Hold On to Your Friends: Morrissey's "Vauxhall and I" to Be Expanded

Hold On to Your Friends: Morrissey’s “Vauxhall and I” to Be Expanded

April 24, 2014 By Joe Marchese — No Comments

On June 3, Morrissey is picking up where he left off. Parlophone Records will follow the February CD/DVD reissue of 1992’s Your Arsenal with the next album in his considerable catalogue, 1994’s Vauxhall and I. Like Your Arsenal, the remastered CD of Vauxhall will be packaged with a previously unreleased live concert performance, this time also on CD.

Vauxhall and I was a very different animal than its predecessor. Since the release of Arsenal, the artist had suffered the loss of that album’s producer, Mick Ronson. He paired with producer Steve Lillywhite (U2, Big Country) for Vauxhall. Lillywhite crafted a spare, often acoustic aesthetic to match the dark, somber and introspective songs written by Morrissey with his collaborators Alain Whyte and Boz Boorer. Whyte and Boorer both contributed guitar to the LP and were joined by Jonny Bridgwood on bass and Woodie Taylor on drums. The result was a stripped-down, elegiac, less heavily guitar-oriented LP.

Parlophone’s press release describes it as follows: “Vauxhall and I signaled an acceptance of ageing amidst the tyranny of time, casting off the shackles of the past, with a will to embrace the future. Along the way the album visits a cast of characters, including, references to Brighton Rock – gorgeous, exhilarating album opener ‘Now My Heart Is Full’ – those whom disregard all social conventions and ‘take life at five times the average speed’ (‘Spring-Heeled Jim’) and rejected romantics (‘Billy Budd’ – also a Herman Melville character). It also lays waste to ignorant and selfish tourist whom are ‘jaded by stagnation’ (‘The Lazy Sunbathers’), the unthinking and unquestioning (‘Why Don’t You Find Out For Yourself’ – later covered by The Killers), and tackles the inevitable loss of innocence (‘Used To Be A Sweet Boy’), amongst other inimitable themes.”

Despite the personal nature of the material, however, the artist scored an unexpected hit. Lead single “The More You Ignore Me, the Closer I Get” became his only song – either solo or with The Smiths – to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S., where it reached No. 46. It also reached No. 1 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. In his native United Kingdom, the track went all the way to No. 8, and was the artist’s only Top 10 of the decade. The album itself was also a success. In the U.S., it made the Top 20 of the Billboard 200; in the U.K., it became Morrissey’s second No. 1 album after his 1988 solo debut Viva Hate.

After the jump, we have more on Vauxhall and I including pre-order links and the full track listing of both CDs!

This twentieth-anniversary Definitive Master of Vauxhall and I has been freshly remastered by Bill Inglot. The bonus CD presents Morrissey in concert circa on February 26, 1995 at London’s Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. The concert’s fourteen tracks include five selections from Vauxhall, music from Your Arsenal, the non-LP single “Boxers,” and a performance of the Henry Mancini/Johnny Mercer standard “Moon River.” Previously unseen photos are promised to be a part of the package. In addition to the 2-CD edition, Parlophone will also issue Vauxhall on LP (with just the original album) and digital download.

Vauxhall and I is due for release on June 3 in the U.S. (June 2 in the U.K.), and can be pre-ordered at the links below!

Morrissey, Vauxhall and I: 20th Anniversary Definitive Master (Parlophone, 2014)

2-CD Set: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

CD 1/Vinyl LP: Original LP (released as Parlophone PCSD 148 (U.K.) / Sire/Reprise 45451 (U.S.), 1994)

Now My Heart is Full
Spring-Heeled Jim
Billy Budd
Hold On to Your Friends
The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get
Why Don’t You Find Out for Yourself
I Am Hated for Loving
Lifeguard Sleeping, Girl Drowning
Used to Be a Sweet Boy
The Lazy Sunbathers
Speedway

CD 2: Live At The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane – 2/26/1995

Billy Budd
Have-a-Go Merchant
Spring-Heeled Jim
London
You’re the One for Me, Fatty
Boxers
Jack the Ripper
We’ll Let You Know
Whatever Happens, I Love You
Why Don’t You Find Out for Yourself
The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get
The National Front Disco
Moonriver
Now My Heart is Full

Categories:

News

Formats:

Genres:

Tags:

Morrissey

Joe Marchese

JOE MARCHESE (Editor) joined The Second Disc shortly after its launch in early 2010, and has since penned daily news and reviews about classic music of all genres. In 2015, Joe formed the Second Disc Records label. Celebrating the great songwriters, producers and artists who created the sound of American popular song and beyond, Second Disc Records, in conjunction with labels including Real Gone Music and Cherry Red Records, has released newly-curated collections produced and annotated by Joe from iconic artists such as Dionne Warwick, Diana Ross and The Supremes, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, The Spinners, Johnny Mathis, Bobby Darin, Meat Loaf, Laura Nyro, Melissa Manchester, Liza Minnelli, Darlene Love, Al Stewart, Michael Nesmith, and many others.

Joe has written liner notes, produced, or contributed to over 200 reissues from a diverse array of artists, among them America, JD Souther, Nat "King" Cole, Paul Williams, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield, BJ Thomas, The 5th Dimension, Burt Bacharach, The Mamas and the Papas, Carpenters, Perry Como, Rod McKuen, Doris Day, Jackie DeShannon, Petula Clark, Robert Goulet, and Andy Williams.

Over the past two decades, Joe has also worked in a variety of capacities on and off Broadway as well as at some of the premier theatres in the U.S., including Lincoln Center Theater, George Street Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, and the York Theatre Company. He has felt privileged to work on productions alongside artists such as the late Jack Klugman, Eli Wallach, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. In 2009, Joe began contributing theatre and music reviews to the print publication The Sondheim Review, and in 2012, he joined the staff of The Digital Bits as a regular contributor writing about film and television on DVD and Blu-ray.

Joe currently resides in the suburbs of New York City.

The Weekend Stream: July 18, 2026

Won’t Get Fooled Again: Four Who Classics Revisited by Analogue Productions on Vinyl, SACD, Reel-to-Reel

Release Round-Up: Week of July 17

Around and Around: Grateful Dead Celebrate “Summer Magic 1985” with Massive Box Set, Standalone Concert Release

0 thoughts on “Hold On to Your Friends: Morrissey’s “Vauxhall and I” to Be Expanded”

Chief Brody
April 25, 2014 at 9:36 am

Is The Moz making any, um, “adjustments” to this reissue, like he has with all the others thus far? If so, count me out . . . again. Bill Inglot’s involvement is a pretty good sign, but I’m worried that the Prince of Mope won’t be able to keep himself from tinkering. Too bad, because it’s a terrific album.

Reply