Bona Drag

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In sum, the songs are a nice addition to the Morrissey catalog, all worth hearing though none perhaps necessary. Despite a brilliant three-year solo run, coming right off the back of his seminal work with the Smiths, Bona Drag was issued into a rapidly shifting UK music scene.

The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. Issued in a gloss sleeve with a top opening picture/lyric inner sleeve which has a small die cut thumb section. Rarely does an artist release a compilation album as his second solo album, but Morrissey is no ordinary artist, so of course he did just that. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. The years covered by Bona Drag coincided directly with the crossover of acid house and subsequent emergence of Madchester, a hopeful injection of youth, optimism, and hedonism, traits met with suspicion if not outright hostility in Morrissey's worldview.

The album features an array of Morrissey's most popular songs from his early solo career, most of which had not been released on any previous album. Morrissey began what was to be his follow-up album, Bona Drag, surrounded by acrimony and litigation. Even without those additions, this would be one of the most complete and necessary compilations in rock history, working both as a functional and utilitarian way to catch up with Morrissey outside of the UK and as a way to re-assess him within it. Morrissey decided to scrap the idea of a full-length LP and release a compilation of singles and B-sides instead. Sunday, Suedehead, Will Never Marry, Hairdresser, and it even has the genius of Mary Margaret O'Hara on backing vocals - in case anybody forgot about her.Would highly recommend, especially if you have not got any other Morrissey albums, this would be the one to start with for me! He had fallen out with producer Stephen Street, plus former Smiths bandmates Mike Joyce and Andy Rourke-- all of whom had played key roles in that successful string of hits.

However, by the end of 1989 it became apparent that he would not be able to put out an album of new material soon enough. Pitchfork may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. As a title, if not a studio creation, Bona Drag was rescued in 1990 and issued as a compilation record piecing together that first run of seven singles-- six of them rich and eclectic and rightly beloved, one of them the song that derailed his progress. The album name meaning nice outfits is an example of the subculture slang Polari explored further on the album's first track "Piccadilly Palare".Bona Drag features all of Morrissey's solo singles up to that point, two of which ("Suedehead" and "Everyday Is Like Sunday") were taken from his first solo album Viva Hate, while the others were making their first ever appearance on an album. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. November Spawned a Monster" was released in May 1990 to modest success; the album and the single " Piccadilly Palare" followed, both released on the same day that October.