Moonriver

The Youngest

The Youngest

doesn't eat his friends
I was just wondering if anyone knew why Moz chose to record this song.

Has he ever talked about it in interveiws or mentioned it live?

I think his version is one of the nicest I have ever heard.
 
This is quite interesting read.

I like Morrissey's vocal, but don't like sampling bits of a crying woman which is unnecessary to me.
 
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One of my proudest moments was when a friend of mine, a very educated and harsh music afficienado and critic approved of his version so much we played it TWICE in one morning on the sound system of the bookstore we worked at.
 
Actually, he did talk about it once. I remember a funny little single column interview in 'The Independent' UK newspaper back when his version first appeared around May of '94. It was just Moz talking about what the song meant to him and why he liked to sing it. That was the only topic of the very short interview. It seemed odd at the time, but very interesting. This must have been what passed for EMI single promotion at the time (epic fail!). I have the cutting someplace in my 'archives', but god knows where. Google came up empty.
I vaguely recall that he talked about how his mother used to play it alot when he was a child, how it was a lovely song to sing, and his favourite version was Shirley Bassey's (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CpJtS3mWoc)
Oh and one other useless detail ~ the girl sobbing in the background isn't Holly Golightly but the actress Peggy Evans in a scene from 'The Blue Lamp'(1950), also starring Dirk Bogarde and Patric 'raised to wait' Doonan.
 
Please don't go mad at me but I really don't like any of the covers he has done (exect when he sung the New York Dolls intro to Sunday)

The Buzzcocks was alright but not sure wht he chose to sing it live it's not like he doesn't have enough of his own.
 
Virgil Tracy said:
Please don't go mad at me but I really don't like any of the covers he has done (exect when he sung the New York Dolls intro to Sunday)
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Not even when he covers that 80s band, the Smiths? :rolleyes:

Personally I detested "Subway Train" into EDILS. I think it worked much better with "Munich Air Disaster 1958."
 
The Youngest said:
I was just wondering if anyone knew why Moz chose to record this song...

I think his version is one of the nicest I have ever heard.
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I agree: Morrissey's version of Moonriver is so good, it makes me want to hear what he could do with Cole Porter, or Harold Arlen.

Morrissey is a much better vocal stylist than he is ever given credit for. Normally I wince when someone does a cover album, but I think Morrissey could sing ""What is This Thing Called Love?" better than anyone else on the planet.
 
Love moonriver- especially the fact it goes on for way too long. It's like a brilliantly beautiful bad dream.
 
It's not one that I need to revisit a lot, but whenever I put the long version on, I find myself drawn in. There's some nice atmospheric work being done by Boz and Alain.

As a digression, I always loved when Alain sang through his guitar pick-up - it was a nice sonic touch that never gets much mention. I'm not aware of too many guitarists who have done it. It sounds gorgeous on Moonriver - and, occasionally, absolutely terrifying on Southpaw Grammar. I think the last time he may have done it was on the keening vocal line at the beginning of I Will See You in Far-Off Places. (To my ear, at least...)

Cheers,
Jamie
 
Jamie said:
It's not one that I need to revisit a lot, but whenever I put the long version on, I find myself drawn in. There's some nice atmospheric work being done by Boz and Alain.

As a digression, I always loved when Alain sang through his guitar pick-up - it was a nice sonic touch that never gets much mention. I'm not aware of too many guitarists who have done it. It sounds gorgeous on Moonriver - and, occasionally, absolutely terrifying on Southpaw Grammar. I think the last time he may have done it was on the keening vocal line at the beginning of I Will See You in Far-Off Places. (To my ear, at least...)

Cheers,
Jamie
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Wow, I never knew that. My respect for Alain (which was already pretty high) just kicked up a notch.

I did one recording session where I used the headphones as a mic. Pretty cool effect.
 
Kewpie said:
This is quite interesting read.

I like Morrissey's vocal, but don't like sampling bits of a crying woman which is unnecessary to me.
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thanks for the trip in the way back machine Kewpie :D
I wonder where Bluenose is now?
anyways, this song is gr8, but usually because of its length I skip over it and just play AudreyH's 95 second version :o
 
Jamie said:
It's not one that I need to revisit a lot, but whenever I put the long version on, I find myself drawn in. There's some nice atmospheric work being done by Boz and Alain.

As a digression, I always loved when Alain sang through his guitar pick-up - it was a nice sonic touch that never gets much mention. I'm not aware of too many guitarists who have done it. It sounds gorgeous on Moonriver - and, occasionally, absolutely terrifying on Southpaw Grammar. I think the last time he may have done it was on the keening vocal line at the beginning of I Will See You in Far-Off Places. (To my ear, at least...)

Cheers,
Jamie
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Could you describe what part of the song he does this in so I can hear it too? I don't know what a guitar pick up is. :o
 
Jamie said:
As a digression, I always loved when Alain sang through his guitar pick-up - it was a nice sonic touch that never gets much mention. I'm not aware of too many guitarists who have done it. It sounds gorgeous on Moonriver - and, occasionally, absolutely terrifying on Southpaw Grammar. I think the last time he may have done it was on the keening vocal line at the beginning of I Will See You in Far-Off Places. (To my ear, at least...)

Cheers,
Jamie
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Do you (or anyone else reading) know how to do this? I've read before that Alain used this practice in recording, but how exactly is it done? I'd love to try it :)
 
mcrickson said:
Do you (or anyone else reading) know how to do this? I've read before that Alain used this practice in recording, but how exactly is it done? I'd love to try it :)
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I've sung through a guitar pickup, but I've never recorded it. From what rudimentary knowledge I have on the subject, a guitar pickup has electromagnetic coils (like a mic), but no membrane. It's the vibration of the strings that interacts with the pickup, not the vibration of a membrane, as in a conventional mic. If you sing through a guitar pickup, you can hear it come out of your amp, but the level is weak, and the sound is distorted.

I'm not sure how Alain actually recorded this, but I'm guessing he went through a preamp, unless he miked the amplifier itself, which seems unlikely.

Then again, I'm not the most technically saavy person.
 
Anaesthesine said:
I've sung through a guitar pickup, but I've never recorded it. From what rudimentary knowledge I have on the subject, a guitar pickup has electromagnetic coils (like a mic), but no membrane. It's the vibration of the strings that interacts with the pickup, not the vibration of a membrane, as in a conventional mic. If you sing through a guitar pickup, you can hear it come out of your amp, but the level is weak, and the sound is distorted.

I'm not sure how Alain actually recorded this, but I'm guessing he went through a preamp, unless he miked the amplifier itself, which seems unlikely.

Then again, I'm not the most technically saavy person.
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So..wait..you literally sing INTO the guitar pickup..? :confused:
:lbf: I feel so stupid trying to work this out :blushing:
 
mcrickson said:
So..wait..you literally sing INTO the guitar pickup..? :confused:
:lbf: I feel so stupid trying to work this out :blushing:
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A guitar pickup will send any signal through an amp - you can play it like a drum, you can scream into it, it will transmit the signal. It is, however, a very poor mic, since it is essentially the sound of the strings that is being transmitted, not the sound of the human voice.

That's what I don't understand about Alain singing through a pickup. The quality of the signal is awful (which worked pretty well in my industrial band, but I can't hear it working so well for Morrissey).

If Alain were recording the signal from the amplifier, it would sound like garbage. If he went through a preamp right into the board, it probably wouldn't sound much better.

Someone should ask Alain. :confused:
 
Anaesthesine said:
A guitar pickup will send any signal through an amp - you can play it like a drum, you can scream into it, it will transmit the signal. It is, however, a very poor mic, since it is essentially the sound of the strings that is being transmitted, not the sound of the human voice.

That's what I don't understand about Alain singing through a pickup. The quality of the signal is awful (which worked pretty well in my industrial band, but I can't hear it working so well for Morrissey).

If Alain were recording the signal from the amplifier, it would sound like garbage. If he went through a preamp right into the board, it probably wouldn't sound much better.

Someone should ask Alain. :confused:
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Hmm very interesting.
I'mma feel right daft screaming into my guitar, but we'll see what happens :lbf:
Perhaps Boz would remember; he'd much more readily respond than Alain. If only I could get over my anxiety of contacting him...:blushing:
 
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