For the second half of September, I’m putting my Mental Jukebox into a time machine, featuring the best songs on the best albums from the very best years of music. #70sThrough90sBestAlbum
I’ll choose The Smiths over Morrissey’s solo catalog any day of the week, mostly because of the prominence of Johnny Marr’s guitar riffs that countered Morrissey’s unique songwriting style. But when Arsenal came out, it was like Morrissey flipped a switch. He was using a different band, went heavier on the guitars, and started dabbling with sub-genres like rockabilly and glam rock. Each song picked up where the other left off on the album, which finished off on a high note with “Tomorrow”.
I remember seeing Morrissey in ‘93 at Brandeis University, a college that managed to attract dozens of great alt rock staples, like Live, 10,000 Maniacs and others. When I saw Morrissey, we were standing in the Gosman Center gymnasium and he was practically staring right through us. The great paradox of “Tomorrow” and most of Morrissey’s catalog is that these songs of insecurity are sung and performed with such conviction. “Tomorrow” couldn’t fulfill my longing for a Smiths reunion, but every time I hear it I’m reminded of Andy Rourke, Mike Joyce and Marr — from the intro bass line to the piano epilogue.
“Tomorrow, will it really come? And if it does come, will I still be human?”