Topic: Morissey

[SoftCell]

Can't wait for the Morrissey stuff.....

What's your opinion of the new album?


I've been listening to "You Are The Quarry"  for the past ten days. This is my personal verdict on the album....


America Is Not The World


A pleasant enough tune with some interesting lyrics - although criticising America isn't exactly the height of controversy these days.

The song is a midtempo arrangement with some keyboards introduced alongside the traditional guitars.

"America brought you the hamburger" sings Morrissey "....and you know where you can shove your hamburger."

By the end of the song though, he actually has a few kind words to say about the USA - (after all he's got a home in Los Angeles.)

It's a decent enough, although unspectacular, opening track. 6/10


Irish Blood, English Heart

Morrissey sings that he's "dreaming of a time when the English are sick to death of Labour and Tories", before going on to lambast the Monarchy and Oliver Cromwell.

"There's no one on Earth I'm afraid of, and no regime can buy or sell me," he sings.

The chorus, for me, starts too early in the song. It could have been done slightly better.  7/10


I've Forgiven Jesus

Some interesting lyrical ideas in this track.

Moz questions a God that fills him so full of love, but then has no outlet to let him share it with anybody.

He laments his guilt-ridden depressed life and asks God "Do You Hate Me?"

He describes his daily life as being:

"Monday - humiliation
Tuesday - suffocation
Wednesday - condescension
Thursday- is just pathetic
By Friday - life has killed me."

6/10


Come Back To Camden

This is excruciatingly bad, with an embarassing tune. Moz gets nostalgic for taxi drivers and drinking tea in North London.

A trip to Camden these days is likely to be a rather different experience - bringing you into contact with druggies, prostitutes, criminal gangs, traffic congestion, and Jamaican Yardies!

2/10



I'm Not Sorry

From the ridiculous to the sublime.

This is the best song on the album, with some poignant lyrics.

There's a beautiful sadness about this song, which makes it reminiscent of some of The Smiths earlier work.

The introduction towards the end of a touch of flute alongside the guitars works perfectly.

Overall it's a beautiful song.

9/10







The Smiths were definitely one of my favourite groups in the 80's. Their albums "Hatful of Hollow", "Meat Is Murder", "The Queen Is Dead" and "Strangeways Here We Come" were all excellent.

But whereas I love 95% of Smiths songs, I haven't been keen on that much of Moz's solo work.

"I'm Not Sorry" though, is probably his best track since "Speedway" in 1994.



The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores

This is a boy next door's realisation of how much mediocrity surrounds him in his life.

The idea is fair enough, but the execution is lacking. There's a silly chorus about policemen and policewomen, which spoils the song.

5/10



How Can Anyone Possibly Know How I Feel?

There's a great energy to this track, the second best song on the album.

It's got biting lyrics and an enjoyable guitar sound.

9/10



The First Of The Gang To Die

I like the sound of the verses a lot, but not the chorus.

Moz narrates the story of Hector, a delinquent gang member, who died with a gun in his hand.

7/10



Let Me Kiss You

It's got quite a nice guitar sound to it, but overall, the song is nothing special.

6/10



All The Lazy D*kes

A reasonable tune.

But the lyrics - about a group of lesbian bike riders - are not my cup of tea.

4/10



I Like You

Uninspiring lyrics, but quite a nice pleasant tune.

6/10



You Know I Couldn't Last

On the concluding track of the album, Morrissey criticises (amongst other things) the written press, singing: "The whispering may hurt you, but the printed word may kill you"

I like the sound of the piano on the wistful verses.

But I'm not keen on the chorus.

6/10



Overall, the album is a marked improvement on his last abysmal album "Maladjusted" in 1997.

There are two cracking songs, as I've said - "I'm Not Sorry" and "How Can Anyone Possibly Know How I Feel?"

The rest of the album is mixed.


I'd give "You Are The Quarry" 6/10 overall.







 

[SoftCell]

Having continued to listen to "You Are The Quarry", I've revised a few of my ratings for certain songs on Morrissey's album....


America Is Not The World   - Gone up from 6/10 to 7/10. It's better than I originally thought.


I've Forgiven Jesus  - Gone Up from 6/10 to 8/10. I really like this song now, it's a very good track.


Let Me Kiss You - Gone Up from 6/10 to 7/10


How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel - Gone Down from 9/10 to 8/10.


I Like You - Gone Down from 6/10 to 4/10.


The best track for me is still the sublime I'm Not Sorry - a brilliant song from Mozzer.

[Viscount Discount]

wish I'd got round to getting the album now.

I'll give you a post-Festival live review next week.  I'll be watching him on Sunday night.

[Viscount Discount]

OK, as promised, my Morrissey at Glastonbury critique - written from the POV of someone who was 30ft back from the stage for the entire gig.

Moz, looked quite good for his age and prowled the stage bantering with the audience. But you sensed he was not enjoying the experience one iota and performing was something he knew he had to endure. How different from the times I saw him with The Smiths.

He gurned and grimaced like a great uncle with a peptic ulcer and fidgeted with his shirt and quiff and kept nervously tapping his chin.

He attracted a huge audience though (maybe 75,000) and when he sang Smiths stuff thousands upon thousands sang along.

He started off with Shakespeare's Sister and it became clear he was in great voice and the backing band were tight if a little anonymous (no Jonny Marr guitar soloists there!) He also did There Is A Lihght That Never Goes Out and Barbarism Begins At Home.

This was no greatest hits set though - where was Suedehead for example?

Some of the new stuff met a good response too, although he had said "I advise you not to buy my new album", particularly First In The Gang To Die and The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores - which he sang with real conviction.

Moz finished with Irish Blood English Heart which was played at the volume of AC/DC and really got people moving and seemed to capture the mood of the festival.


He really should lighten up though: "I imagine you feel disgusting waking up among all that mud. I feel like that every day" as one of his funnier lines!