The Smiths - Meat Is Murder (Review:Ben)

I've never really had too much exposure to 80's Indie music, well at least that's the genre I'm going to acquit it to. I had a vague idea of what to expect from this album and in a strange way it fitted that preconception whilst also being rather different to what I had expected.

Opener 'The Headmaster Ritual' has a basic but still very enjoyable guitar and whilst the vocals didn't immediately grab my attention, the lyrics were enough to maintain my interest. As an opening track I enjoyed it but was unsure as to where the album would go from here-on in. Expecting much of the same, I was surprised to find a very different sound in 'Rusholme Ruffians' although despite it being different, I actually found this the worst track on the record as the strained vocals in part did nothing if not annoy me and the song was altogether forgettable. It was by no means something which I hated but it lacked any kind of attribute that made me want to keep listening.

The middle part of the album I actually really quite enjoyed. Again the songs were nothing incredible but something about their simplicity made them easy to listen to and meant I could enjoy them without struggling to understand what the band were trying to do or force myself to keep listening. 'I Want The One I Can't Have' is possibly my favourite track from the album and whilst I can't exactly explain why, it just had something different about it and stood out from the rest of the record. 'That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore' was another track which I particularly enjoyed as again it differed from the basic sound of a lot of the other tracks and is something which I will go back to and listen again. 'Nowhere Fast' was another stand-out track with a more upbeat sound that flowed nicely and was just another pleasant song to listen to.

'Meat Is Murder' as a whole is the kind of album that I'd put on and be able to listen to in its entirety of as opposed to just one track and that is something which I feel is quite a commendable attribute for an album and one which a lot of todays albums severely lack. I got a much better experience from The Smiths than I had expected and it is one of the first albums from albumswap which I shall be returning to listen to. What is lacks in technical complexity, it makes up for with instantly memorable lyrics, nice simple guitar riffs and meaningful songs. A very solid 4/5.