Morrissey's vocals were a tough nut for me to crack too -- while I liked some Smiths singles, his voice and what I, at the time, perceived to be pretentious attitude-filled lyrics, were a turn off. However, upon finding out what a major Sparks fan Morrissey was, I was able to realize that lyrics like "Now I know how Joan of Arc felt" (from "Bigmouth Strikes Again") were meant to be funny. Totally turned things around for me. Mike Bennett p.s. -- Mark -- give the Sparks new one another chance -- it may be one of those that will need a few listens. Of course, even then it might not be your cup of joe -- while it draws from a lot of things they have done in their past, it is a unique recording within their own peculiar history... Record reviews and more at http://fufkin.com >From: "Mark Eichelberger" >Reply-To: audities@smoe.org >To: "Audities" >Subject: Bad First Impressions >Date: Wed, 6 Aug 2003 08:40:12 -0400 > >Mike Bennett wrote: >"Does anyone else have this happen -- a first impression so bad that you >have a hard time ever getting back to the artist's music -- Yo La Tengo and >Nick >Cave are two other artists who immediately come to mind for me..." > >Great question Mike. I clearly remember that when I heard the first Smiths >album, I absolutely hated it. I even referred to Morrissey as "Lettuce >Head" due to both his strident vegetarianism and simply because I thought >he was an insipid whiner. It took a while, but with a few more albums and >Johnny Marr's melodies, I really began to appreciate the band. And I now >really enjoy both the sharp attack and the droll humor in Morrissey's >lyrics. > >Mark _________________________________________________________________ Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail