Morrissey Reloads “Arsenal” for February Reissue

Your ArsenalMaybe it’s his catalogue in the hands of a new owner, with Parlophone now being managed by Rhino/Warner Music Group. Maybe it’s the rushing wave of acidic nostalgia that came with publishing his hit Autobiography. Or maybe it’s just been too long since the last reissue. Whatever the reason, Morrissey’s 1992 album Your Arsenal is getting remastered and expanded for a February release.

Featuring a new band anchored by guitarists Boz Boorer and Alain Whyte – still Moz’s chief collaborators to this day – and a rockabilly-inspired production by the late Mick Ronson, Your Arsenal was the first of many Morrissey albums hailed as a return to form for the ex-Smiths frontman. While it was not without its share of controversy (the war on Morrissey waged by NME had perhaps hit a fever pitch at this time, thanks to their perception of some of the album’s lyrics as glorifying of hooliganism and far-right English politics), it nonetheless did well on both sides of the Atlantic, with audiences embracing songs like “Glamorous Glue,” “We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful” and “Tomorrow” on the U.S. modern rock charts.

It wouldn’t be a Morrissey reissue without a little bit of original album tweaking, and while this is perhaps his most subtlest reconfiguration yet, it is indeed a reconfiguration: “Tomorrow” is featured in its U.S. single mix version. But this “Definitive Master” edition will include perhaps more bonus material than ever before seen or heard on a Moz re-release: a DVD featuring a complete show from the previous year’s Kill Uncle tour, recorded at California’s Shoreline Amphitheater on Halloween 1991. This set not only featured the band that would record Your Arsenal, but includes two new tracks that would be recorded at that time: “We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful” and non-LP B-side “Pashernate Love.”

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PshpA-XRztM]

Your Arsenal: Definitive Master is out on February 24 and 25 as a CD/DVD or vinyl remaster (the latter featuring a new gatefold sleeve). Hit the jump for the full specs and pre-order links!

Morrissey, Your Arsenal: Definitive Master (Parlophone, 2014)

CD/DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Disc 1: Reconfigured album (originally released as HMV CSD3790 (U.K.)/Sire/Reprise 26994 (U.S.), 1992)

  1. You’re Gonna Need Someone on Your Side
  2. Glamorous Glue
  3. We’ll Let You Know
  4. The National Front Disco
  5. Certain People I Know
  6. We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful
  7. You’re the One for Me, Fatty
  8. Seasick, Yet Still Docked
  9. I Know It’s Gonna Happen Someday
  10. Tomorrow (U.S. Remix) (single A-side – Sire/Reprise 40580, 1992)

Disc 2: DVD – Morrissey At The Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA – 10/31/1991

  1. November Spawned a Monster
  2. Alsatian Cousin
  3. Our Frank
  4. The Loop
  5. King Leer
  6. Sister I’m a Poet
  7. Piccadilly Palare
  8. Driving Your Girlfriend Home
  9. Interesting Drug
  10. We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful
  11. Everyday is Like Sunday
  12. My Love Life
  13. Pashernate Love
  14. The Last of the Famous International Playboys
  15. Asian Rut
  16. Angel, Angel, Down We Go Together
  17. Suedehead
  18. Disappointed
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Mike Duquette
Mike Duquette

Mike Duquette (Founder) was fascinated with catalog music ever since he was a teenager. A 2009 graduate of Seton Hall University with a B.A. in journalism, Mike paired his profession with his passion through The Second Disc, one of the first sites to focus on all reissue labels great and small. His passion for reissues turned into a career, having written at and worked for all three major catalogue music labels and contributing to Allmusic, Billboard, Discogs, City Pages and Ultimate Classic Rock. He's penned liner notes for Verve, Chess, Mondo and Soul Music Records.

Born and raised in New Jersey, Mike lives in Astoria, Queens with his wife, a cat named Ravioli, twin daughters and a large yet tasteful collection of music.

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