A keen reviewer looking to make a few pennies along the way!
I'll try and rate the reviews of oth...
A keen reviewer looking to make a few pennies along the way!
I'll try and rate the reviews of others who rate me, but apologies if I miss you.
Member since:22.04.2009
Reviews:2
I must start this review confessing I am a Morrissey fan, but not the rabid kind that doesn't admit the man has his flaws - he's been peddling the same album for the last couple of decades, some of his opinions are a bit iffy, and some of his output in the past has been decidedly below par.
However the previous two albums to this one, 'You Are The Quarry' and 'Ringleader of the Tormentors' were some of his best, especially the latter which saw him experimenting with a more grandiose sound and lyrically overcoming some of the themes that had become Mozza cliches. That is he seemed to be in the throes of love (hetero- or homosexual we'll possibly never quite know), and allowed himself to sing about the rather un-Moz themes of actually having sex and (heaven forbid!) happiness.
Whatever love affair Moz had while writing 'Ringleader...' must now surely be over, and sadly this has meant a return to some of themes of loneliness, celibacy and being unloved that have started to become somewhat tired for a man pushing 50. And the lush arrangements of Tony Visconti that graced 'Ringleader' are now back to typical, slightly lumpy pubrock that has underpinned most of his solo output.
The best tracks on 'Years of Refusal' are corkers, with opening track 'Something is Squeezing My Skull' a Morrissey classic, with pithy lyrics and a tongue-twisting middle eight. Single 'I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris' is another great track, if retreading some of the more tired Morrissey territory lyrically ("I'm throwing my arms around Paris/As only stone and steel accept my love"). Perhaps the best track is 'All You Need Is Me', a savage song with a great, driving guitar part, that is dripping with Morrissey's trademark wit, but spoilt slightly by the bad taste left by the fact this, and 'That's How People Grow Up', have already been released as bonus tracks on, and released as singles from, last year's cash-in 'Greatest Hits' album.
The rest of the tracks fare less well, with silly mariachi on 'When I Last Saw Carol', and other rather lacklustre tracks that bang away as typical Morrissey album tracks, both musically and thematically.
This album is by far not the worst he's ever produced (you'll have to go back to his nadir in the mid 1990s for that), but after his last two phenomenal comeback albums is something of a disappointment. The good tracks are excellent, and good enough to make this worth buying, but it's still not his best work, and Morrissey newcomers would better off buying 'You Are The Quarry', 'Ringleader of the Tormentors', or one of his early albums such as 'Viva Hate' or 'Your Arsenal'.
(This review also posted on DooYoo under username "leetemplar")
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So onward purposely strides the man--Stephen Patrick Morrissey--who, just to state the ... more
bloomin obvious, would make a fine frontman for a great band. And therein lies the main weakness of his solo career, from 1988s post-Smiths Viva Hate onwards; for al...
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Something Is Squeezing My Skull Mama Lay Softly On The Riverbed Black Cloud I'm Throwing ... more
My Arms Around Paris All You Need Is Me When Last I Spoke To Carol That's How People Grow Up One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell It's Not Your Birthday Anymore You We...
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Apr 22nd, 2009
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