Review Summary: How to polish a turd...
Ah... Revisionism. Sometimes it can be a real pain. Like when you go back to watch the old Star Wars movies and find that they keep changing all the time. George Lucas just won't keep his sticky fingers off those films! Not to be outdone, Morrissey has decided to have a good bash at rewriting his entire career in recent years. Quite a bold move for someone who once sang "Reissue! repackage! Double pack with a photograph, an extra track and a tacky badge." Arguments about the artistic integrity of trying to white-wash musical history aside, Morrissey's efforts have certainly been hit-or-miss. One of his weaker albums 'Kill Uncle' was improved by his tinkering whilst the vastly superior 'Viva Hate' was unforgivably ruined by it.
So to 'Maladjusted' then. Let's make no bones about it, the original 1997 release was a stinker. It was poorly sequenced, had grade A *** like 'Papa Jack' on it and left most of the really good tracks from the sessions to languish as B-sides on attendant singles. There were some sporadically great moments on the original album, however. 'Trouble Loves Me' and 'Wide to Receive' were classic Morrissey ballads while the fantastic title track "Maladjusted' and 'Satan Rejected My Soul' saw to the rockier side of things. But even with these decent tracks, the original version of the album could still never be considered anything other than a lackluster offering by the master of mope.
So it's a real pleasure to report that Morrissey's re-envisioned overhaul of 'Maladjusted' is a far more satisfying record. The album's eleven tracks have now been bulked up to fifteen and two of the weakest cuts ('Papa Jack' and 'Roy's Keen') have been excised completely. The album has also been perfectly sequenced, which as I mentioned before was a real sore point on the original 1997 version. 'He cried', for example, sank without a trace on the original LP but here it comes roaring out of the speakers like the greatest Morrissey single that never was. The integrated B-sides all work wonderfully too and make for a lot of the album's highlights. 'The Edges are No Longer Parallel' turns out to be a great sister epic to the opening 'Maladjusted' and tracks like 'I Can Have Both' and 'Now I am a Was' add some catchy pop hooks to the mostly dour proceedings.
But it's the overall feeling, atmosphere and depth that make this new version of Maladjusted really shine. The original felt like a slapdash bunch of songs thrown together without any notion of a cohesive whole. The remaster totally nails it in this regard. 'Maladjusted' has somehow transformed into one of Morrissey's most emotional and personal records. It really feels like a proper ride through the darkness and misery that clutters his mind. The original was throwaway trash. This remaster certainly isn't. The album now flows so well that even some of the weaker bluster like 'Ambitious Outsiders' and 'Sorrow will Come in the End' get swept up in the tide and carried to a satisfying conclusion.
It's likely that 'Maladjusted' will always be pilloried as a creative low point for Morrissey and one that put paid to his career for seven years. But this remaster makes you seriously wonder what could have been if he had put out this version back in 1997. Could the full 'Maladjusted' experience have revitalized Morrissey's career instead of destroying it? Who knows... But what I do know is that the remastered, extended and re-sequenced version makes for a really good album. How to polish a turd indeed.
