THE SMITHS – Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now [7″; Rough Trade, 1984] * * * * 1/2
„Although the songs were strong, the recording of those songs – in my view – failed everyone. […] In fact, the album sounds exactly how The Smiths were not: pasty and thin.“
Man kann es Mozza selten recht machen, weil er ein so sensibler und kluger Mann ist, der die Dinge duchschauen und immer ein Haar in der Suppe ausfindig machen kann. So gehört er zu jener Fraktion, die die John-Porter-Produktion des selbstbetitelten Debüt-Albums (1984) kritisiert – und diesem Werk das ungeschliffenere „Hatful Of Hollow“ (1984) entgegensetzt.
Für das ebenfalls von John Porter produzierte „Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now“ wurde der Tontechniker Stephen Street hinzugezogen. Mozza war’s recht: „unkillable“, so sein unmissverständliches Verdikt.
Den (wahren) Fans kann es herzlich egal sein: Wo The Smiths draufsteht, ist musikalischer Hochgenuss drin!
„Heaven“ macht da keine Ausnahme: von Johnny Marrs quirligem Intro-Geklingel, hin zu weit ausgreifenden Melodielinien und Andy Rourkes elegantem Bassspiel zergehen Mozzas sentimentale Klagen wie Nougatschokolade auf des Hörers Gaumen:
„I was happy in the haze/Of a drunken hour/But heaven knows I’m miserable now/
I was looking for a job/And then I found a job/And heaven knows I’m miserable now…“
Das aktuelle Ranking:
1. TRAVIS – All I Want To Do Is Rock [10″] * * * * *
2. TINDERSTICKS – Kathleen
3. THE LIBERTINES – What A Waster
4. TRAVIS – Coming Around
5. THE BASEMENT – Medicine Day
6. THE ROLLING STONES – Brown Sugar
7. THE ROLLING STONES – Honky Tonk Women
8. THE SMITHS – This Charming Man
9. THE ROLLING STONES – Get Off Of My Cloud
10. THE BEATLES – A Hard Day’s Night
11. LUCKY SOUL – My Brittle Heart
12. ROXY MUSIC – Virginia Plain
13. OASIS – The Importance Of Being Idle
14. BOB DYLAN – Subterranean Homesick Blues
15. R.E.M. – (Don’t Go Back To) Rockville
16. THE SMITHS – Hand In Glove
17. THE UNDERTONES – Teenage Kicks
18. LUCKY SOUL – Ain’t Never Been Cool
19. MAGAZINE – Shot By Both Sides
20. DAVID BOWIE – Ashes To Ashes
21. SEX PISTOLS – Holidays In The Sun
22. THE BASEMENT – Do You Think You’re Movin‘ On?
23. ELVIS COSTELLO & THE ATTRACTIONS – Tokyo Storm Warning
24. TRANS – Green EP
25. ARNOLD – Twist
26. BLANCHE – Who’s To Say…
27. THE ROLLING STONES – Tumbling Dice
28. THE BOOK OF LISTS – Pacifists Revolt
29. R.E.M. – Wendell Gee
30. R.E.M. – Fall On Me
31. ELVIS COSTELLO & THE ATTRACTIONS – Radio Radio
32. THE SHORTWAVE SET – Slingshot
33. BE YOUR OWN PET – Let’s Get Sandy (Big Problem)
34. THE RAVEONETTES – Attack Of The Ghost Riders
35. CANDIE PAYNE – I Wish I Could Have Loved You More.
36. THE SUGAR STEMS – Beat Beat Beat
37. THE MEMBERS – The Sound Of The Suburbs
38. ELVIS COSTELLO & THE ATTRACTIONS – Watching The Detectives
39. THE FLAMING STARS – New Hope For The Dead
40. OASIS – The Hindu Times
41. LUCKY SOUL – Lips Are Unhappy
42. ELLIOTT SMITH – Ballad Of Big Nothing
43. LUCKY JIM – You Stole My Heart Away
44. THE LIBERTINES – Up The Bracket
45. GENE – Haunted By You
46. PORTISHEAD – The Rip
47. GENE – Fighting Fit
48. THE LINES – Domino Effect * * * * 1/2
49. THE SMITHS – Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now
50. DAVID BOWIE – Life On Mars?
51. DUFFY – Rockferry
52. TINDERSTICKS – No More Affairs
53. EPHEMERA – Happy, Grateful, Aware
54. PJ HARVEY – The Glorious Land
55. POST WAR GLAMOUR GIRLS – Ode To Harry Dean
56. HELEN LOVE – Joey Ramoney
57. THE GOSPEL Feat. KIRA – Skating Your Pool
58. THE DUKE SPIRIT – Love Is An Unfamiliar Name
59. THE SEE SEE – Keep Your Head
60. U2 – The Fly
61. NOEL GALLAGHER’S HIGH FLYING BIRDS – Everybody’s On The Run
62. SUGAR STEMS – Greatest Pretender
63. GO-GO’S – Vacation
64. EVANS THE DEATH – Telling Lies
65. HOWLING BELLS – Blessed Night
66. THE ABOVE – My Love
67. TEENAGE FANCLUB – I Need Direction
68. EFFI BRIEST – Mirror Rim
69. DUM DUM GIRLS – Bhang Bhang, I’m A Burnout
70. JOHNNY MARR – New Town Velocity
71. THE RAVEONETTES – Beat City
72. JONI MITCHELL – Raised On Robbery
73. ASH – There’s A Star
74. SUGAR STEMS – Like I Do
75. ORANGE JUICE – Rip It Up
76. EDDIE COCHRAN – Summertime Blues
77. R.E.M. – Can’t Get There From Here
78. MORRISSEY – Irish Blood, English Heart
79. THE DUKE SPIRIT – The Step And The Walk
80. IDLEWILD – American English
81. WE ARE CATCHERS – Tap Tap Tap
82. VAMPIRE WEEKEND – Mansard Roof
83. THE BASEMENT – Slain The Truth (At The Roadhouse)
84. THE HISS – Triumph
85. TRAVIS – Something Anything
86. CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL – Bad Moon Rising
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