Released 15 October 1990 Length 49:45 Artist Morrissey Producer Stephen Street | Recorded 1987–1989 Bona Drag (1990) Kill Uncle
(1991) Release date 15 October 1990 Label Sire Records | |
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Genres Alternative rock, Pop music Similar Morrissey albums, Alternative rock albums | ||
Morrissey piccadilly palare
Bona Drag is a compilation album by Morrissey released on 15 October 1990. The album features an array of Morrissey's most popular songs from his early solo career, most of which had not been released on any previous album. The album name meaning nice outfits is an example of the subculture slang Polari explored further on the album's first track "Piccadilly Palare". The album was certified Gold by the RIAA on 6 December 2000.
Contents
Morrissey bona drag 1990
About the album
After releasing Viva Hate in March 1988, Morrissey modified his method of releasing music. Instead of choosing to produce an immediate follow-up album, he decided to release a string of independent singles in the hopes of achieving success in that market. Morrissey initially planned to release a second album after releasing a few holdover singles.
As such, he released "The Last of the Famous International Playboys", "Interesting Drug", and "Ouija Board, Ouija Board" over the course of 1989. The first two of these became top ten hits. However, by the end of 1989 it became apparent that he would not be able to put out an album of new material soon enough.
Morrissey decided to scrap the idea of a full-length LP and release a compilation of singles and B-sides instead. Thus, the Bona Drag project was born. "November Spawned a Monster" was released in May 1990 to modest success; the album and the single "Piccadilly Palare" followed, both released on the same day that October.
Composition
Bona Drag features nearly all of the strong pieces of material written by Morrissey in the first three years of his solo career. The tracks include four top ten hits. Morrissey included two tracks on this compilation from his Viva Hate album: "Suedehead" and "Everyday Is Like Sunday".
The album is also significant for including the first tracks by Morrissey to chart in the United States. "Piccadilly Palare" and "Ouija Board, Ouija Board" both reached number 2 on the Modern Rock chart. "The Last of the Famous International Playboys" went to number 3, "November Spawned a Monster", number 6, and "Interesting Drug", number 11. Bona Drag launched Morrissey's career in the US, and in many ways it marked the turning point after which he became less popular in the UK but achieved increasing success in America.
The album sleeve is taken from Morrissey's "November Spawned a Monster" promotion video. Morrissey's shirt colour was altered from black to red in the photo.
20th anniversary reissue
In July 2010, EMI announced Bona Drag would be reissued on 27 September 2010, with the original track listing plus six officially unreleased studio outtakes. The front artwork would have the shirt changed from red to the original black, and the back and inner artwork would be updated with previously unseen photos chosen by Morrissey. It would be released on the resurrected Major Minor imprint. The re-issue eventually came out on 4 October, entering the UK charts at number 67. Music blog Pitchfork Media awarded the release a score of '9.8' and a "Best new reissue" tag, calling Bona Drag "the most enduring success of Morrissey's solo career".
Track listing
All songs by Morrissey/Street, except where noted.
2010 re-release
The 2010 re-release features the following additional tracks:
The following changes have been made to the original album:
Etchings on vinyl
"AESTHETICS VERSUS ATHLETICS"/none
Personnel
Guest musicians
Production
Charts
Album
Songs
1Piccadilly Palare3:27
2Interesting Drug3:28
3November Spawned a Monster5:26