Morrissey
- You Are The Quarry
By Dan Grote
“America, you know where you can shove
your hamburger.” It takes Morrissey less than two minutes to get to this,
his new album’s best line.
You Are the Quarry opens with a 3-pronged
politely British assault on the US (“America Is Not the World”), England
(“Irish Blood, English Heart”) and Christianity (“I Have Forgiven Jesus”).
The first is a story of love and hate:
Morrissey, who lives in L.A. but knows why Estonia hates us, finishes his
discourse with a string of I Love You’s. The second song is a pure stand
against empire that curses former Prime Minister Oliver Cromwell. The third
is a more traditional “Oh why do I hate myself so much” rant, nothing unbefitting
the man once nicknamed “The Pope of Mope” (God I wish I’d thought of that
one). Later in the disc, Morrissey turns his cocked brow towards the world
of modern pop stars on the awesomely titled “The World Is Full of Crashing
Bores.”
With his slicked-back hair and throaty
vibrato, Morrissey is a marvelous crooner, a fact that serves the Irony
Demons well on songs like “America” and “Bores.” But when waxing nostalgic,
as he does on “Come Back to Camden,” his voice is simply glorious, though
one can’t help but feel Morrissey’s pervasive Englishness in lines like
“drinking tea with the taste of the Thames” and “under slate-gray Victorian
skies.”
Then there are songs that sound like downright
pop, such as “First of the Gang to Die,” an upbeat take on gang violence
from an Original Gangsta… of shoegazing. Also of a sunnier side is “I Like
You,” wherein Morrissey conveys a mix of joy and fear at the prospect of
-- gasp -- actually liking someone. Sounds like a teenage sentiment, but
in Morrissey’s case, it is the battle cry of a broken man coming out of
his shell.
VERDICT: Morrissey is what Chris Carrabba
should aspire to be in 20 years’ time, a cult demi-God still able to inspire
singalongs but with a madcap and gentle swagger at the heart of it all.
CD Info
Morrissey
- You Are The Quarry
Label: Attack/Sanctuary
Records
Rating:
Tracks:
America Is Not The World
Irish Blood, English Heart
I Have Forgiven Jesus
Come Back To Camden
I'm Not Sorry
World Is Full Of Crashing Bores, The
How Could Anybody Possibly Know How I
Feel
First Of The Gang To Die
Let Me Kiss You
All The Lazy Dykes
I Like You
You Know I Couldn't Last |
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