

1. Carouselambra
2. Achilles Last Stand
3. Boogie with Stu
4. The Crunge
5. Hats off to Harper
6. Tea for One
7. Ozone Baby
8. Dazed and Confused (live version from The Song Remains the Same)
9. Hot Dog
10. In the Light

0
lit doof | 9 June 2010 - 9:23am

Hats off to Roy?

Surely not?

0
Steerpike | 9 June 2010 - 9:30am

I like that one as well

and I also like Achilles' Last Stand and Boogie With Stu.

Otherwise, good choice! Led Zeppelin have very few clunkers (like the Beatles) so are difficult to come up with a "worst of".

Although, the funny thing is that Zeppelin already have a "worst of" album! When the Remasters four disc box set came out in 1990 (by definition a "best of") it was closely followed by a two disc set of remasters which was all the tracks left off the four disc set (therefore, by definition, a "worst of")!

0
Stephen Merrick | 9 June 2010 - 11:47am

Remasters 2 disc set

Which was the one I bought , was a distillation of the 4 disc set not tracks left off it. Unless you're saying that Whole Lotta Love, Communication Breakdown, Kashmir, Trampled Underfoot, Achilles Last Stand, Babe I'm Going To Leave You etc weren't included in the 4 disc set.

0
Carl Parker | 9 June 2010 - 1:03pm

I think he means

this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Led_Zeppelin_Boxed_Set_2

which was the tracks not included in the 4CD set

And a lot of that is some of their best work (and yes, some of it not so)

0
DogFacedBoy | 9 June 2010 - 2:00pm

Yep

That's the one.

A fine album actually: Four Sticks, Good Times Bad Times, That's The Way? Great.

0
Stephen Merrick | 9 June 2010 - 3:19pm

But

Why wasn't it called 'The Worst of Led Zeppelin'?

0
Mark Godden | 9 June 2010 - 11:49pm

Oh dear

Carouselambra and Hot Dog? Well, that's pretty much half of In Through The Out Door out of the out door. Well, yah boo sucks: I like them both.

0
illuminatus | 9 June 2010 - 2:12pm

'Achilles Last Stand'...

is one of the finest tracks Zeppelin ever cut. And it contains possibly the ultimate expression of John Bonham's genius.

Tea for One is marvellous too... Since I've Been Loving You's strung out junkie cousin.

In the Light certainly doesn't deserve its place on there either.

The others aren't their best.

1
Patrick Crowther | 9 June 2010 - 8:32pm

You beat me to it

However I have to disagree strongly about Achilles Last Stand. It contains Page's greatest guitar solo and just about invented the galloping rhythm that the New Wave of British Heavy Metal bands adopted (for better or for worse).

Tea for One is also a great track. Presence is one of my favourite Zep albums, and has Bonham's and Page's best playing. You can have Candy Store Rock, however.

I'd also add Stairway to Heaven from Live Aid as a bonus track.

0
Podicle | 12 June 2010 - 10:02am

Double Post Deleted

.

0
Podicle | 12 June 2010 - 10:03am

Achilles? In The Light?

Do me a favour!

And Boogie with Stu always makes me smile when I picture dear old Ian Stewart boogie woogieing away over the keys

And 'This Boy' is lush.

0
DogFacedBoy | 9 June 2010 - 2:16pm

Whither Moby Dick?

It's a drum solo for crying out loud...

0
ganglesprocket | 9 June 2010 - 10:28am

Wrongity wrong

It's not the worst Beatles comp unless it features "Run For Your Life".

(I really like Til There Was You and And I Love Her FWIW!)

0
Hannah | 9 June 2010 - 10:31am

Radiohead

1) How Do You?
2) Backdrifts
3) A Wolf At The Door
4) In Limbo
5) Dollars and Cents
6) I Can't
7) Vegetable
8) Treefingers
9) Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors
10) Hunting Bears

That would be a proper fucking stinker.

1
Bob | 9 June 2010 - 10:36am

They already did one

its called 'Hail To the Thief'

0
DogFacedBoy | 9 June 2010 - 10:58am

Innit...

...though?

2+2=5 and Knives Out are great, though.

0
Bob | 9 June 2010 - 12:46pm

And 'There There'

and 'Sail To the Moon' when Thom did it solo live on piano

But why let facts get in the way....

0
DogFacedBoy | 9 June 2010 - 2:02pm

That's actually the reason...

...I didn't include "Like Spinning Plates" on the list. Even though the album version is the most awful toss, the live version on "I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings" is really, really pretty.

That's what annoys me about Radiohead. For about ten years, they deliberately chose to sabotage their own ability to write songs of heartstopping beauty, and cut them all to shit with samplers and Kaoss Pads and stupid effects. I tried recently to read an ENORMOUSLY wrongheaded collection of academic essays about Radiohead, and one writer absolutely PASTED Nick Hornby for his New Yorker review of Kid A (in which he said, in brief, that it's cowardly, self-indulgent and a cop-out to come up with such toss when you can write songs like "Lucky"). Sample bit from the book:

Hornby’s perspective restrains Radiohead’s social and aesthetic possibilities by applying accustomed conventions of derision, e.g. the band’s experimentation is ‘self-indulgent.’ Instead, White maintains that the artistic and political health of the band is evident in its refusal of the commodification Hornby’s critique desires.

You get the idea.

The thing is, Hornby was bang on the money. If you have melodic and rockular gifts like Radiohead's, it's pretty insulting to your audience to deliberately disguise them in derivative sub-Autechre faux-experimentation. Writing a cracking pop song is infinitely harder than making a "challenging" "soundscape".

They're so wonderful, Radiohead, and yet so fucking infuriating.

3
Bob | 9 June 2010 - 8:39pm

Good points, bear

With Radiohead, I went resoundingly with the layman's consensus: loved OK Computer, haven't bought an album since.

(No: I lie: I downloaded In Rainbows for free: not bad, but a shadow of what they used to be)

0
Stephen Merrick | 10 June 2010 - 6:39am

Yeah.

Although there are a handful of songs on In Rainbows which are more beautiful than anything they've done in thirteen years.

1
Bob | 10 June 2010 - 10:03am

I love Kid A

It is an album whose sum is greater than its parts. You can put a decent case against each of the individual songs/pieces/tracks taken out of context. But, if you just surrender yourself to the whole, you grow to love its adventure, its playfulness (yes, even, a lightheartedness - witness the bleating sheep on Everything In Its Right Place!), its varied sonic pallate , its masterful sequencing (my favourite is Optimistic into In Limbo), its beautiful melodies (How To Disappear Completely is gorgeous in its simplicity) and outright rock (The National Anthem's guitars and drums are as dirty as anything they've done).

I've recently posted my top ten albums and I should have put Kid A in there - my favourite Radiohead album.

2
tiggerlion | 10 June 2010 - 11:52am

Well said that man…

The Beatles would have been a lesser band had they given us Sgt Pepper 2 rather than The Beatles.

Kid A took things to a different level while simultaneously delivering beauty (Everything…) and infectiousness (Idioteqhue). Ignore the luddites, there is not a bad track on the album. Admittedly Amnesiac and Hail to the Thief were far less consistent but this was more a case of low quality control rather than the adventurous spirit which has moved them forwards ever since The Bends…

0
walker182 | 10 June 2010 - 12:09pm

I agree...

...that The National Anthem is dirty, but it doesn't rock, IMO. It might krautrock a bit, but I can't get on with that, really. Again, it feels like a cop-out, like they're terrified of really grooving properly. I just feel, with that album and the following two, they're avoiding cliché so assiduously that they forget entirely how to have fun. And sure, there are sheep noises, but they don't actually make that song (which I think is OK and no better) any fun.

What I used to love about Radiohead was that they managed the neat trick of welding really quite miserable lyrics and melodies to music that really, properly rocked, in quite a fun way. I think they've now rediscovered that fun, but for a good old while there I detected not a hint of anything approaching a good time.

I don't hate Kid A. I listened to it very, very attentively for a good year after it was released, before giving up on it a bit - I just don't like it. I hate most of Amnesiac, and about half of Thief. There are some listenable moments on all three, but I expect a lot more from Radiohead than this. Also, for an "experimental" record, it's not even particularly experimental: my view tends to be if you want that kind of thing, listen to Autechre or Boards of Canada, who do it so much better.

Anyway, it's not really the music, per se, which winds me up. It's the attitude, which really smacked a tiny bit of "this'll throw the proles" clever-cleverness. The thing about being clever-clever, though, is that you have to actually BE clever. During this period of Radiohead's life, they were being stupid and wilfully obtuse.

This is all IMO, obviously. I'm not trying to persuade you that you're wrong for liking Kid A so much - I actually always kind of delight in people loving music that leaves me cold, because it'd be bloody boring if we all loved the same stuff. I'm just trying to explain myself.

:-)

1
Bob | 10 June 2010 - 12:21pm

hmm

I think the point here is that Kid A’s splitting of opinion is not down to the lack of quality on offer but the choice of musical style (ie: electronics over guitars). If AC/DC went and made a record that sounded like Kraftwerk (Autobahn to Hell anyone?) then most of their fans would run for the hills – but that wouldn’t make it a bad record in the way that, say, Dirty Work by the Stones was.

Now I still rate OK Computer as their best work but Kid A is far from sub-standard (I listen to it more than I do The Bends because it is a far more interesting and varied album even though it doesn't deliver the same fix of crunchy irresistable guitar hooks)

0
walker182 | 10 June 2010 - 12:29pm

You know what?

All this talk makes me want to give Kid A a go, after all these years. Never really given it a chance.

1
Stephen Merrick | 10 June 2010 - 12:33pm

Really, you should.

It's a terrific album. Go and enjoy it.

0
Hannah | 10 June 2010 - 1:42pm

Absolument. I think its a proper journey

You get to the end and its been a complete experience, like a long strange dream that leaves you happy (me anyway). OK Computer sounds crabbed and irritable to me by comparison

0
FakeGeordie | 10 June 2010 - 8:19pm

Give it another listen

Phil Selway's drumming on The National Anthem is the best and most rock he's ever done!! And you appreciate it more in context, just after the peculiar Kid A and before the gentle How To Disappear. It's a bit like Tony Williams letting rip on side two of Miles Davis' In A Silent Way, after a tense side and a half of disciplined high-hat tapping, the release is amazing.

Remember to play it loud.

And, whilst you are there, give the rest of Kid A another go.

0
tiggerlion | 10 June 2010 - 12:46pm

Agreed

What's so flaming counter-revolutionary about having a tune, for Chomsky's sake?

0
Paul Holmes | 10 June 2010 - 12:31pm

Kid A

is flipping brilliant. All that following up the OK Computer behemoth and people just wanting a OK (part 2) spoiled things for them. And I agree, In Rainbows has some marvellous stuff (15 Step, Videotape, Werid Fishes, - oh sod it, all of it!()

0
DogFacedBoy | 10 June 2010 - 1:22pm

In Rainbows is a beautiful album

and the best thing they've done since OK Computer. It has some of the most jaw-droppingly gorgeous melodies on it that you'll ever hear. It sounds like they were in a much happier place than they were for the few previous albums.

0
Podicle | 12 June 2010 - 10:10am

I'm not sure I like any band enough...

... to compile a top ten of stinkers. Even Elvis I'd struggle with, and he had an album of rambling, on-stage drug fuelled witterings released called Having Fun On Stage With Elvis.

But Fitter/ Happier should be there surely?

Sadly I cant find Adam and Joes version of this, so here's Adam doing Paranoid Android

0
ganglesprocket | 9 June 2010 - 10:52am

Love it.

I suppose Fitter Happier should be on there, but as much as I love Radiohead, there's probably a third of their entire recorded output which could be safely consigned to the shitpile of history without anyone being too upset. They're a funny band: transcendentally wonderful when they're good, but bloody tedious and po-faced when they're bad.

I had to limit it to ten, you see.

0
Bob | 9 June 2010 - 10:55am

More Radiohead

I submit "Push/Pulk Revolving Doors" from Amnesiac.

What were they thinking making it track three???

0
kidpresentable | 9 June 2010 - 2:57pm

Beatles again...

A few disagreements with my list above, I see! Well, you can't change it: the rule is the first person to "bag" a band has to have their choice of 10 upheld. Ha ha.

Anyway, allow me to retort:
- Michelle and And I Love Her are both very well crafted but ultimately soulless exotica MOR pop. They do nothing for me at all and I can't bear to hear them. Paul at his best is better than John. Paul at his worst is unbearable.
- This Boy is a hackneyed doo-wop circular chord progression which brings nothing new to the genre. It rises up briefly for the "ooh well..." bit, but just descends back into the same lazy tune again after this.
- Dig It is (as somebody mentioned above) just lazy Lennon. The band aren't even trying. Have you heard the full 12 minute version? I have: it doesn't get any better.

I like Bad Boy (a bit cheesy, but a good rocker with Lennon in fine voice) and Blue Jay Way (ethereal and hypnotic, if you are in the right mood), so neither of them make my list.

Ok? Ok.

0
Stephen Merrick | 9 June 2010 - 11:43am

Paul at his best is better than John

I beg to differ and present In My Life, Strawberry Fields and I Am The Walrus as exhibits

2
MrRadio | 10 June 2010 - 8:42am

All effortlessly counterbalanced

by Hey Jude, Penny Lane, Here There and Everywhere...and most of Side Two of Abbey Road.

1
eddie g | 10 June 2010 - 10:16am

Queen – Greatest s***ts

I’ve tried doing this with my favourite acts and its really hard (Bowie would probably be do-able but it would involve ignoring the 70s and opting for an 80s box set)

So I went with a band who I used to like a lot when I was younger but am not so keen on now. Suffice to say, if you venture beyond the Greatest Hits and their three best albums (Queen 2, Sheer Heart Attack and A Night at the Opera), there is a wealth of chaff to wade through…. and it should come as no surprise that the vocal “talents” of Roger Taylor are well represented among this lot:

1 Don’t try suicide (from The Game)
2 Get Down Make Love (from News of The World)
3 Delilah (from Innuendo)
4 Is this the world we created (from The Works)
5 Machines (Back to humans) (from The Works)
6 Jesus (from Queen)
7 Modern times Rock N Roll (from Queen)
8 One Year of Love (from A Kind of Magic)
9 Fun It (from Jazz)
10 Rock it (from The Game)
11 White Man (from Day at the Races)
12 Dancer (from Hot Space)
13 Rain Must Fall (from The Miracle)

0
walker182 | 9 June 2010 - 3:42pm

Oooh

That's a howler of an album. Though I must admit a fondness for One Year Of Love (Kind Of Magic was my favourite album (only album) when I was about 12).

0
Stephen Merrick | 9 June 2010 - 4:08pm

Yep

thats bleedin awful. I'd add Scandal from 'The Miracle' cos its a lumpen dog of a song that gets its message over within the first line and then never ends

0
DogFacedBoy | 9 June 2010 - 4:22pm

News of the World was released in autumn 1977

(around my 15th birthday) and i distinctly remember Peel playing Get Down Make Love on his radio show

so does that mean it was hip nearly 33 years ago?

0
Glenbervie | 9 June 2010 - 4:23pm

No it means that Peel was still umming and aaahing...

...over punk and probably saw this as some kind of compromise between classic rock and a new dangerous sound. In actual fact, Sheer Heart Attack from the same album was Queen's very own stab at a punk record and wasn't all that bad...

0
walker182 | 9 June 2010 - 4:37pm

New Order

I bow to no-one in my love of / admiration for New Order, but here's a bunch of their tracks you'd have to pay me a lot of money to sit through in one sitting:

1. Vietnam
2. Shellshock
3. Chemical
4. Rock The Shack
5. Hey Now What You Doing?
6. Dracula's Castle
7. Slow Jam
8. Everyone Everywhere
9. ICB
10. State of the Nation

(When I saw the title of this thread I thought it might have referred to this oddly thrown together collection which is selling disconcertingly well at present. Presumably because at £8.97, it's less than 9p per track...)

0
Red Umpire | 9 June 2010 - 4:14pm

…Rock the Shack and Slow Jam truly are abysmal…

didn’t one of them have the line “I was thirsty for a beer” (unbelievable that the same lyricist also penned True Faith)

I have to say, though, that while State of the Nation and Shellshock have dated very badly – I still regard them as worthwhile inclusions among the NO singles collection. There is a certain mystique I have always attached to the Factory era New Order which disappeared when they signed to London. Their last three albums only have a few decent tracks a piece and I’m surprised you didn’t include the truly, truly god-awful Jetstream from their most recent album. Like Rock the Shack, this was completely lacking in New Order’s core competency: subtlety…

0
walker182 | 9 June 2010 - 4:29pm

Slow Jam

Slow Jam did, indeed, contain the following abomination of a lyric:

The afternoon was very clear
The sun was beating down on me
I got thirsty for a beer
And I had to go to sea
The sea was very rough
It made me feel sick
But I like that kind of stuff
It beats arithmetic

And you're absolutely right: Jetstream* was a very poor track, as was Turn My Way*, from Get Ready, but it seemed far too obvious to pick too many tracks from the last two albums...

I picked State of the Nation and Shellshock as there was something about them that disappointed me at the time of their release that I never shook off. They probably weren't helped by being released between the high points of The Perfect Kiss & Bizarre Love Triangle.

(* NB Slow Jam, Turn My Way & Jetstream were all collaborations - with Bobby Gillespie, Billy Corgan and Ana Matronic respectively - so it's not really all that surprising that they weren't 'typical' New Order tracks. They were definitely a band who worked best doing their own stuff with a decent producer.)

0
Red Umpire | 9 June 2010 - 4:58pm

not to mention their collab with the Chemical Brothers,

"Here to Stay", probably the most forgettable NO single ever.

That said Barney's guest appearance on the Chem Brothers' Out of Control is one of the better things he's done over the last 15 years (crikey I've just checked and that came out 11 years ago, I'm getting old I'm sure that only came out the other week)

0
walker182 | 9 June 2010 - 5:06pm

A few more

The Smiths - actually struggled to find 10 proper clunkers here:
1) Unloveable
2) Never Had No One Ever
3) Golden Lights
4) Work Is A Four Letter Word
5) Miserable Lie
6) Death At One's Elbow
7) The Draize Train
8) What She Said
9) Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
10) London

Mozzer - far more fertile ground. I've deliberately excluded b-sides, as we'd be here all night if I hadn't:
1) Found Found Found
2) How Could Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel?
3) I'll Never Be Anybody's Hero Now
4) Satan Rejected My Soul
5) The Harsh Truth Of The Camera Eye
6) I Just Want To See The Boy Happy
7) We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful
8) Honey You Know Where To Find Me
9) My Love Life
10) Sorrow Will Come In The End

Pet Shop Boys - again, "proper" album tracks/singles only:
1) The Only One
2) Legacy
3) For Your Own Good
4) Electricity
5) Home And Dry
6) Email
7) Footsteps
8) Integral (single version)
9) It's Alright (album version)
10) Love Is A Catastrophe
Bonus track: Absolutely Fabulous

0
Cadabra | 9 June 2010 - 6:09pm

Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now?

Are you mad?

3
Sven Garlic | 9 June 2010 - 8:23pm

If only for that indescribably brilliant intro...

it should *never* be on this list.

0
Patrick Crowther | 9 June 2010 - 8:36pm

I like the idea of it,

and the guitars are quite nice, but the "tune" (all 3 notes of it) is monotonous and grating, and it's one of Mozzer's celery-spined, mildewed-poet sorry-for-himself-and-loving it vocal performances, which just gets right on my tits.

0
Cadabra | 9 June 2010 - 11:08pm

Its funny though...

... there's self parody in there as there very often is with the Smiths. I can't imagine how the lyrics could possibly be taken seriously. Problem is he wants his cake and to eat it too - something he has plainly done much more of as he has aged (literally and metaphorically) - meaning that he wants to send himself up and still be the agonised suffering artist. I love this song - I can understand why they drive people mad at times - at Smiths gigs you used to have this sort of jeering laughter (he knew and we knew it was a bit ridiculous) mixed with fierce love. With the beauty and ferocity of the music it was a strange combination of emotions I don't think anybody else ever conjured

0
FakeGeordie | 10 June 2010 - 8:35am

As a massive Moz fan..

Here's my stab at his worst ten (once again, excluding B-sides):

1) He cried
2) Sorry doesn't help
3) Best Friend on the Payroll
4) Papa Jack
5) Roy's Keane
6) The end of the family line
7) I'm OK by myself
8) You were good in your time
9) To me you are a work of art
10) The harsh truth of the camera's eye

And personally I think 'My Love Life' is one of the best songs he has ever written, solo or with The Smiths:)

1
stardust2 | 9 June 2010 - 8:45pm

Agreed

My Love Life is wonderful. Erm...

0
Rosbif | 9 June 2010 - 10:11pm

My Love Life

- see my comments about "Heaven Knows..." above. But multiplied 500-fold. And without the interesting music. It just potters along, at no point threatening to do anything remotely interesting whatsoever.

0
Cadabra | 9 June 2010 - 11:10pm

Does no one remember The Smiths truly abysmal B Side...

"I Keep Mine Hidden"?

Seemingly the last thing they ever recorded. No wonder Marr fled and the guitar sounds absolutely like a man phoning it it...

0
ganglesprocket | 10 June 2010 - 10:36am

Death At One’s Elbow…..

I have long thought of this as the weak link on the otherwise flawless Strangeways Here We Come. However the other day, I decided to add this to a playlist and it got me thinking what a great opening track this would have made (obviously Rush and a Push trumps it)… It has an urgency and simplicity which almost gives it the status of their Song 2, a tune which, had it been tucked away as a penultimate track and not released as a single, could well be regarded as one of Blur’s howlers…

And I must say, I’ve always found Work is A Four Letter Word quite charming… its quaintness, strong melody and slightly sarcastic humorous tone are surely all trademarks of classic Smiths, albeit that it was recorded in something of a rush. But it really does seem that I’m the only fan of this song.

Another Mozzer tune which is unfairly derided is Ouija Board Ouija Board…. Which IMHO is both one of the most tragic and most comic things the man has ever done…

0
walker182 | 10 June 2010 - 11:10am

The Rolling Stones...

1. One Hit (To The Body)
2. Fight
3. Harlem Shuffle
4. Hold Back
5. Too Rude
6. Winning Ugly
7. Back To Zero
8. Dirty Work
9. Had It With You
10. Sleep Tonight

2
Patrick Crowther | 9 June 2010 - 8:40pm

Ha ha!

So thoughtful of them to put all those songs on one album so we can easily avoid the lot.

0
Sven Garlic | 9 June 2010 - 8:55pm

Pink Floyd

1. Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk
2. A Spanish Piece
3. Sysiphus pts 1 - 4
4. The Trial from In the Flesh live (it's just the studio version playing over the P.A.)
5. Not Now John 12" Stuff All That version
6. Dogs of War
7. Terminal Frost
8. Yet Another Movie
9. Poles Apart
10. Coming Back to Life

0
TheAwesomeSound | 11 June 2010 - 9:37pm

Don't think anyone's done a Bowie list yet

Hmmm, not easy. But...

Unwashed And Somewhat Slightly Dazed
Maid Of Bond Street
Can't Explain
Kingdom Come
Across The Universe
Shake It
Without You
Tumble And Twirl
Shining Star
I Know It's Gonna Happen Someday

Yep, three covers. There could have been more.

0
Rosbif | 10 June 2010 - 10:18am

Sorry but that’s far too little of his 90s stuff

Outside and Earthling are by far the most unlistenable piles of dirge he has ever churned out.

On the other hand, I’ve always rather like his 60s stuff so I suppose it depends on whether you prefer half-baked music hall or half baked drum n bass?

0
walker182 | 10 June 2010 - 2:24pm

Elvis Costello - the Hall of Shame

I've been a fan of Mr McManus for 33 years now, but if someone put together a CD of these 10 well-below-par efforts, I wouldn't give it many plays...

The Flirting Kind
The Deportees Club
Lovable
Broken
Swine
20% Amnesia
My Thief
Daddy Can I Turn This
Button My Lip
Black Sails in the Sunset

0
duco01 | 10 June 2010 - 11:16am

Black Sails?

No I love Steve's playing on that. Deportee's Club is a dog but when I saw a boot VHS of him doing it slower n solo on the 86 tour where he explained what it was about then I liked it again but not the album version

Ok tried to avoid b sides and covers

'Party Party' just terrible lyrics, terrible tune (think EC considers this his nadir)
'Daddy Can I Turn This? - pointless live jamming turned into pointless song
'Seven Day Weekend' - song recorded with Jimmy Cliff for a film that I care not to remember
'Luxembourg' no doubt a drug\booze fuelled rip through a nothing song
'White Knuckles' - brave attempt but (no pun intended) ham fisted attempt at dealing with abuse set to a lumpen soundtrack
'Harry Worth' a crap pun does not a song make
'Chewing Gum' - please dispose of this in a suitable recepticle
'Fish n Chip Paper' - yes we get it, you got caught by the paps. No melody to speak of. (sorry Trust is getting such a kicking I love the rest of it!)
'Playboy To A Man; - Macca n Elvis often bought the best out of each other but this songs with them both yelping like idiots is the polar opposite.
'Pay It Back' - i just think its the only weak link in an otherwise stop debut LP. Shame he couldn't have swapped it for Radio Sweetheart

0
DogFacedBoy | 10 June 2010 - 5:03pm

Well, DogFaced,

it looks like we have a 10% consensus on this, as "Daddy Can I Turn this" made it on to both of our lists. So that makes it, officially, the plumpest turkey in the mainly magnificent Costello canon.

0
duco01 | 11 June 2010 - 7:30am

Richard Thompson

I do like a challenge. Here goes...

1)Fast Food

2)Psycho Street

3)Dragging the River

4)Train Don't Leave

5)Why Don't Women like Me?

6)Justice in the Streets

7)Poor Wee Jockey Clark

8)Baby Talk

9) Madonna's Wedding

10) Dear Janet Jackson

Actually, I've got a soft spot for 2 or 3 of those. No matter, I reckon those are the 10 that would leave the uninitiated scratching their heads as to what all the fuss was about..

0
Lando Cakes | 12 June 2010 - 7:25pm

Great though he is...

He's not short of a crap song here or there, especially from the mid 80s on. I'd substitute Backlash Love Affair for Train Don't Leave. There may be more...

0
Rosbif | 12 June 2010 - 9:58pm
Privacy Statement    ©  2006 - 2012 Development Hell Ltd