Kill Uncle at 30: Oddball album or timeless classic?

My vinyl copy of Kill Uncle soon turns 30-years-old yet remains in mint condition…

 

The gatefold is so pristine it looks like it was released last month, not at the business end of the last century.

It’s in a protective sleeve and handled with curatorial white gloves.

It remains under 24 hour CCTV surveillance and comes out to play just once a year – on its birthday.

Such careful conservation must seem strange for an album that got less column inches than a Roxette b-side.

Even Morrissey downplayed its worth, once describing the record as an ‘orphaned imp that nobody wants’.

Aged 31, Morrissey gave birth to Kill Uncle on Monday 4th March 1991. 

It was his second solo studio album, squashed in-between Viva Hate (1988) and Your Arsenal (1992).

In the early 90s Mondays were marvellous: Wildlife on One, FA Cup draws and new vinyl hit the shops…

After The Smiths break-up, early 90s Morrissey releases were viewed with all the fervour of a NASA rocket launch. Well, they were in our house anyway…

Every self-respecting Morrissey fan remembers where they were when they bought Kill Uncle.

On release day I was at a sociology conference in Manchester. Imagine the thrill of actually being in Morrissey’s city on new album day. And what great fortune for the lectures to be held in The Free Trade Hall – where The Smiths had played.

Seminars snoozed in slow motion as I longed for lunch when I could sprint to Market Street’s HMV to buy the record.

Once in my hands I spent the afternoon lectures poring over the beautiful gatefold vinyl and read the lyrics over and over.

I think I learnt more about the study of human life and relationships in the album lyrics than the conference.

They were full of gritty London life: early morning incidents in Northside Clapham Common, impalements on railings, surprises with vodka and Tizer, homeless chihuahuas, and puking over pullovers…

On the journey home I hoped that the music would be as marvellous as the lyrics.

Kill Uncle was produced by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley who had worked extensively with Madness. Eight songs on the album were written with Mark Nevin who had shot to fame with Fairground Attraction. Mute Witness and Found Found Found were Morrissey/Langer collaborations.

The album was a mixture of short jangly pop songs (Our Frank, Sing Your Life), some even shorter oddities (King Leer, Found Found Found, There’s a Place in Hell for Me and My Friends), and some barnstorming gems (Mute Witness, brilliant ballad Driving Your Girlfriend Home, and defiant finale (I’m) The End of the Family Line). 

Kill Uncle weighed in at a lightweight 33 minutes – or 1982 seconds to be precise. Basically, a tad longer than an episode of Coronation Street. 

Two tracks came in shy of two minutes, another at less than three.

The USA version included Tony the Pony – which may have left some UK fans feeling shortchanged.

The record’s magnificent midfield generals were Mute Witness and Driving Your Girlfriend Home – a beautiful but heartbreaking tale of someone trapped in a relationship that they’d planned on avoiding. The track features Linder on backing vocals.

In spring 1991 I remember feeling immense love for Kill Uncle. I was 17 and Kill Uncle was the first Morrissey studio album that I bought in real time.

I thought Sing Your Life was as perfect a singalong single as you good get with its rockabilly vibe and haunted house style sound effects.

Morrissey’s voice victorious and glorious complemented by the double bass and violins. The lyrics incredibly positive and uplifting, urging the listener to grab life by the horns.

But if I loved the album the papers loathed it.

‘A minor album by a major artist’ bemoaned one critic. NME labelled it ‘lumpy’. Melody Maker went the whole hog, describing Morrissey’s musical output in 1991 “Barren of magic, mystery, memorability, even charm”.

Timing may have had something to do with rocky reviews.

On the same day KLF released The White Room, Ride launched Today Forever, and a week later REM achieved world domination with Out of Time.

All in, Kill Uncle was very different to what else was trending.

Unlike Vauxhall and I or You Are The Quarry which are instant crowdpleasers, Kill Uncle could be his Marmite record. It’s quirks and 50s rockabilly sound maybe a Camden quiff too far…

In the charts it reached eight in the UK and 52 in USA.

Part of my love of Kill Uncle is teenage nostalgia. But I play this album (on CD) more than any other in Morrissey’s back catalogue.

And I have tremendous admiration for all the 1991 single releases which never made the album: My Love Life, Pregnant for the Last Time and b-side I’ve Changed My Plea to Guilty (I lose sleep that this never made the final Kill Uncle cut).

In a sense Kill Uncle is Morrissey’s missing album. Long lost in a bygone era with scarce critical reflection.

It’s reclusive reputation is cemented by the singer himself.

Other than the blazingly brilliant 1991 tour, Morrissey has chosen not to play any Kill Uncle tracks live.

That’s some snub given he’s now played somewhere in the region of 1000+gigs since 1991.

He’s gone 30 years omitting a Mute Witness, Sing Your Life, or King Leer from his live set.

I’m not sure what these stunning songs need to do to force their way in.

Writing in Autobiography, Morrissey wrote of Kill Uncle: “Even I, it’s father and mother, find it difficult to feed.”

But 30-years-on is it time to give this orphan of an album a good home?

Has the passing of time not given Kill Uncle a clearer context in Morrissey’s 13 studio album career?

To me, Kill Uncle is eccentric and experimental with all the warmth of an Ealing comedy.

I listen to it more in 2021 than I did in 1991.

Frankly, I couldn’t imagine life without it…

What do other fans think about Kill Uncle after all these years?

 

Andrea, 55, from Orange, California, USA

” The music is not like any other of his albums. The lyrics are quite rich. I love the rockabilly flavour.”

Can you remember buying Kill Uncle?

“Yes. In 2013 at Amoeba Records in Hollywood. It was the cheapest Morrissey album available ($7.99), so that’s what appealed to me at the time. I know you are probably wondering why it took me so long to purchase it.

“Basically, I regained an interest in Morrissey in the 2000s. I was always a fan of The Smiths and then I loved his first solo album Viva Hate. Then I kind of just fell away a bit in the early 90s. I never stopped listening, but I wasn’t as obsessed with his music as I am now.”

What did you think of the record?

“At first, I thought the album, as a whole, was just okay. I guess the drum machine sound bothered me. But after it marinated awhile, I loved it. I love it because it is such a unique work in Morrissey’s catalogue. The music is not like any other of his albums. The lyrics are quite rich. I love the rockabilly flavour.”

What is your favourite song on the album?

“Our Frank. It has everything.  A little bit of intimacy, ‘Our Frank and open, deep conversations’. It has humour: ‘I’m going to be sick all over your frankly vulgar, red pullover’.

“But I guess I identify most with the line, ‘Somebody stop me/From thinking all the time’. It’s just me to overthink things all the time. I annoy the hell out of myself.”

Where does Kill Uncle sit in Morrissey’s catalogue of work?

It is somewhere near the top. Maybe number three.

Other than the 1991 tour why do you think he has never played songs from this album live?

“Maybe he wasn’t pleased at its standing in terms of chart goals. We know how charts matter a lot to Morrissey. It was probably the least critically acclaimed album. Perhaps that bothers him. But I wish he would play more of these songs live.”

What does the record mean to you?

“It means being different. Standing out from the crowd.”

Tony, 45, Glasgow, Scotland

“It wasn’t until I heard the new band play them live that the songs came came alive.”

Can you remember buying Kill Uncle?

“I was only 16 when it was released, I can remember saving up for it as I had a part-time job in Spar. I was very excited about this album as I had become a Moz fan recently. I can remember going to Woolworths to get it and couldn’t wait to get home to listen. I bought the cassette as I planned to get a Walkman for Christmas.”

What did you think of the record?

“I thought the stand out songs were brilliant, Sing your Life, Our Frank and Mute Witness. I thought the rest of the tracks were typical Moz, not commercial but I thought they were great as well.

“Driving Your Girlfriend Home and King Leer were highlights. I loved the new rockabilly versions of the songs from the album. Everyone always says Moz is depressing but the gigs from that tour were electric and the audiences were wild with excitement. Sometimes too excited.”

What is your favourite song on Kill Uncle?

“Mute Witness by a country mile, I love the energy of the song, I love the build up and his voice on the track. It’s a very emotional song.

Where does Kill Uncle sit in Morrissey’s catalogue of work?

“It’s a tough one. It’s a very unique album as a lot of the musicians didn’t play again with Moz as he got a new band. It’s definitely in the top five of his albums with Southpaw, Vauxhall, Your Arsenal and Viva Hate.

Thirty years since its release has your view of the album changed at all?

“It’s definitely grown on me since I first bought it all those years ago, I love all the tracks. I’ll treasure them forever.”

Gary, 50, from Merseyside, England

“It was, at that stage, the most important album of my life.”

Can you remember buying Kill Uncle?

“I remember it vividly. Oh, the heartache. I was back in England on a long half-term break from my year out in France which was part of my degree.

“The previous week had seen me trying to cling on to a relationship which was in terminal decline with my fiancée.

“I was 20. She was down in Portsmouth, where I was studying, and after a fairly traumatic few days down there, I was back home trying to work out what the hell was going on.

“The morning of Monday March 4th saw me getting the bus into town to then get the train down to Pompey. Not before I had popped to HMV in Church Street to get the cassette version of Kill Uncle. That tape was my companion as the train heaved on to Euston and Portsmouth.

“I devoured every second (all 1982 of them). One day later, I was single. Again. Kill Uncle continued to comfort me.”

What did you think of the record?

“It was, at that stage, the most important album of my life. Since 1988, I had immersed myself into the music of Morrissey and The Smiths. Viva Hate and Bona Drag, were my most listened to albums for a couple of years. So, by March 1991, a month before my 21st birthday I was desperate for more Morrissey songs in my life.

“Kill Uncle beguiled me. I loved it then and I love it still. Nobody else could have recorded an album that sounds like that.”

What is your favourite song on the album?

“This is difficult. I have to go with Driving Your Girlfriend Home. I love that song and adore Linder’s backing vocal. It’s exquisite. Jangly guitars, gorgeous bass, gentle drums and a mysterious middle eight. What more could you want?  I think it’s one of his most beautifully crafted songs.”

Where does Kill Uncle sit in Morrissey’s catalogue of work?

“Top five without a doubt. I don’t think there is a weak track on it but I do understand that it is a peculiar collection of songs. It represents a period in my life that I have very fond memories of.

“In spring and summer of 1991 I enjoyed several months of life in France and then near London and this album was always on.

“Often, when I need to listen to a Morrissey album it is Kill Uncle I go back to. It is, for me, a reliable friend.”

Why do you think he’s never played songs from this album live? (other than the 91 tour).

“The joy of a Morrissey gig is that often you really have no idea what the final setlist will be. I cannot begin to imagine the chaos of being at the front of a Morrissey crowd today if the first bars of King Leer screamed from the speakers. Total pandemonium.”

Thirty years since its release has your view of Kill Uncle changed?

“If anything, I love it even more now. Each track brings back memories and feelings. My only regret with some of the tracks, and this is true of quite a bit of his work of that era, is that the production could have been so much better. However, that’s part of its charm.”

Angie, 48, from Huddersfield, England

Can you remember buying Kill Uncle?

“Yes, on cassette as that was my format of choice at the time. Affordable and portable. I still have it too!”

What did you think of the record?

“I liked it, but at the time I didn’t think it was as good as Mozzer’s debut studio release Viva Hate or Bona Drag.”

What is your favourite song on it?

“Sing Your Life, the message in the song is so positive which I’ve always loved.”

Where does Kill Uncle sit in Morrissey’s catalogue of work?

“As I see it, the album is pretty whimsical in places but at the same time it packs a punch when you least expect it.

“I would say that I believe it’s up there with his very best now, it’s definitely grown on me over the years.”

Other than 1991, why do you think he’s never played songs from this album live? 

“I really don’t know, it’s such a shame as there are some great tracks on it which I think would fit in rather well with his modern day live sets.”

Thirty years since its release has your view on the album changed? 

“Yes, it’s a fantastic body of work and hugely underrated. That’s the story of Mozzer’s life, though!”

What does the record mean to you?

“It’s a reminder of my life back in 1991 when I’d just left college and was applying to get a university place.

“Mozzer was my whole world back then (not that he isn’t still a massive part of it now), and going to see him live for the first time at Wembley Arena in the July was a huge occasion for me.”

Matt, 44, from Birmingham, England

“I view Kill Uncle far more fondly now”

Can you remember buying Kill Uncle?

“Yes – March 1991 from HMV in the Pavilions, Birmingham. 99% sure I got on the day of release. Tape and vinyl.”

What did you think of the record?

“I think because of the excitement in the lead up to release I’d have liked it whatever. I got into Morrissey/The Smiths in 1988 so Kill Uncle was one of the first albums I ever properly looked forward to. It was only a month or so down the line when I actually thought to myself ‘it’s not as good as I’d hoped’, particularly when Pregnant For the Last Time was released as a non-album single.”

What is your favourite song on the album?

“Probably Sing Your Life or the later live version of There’s a Place in Hell for Me and My Friends. I still think he missed a trick by not including Pregnant For the Last Time or My Love Life on it – two of my favourite singles.”

Other than in 1991, why do you think he’s never played songs from this album live?

“I can only think that Morrissey himself isn’t a fan. There are a few tracks I’m not sure would translate too well live, but Sing Your Life, Mute Witness and Our Frank would.”

In the years since its release has your view on the album changed?

“I view it far more fondly now. In the past four or five years I’ve listened to it quite a few times. It’s certainly one of my more listened to records.”

Ian, 48, from St Helens, England

“Kill Uncle had a difficult birth between the pop majesty of Bona Drag and the hell-fire rockabilly of Your Arsenal.”

Can you remember buying Kill Uncle?

“I bought it on vinyl from a little shop inside one of the covered arcades in St Helens called Music Zone.

“It’s sadly no longer there (it’s a cafe now) but I would avidly buy all my Moz stuff from them. It was a ritual. I had just managed to scrape together a few A-levels but didn’t bother with university straight away. A job in a food warehouse beckoned and spending my wages on Kill Uncle felt like growing up.

“When I got it home and first played it, I thought it was okay. It didn’t grab me and scream ‘I’m here’ like Vauxhall or Quarry does. It just doesn’t flow and feels bitty.

“Parts of it feel too pedestrian. Don’t get me wrong, it has its moments, especially the rockabilly royalty of Sing Your Life. And how dapper does Moz look in that video?”

What is your fave song on the album?

“The stand out track for me is (I’m) The End Of The Family Line. It might be the last track (if you’ve got 2013’s expanded re-issue) but it arrives with impeccable style, complete with a false fade-out, a-la That Joke isn’t Funny Anymore. It’s pure Moz, lamenting”

Why hasn’t Morrissey played Kill Uncle songs live?

“I’m not really sure why these songs haven’t been aired live since the 91 tour. It just could be that there are 20 odd songs that are better live fighting to get into the set list. You’d have to ask Moz!”

In the years since its release has your view on the album changed?

“Thirty years on, it’s not album that I reach for. As a collection of songs, they are perfectly Morrissey.

“Who hasn’t laughed out loud to the rhyming couplet of ‘surprise yer’ and Tizer?

“Surely the first time the carbonated drink has been mentioned in a song?

“Yet, something is still missing for me that the rolling years haven’t sorted it out. 

“It could be down to timing. Kill Uncle had a difficult birth between the pop majesty of Bona Drag and the hell-fire rockabilly of Your Arsenal.

“It sits oddly between those two records.

“It also doesn’t help that we were spoiled for years and years with Johnny Marr and Stephen Street’s perfect pop philosophy. Even other Moz tracks of the same era, and I’m thinking of Pregnant For The Last Time, have a bellyful of energy and drive that carried on to Your Arsenal.”

“That said, I did buy a Kill Uncle programme and a t-shirt. I even lent that tee to a mate called Phil for a Moz night he had organised at Derby Warehouse in 1995. I never did get it back.

“And when I see what they are going for on eBay, I weep.

“So, if you’re reading this Phil, pop it in the post…”

By Dickie Felton 

Dickie Felton has written two books about Morrissey fan culture. More details *here*.