Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com
Showing posts with label Morrissey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Morrissey. Show all posts
Thursday, March 5, 2026
Tuesday, November 18, 2025
Monday, July 17, 2023
Friday, March 20, 2020
Monday, May 27, 2019
Morrissey – California Son – Album Review
Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com
https://nomoreworkhorse.com/2019/05/27/morrissey-california-son-album-review/
Monday, November 5, 2018
My Gateway to The Smiths
Article for www.nomoreworkhorse.com
https://nomoreworkhorse.com/2018/11/05/my-gateway-to-the-smiths/
Wednesday, February 21, 2018
Morrissey – 3Arena – Live Review – 20-02-18
Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com
https://nomoreworkhorse.com/2018/02/21/morrissey-3arena-live-review-20-02-18/
Wednesday, November 22, 2017
Morrissey – Low In High School – Album Review
Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com
https://nomoreworkhorse.com/2017/11/22/morrissey-low-in-high-school-album-review/
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Monday, December 1, 2014
Top 10 Albums of 2014
Ok I'm just going to put this up now and be done with it. No, Mark Kozelek doesn't feature:
10. Caught In The Wake Forever - My Family Goes On Without Me
More exquisite melancholy from Scotland.
9. Earth - Primitive and Deadly
Lengthy, bombastic instrumental rock.
8. New Secret Weapon - New Secret Weapon
Exciting new Irish band.
7. Mark Lanegan Band - Phantom Radio
Lanegan keeps pushing the boundaries of his sound.
6. Morrissey - World Peace Is None Of Your Business
Old misery guts finally decides to mix things up... a bit.
5. Ryan Adams - Ryan Adams
Almost too smooth at times, yet it really works at others.
4. Dakota Suite and Quentin Sirjacq - There Is Calm To Be Done
Chris Hooson and co continue to turn out flawless albums.
3. Mogwai - Rave Tapes
One of the most consistent bands around.
2. Bob Mould - Beauty & Ruin
An unexpected late career highlight, the fire still burns.
http://spillmagazine.com/album-review-bob-mould-beauty-ruin/
1. A Winged Victory For The Sullen - Atomos
I never thought my album of the year would be a droney, instrumental ballet soundtrack.
Sunday, July 20, 2014
Friday, December 27, 2013
Album Review: Morrissey - You Are The Quarry
Morrissey returned from seven tests of silence in 2004 with You Are The Quarry. It opens with the shimmering keyboards of America Is Not The World. Morrissey is on fine voice here, and indeed across the album.
The album got a preview in the shape of barnstorming single Irish Blood, English Heart. It's a fine song in its own right, fitting in well into the (long) catalogue. The whole album is a succession of strong songs. I Have Forgiven Jesus sees Morrissey sing with real passion and feeling over Boz Boorer's subtle bed of guitars. A Morrissey album wouldn't be a Morrissey album without quotable lyrics. On I'm Not Sorry he confesses: "the woman of my dreams, there never was one."
He truly has a way with a songtitle, but the good news here is that The World Is Full of Crashing Bores, How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel etc measure up to those titles. First of the Gang To Die is a proper, swooning, singalong anthem to file alongside Everyday Is Like Sunday and even There Is A Light?? Let Me Kiss You features jangly guitar from Boorer and Alain Whyte and à classic self-deprecating chorus: "close your eyes and think of someone you physically admire".
At times the Jerry Finn's production can get a bit much, classic pop song I Like You nearly drowns under a sea of bleeps. You Know I Couldn't Last feels like a seventies era David Bowie album closer, a fine cocktail of keyboards and descending guitar riffs, ending a great collection of songs.
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Album Review: Morrissey – Your Arsenal
Some return to form for Morrissey. Previous album Kill Uncle seemed laboured and
he seemed in danger of becoming irrelevant in the 90s. 1992 saw him re-emerge with a new band and
shiny new Mick Ronson-produced album Your Arsenal. It literally roars out of the traps with the
rollicking You’re Gonna Need Someone On Your Side. Lyrically he’s right back on song with the
sarcastic “here I am... well you don’t have to look so pleased”. GLAMorous Glue is a total glam stomp. Never before had Morrissey strutted his way
so definitely through a song as he crooned “London is DEAD! London is DEAD!” Similarly Certain People I Know echoes T.
Rex’s Ride A White Swan.
A breather then for We’ll Let You Know, moodier territory on
the subject of football hooliganism. It
becomes more defiant towards the end when the band picks up steam, Morrissey
singing “we may seem cold or we may even be the most depressing people you’ll
ever know”. He got a lot of flack for
seeming ambivalence to this and racism in National Front Disco (“England for
the English”).
The classicly-titled We Hate It When Our Friends Become
Successful (“and if they’re northern that makes it even worse”) also contains
wonderful jangly guitar. Downtempo
moments are not forgotten on this album.
Seasick, Yet Still Docked is the latest in a line of moody Morrissey
moments, dating back to Pretty Girls Make Graves, while I Know It’s Gonna
Happen Someday is one of his cleverest moments.
It’s a homage to David Bowie’s Rock n Roll Suicide, with the coda
overtly imitating Bowie’s coda.
Final track Tomorrow sees Boz Boorer and Alain Whyte’s
guitars combine to great effect. It’s a
superb collection of songs, and one of Morrissey’s finest albums.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Preview: Most anticipated albums of 2012
I’m very excited about the year ahead, particularly the few weeks between late January and February which are going to make me very poor indeed. In no time at all this is bound to be wrong, but here goes:
Barry Adamson
The new year looks set to kick off with a bang with Barry Adamson’s new album, I Will Set You Free due on January 30th. The ex-Magazine and Bad Seeds bassist has previewed one track, Destination which sounds just like Berlin period Iggy Pop, and that’s good enough for me.
RM Hubbert – Thirteen Lost and Found
Due out on January 30th, RM Hubbert’s second album Thirteen Lost and Found sounds like a real Scottish collective, produced as it is by Alex Kapranos and featuring guest appearances from Aidan Moffat amongst others.
Leonard Cohen – Old Ideas
Leonard Cohen’s first album in 8 years, Old Ideas recorded last year should be worth hearing judging by the previewed Show Me The Place, Cohen’s voice has deepened to Tom Waits proportions. It’s due Jan 30th.
Mark Lanegan Band – Blues Funeral
Mark Lanegan has been a serial collaborator over the last 8 years but 6th February will see his first solo album since 2004’s Bubblegum, Blues Funeral (a satirist’s choice for a Lanegan album title), featuring contributions from regulars Josh Homme and Greg Dulli. Lead single The Gravedigger’s Song appears to be fairly standard issue Lanegan, both in sound and title, with added electronic pulsing. In related, but not strictly speaking Lanegan news Soulsavers are supposed to have a new album out next year with Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode doing vocals. This is not as big a surprise as you might think, given that Soulsavers supported Depeche Mode on their last tour.
The Twilight Sad – No One Can Ever Know
The Twilight Sad eject the baby and the bathwater for No One Can Ever Know which judging by first single Sick is a total change in sound, relying less on heavy guitars and more on programmed beats. This one is due out February 6th.
Tindersticks – The Something Rain
Tindersticks have a new album landing on February 20th, and judging by one of the tracks, the bossa-nova style Medicine, it’s well in keeping with previous material without being reheated leftovers.
Peter Broderick – http://www.itstartshear.com
After 2011’s Music for Confluence, Peter Broderick has a song-based album due on February 20th also, the bafflingly-titled http://www.itstartshear.com. Could this be the first album with a URL as a title? The link will have artwork, lyrics, credits etc for the release.
Queens of the Stone Age expect to have an album ready for release “early next year”, and Morrissey is said to have a new album ready for release once he hooks up with a record company. A song-based album from Dakota Suite, You Can Leave But You’ll Never Make It Home will hopefully emerge and Mark Eitzel has an acoustic album The Bill Is Due in the works.
The National are writing “more immediate and visceral” material according to singer Matt Berninger, Lloyd Cole is collaborating with Roedelius on an instrumental album (Plastic Wood 2?) and is also talking about another Negatives album which would be very welcome. Aidan Moffat says he has “at least two albums planned for next year”, while Portishead will be working on a new album. Pearl Jam should start work on a follow-up to Backspacer and you never know, Neil Young may finally release another instalment of his Archives series. But I'm not holding my breath.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Monday, July 26, 2010
Are there any really consistent bands?
In an age of intangible music formats, X-factor here-today-gone-tomorrow clowns, more so-called indie bands than you can shake a stick at, not to mention every second older band reforming, today’s music scene is arguably more transient than ever before.In the supposed ‘golden age’ of rock, there were consistent acts like the Rolling Stones, Neil Young and David Bowie to name just 3 who had a superb string of albums (especially the last 2) and seemed untouchable. Until the crap one came along.
In the case of the Rolling Stones, this arrived in 1980 with Emotional Rescue, which took some of the disco beat experiments and Jagger falsettoisms from their previous album, the not-too-bad-at-all Some Girls, and fleshed them into a basis for an album. The impact of this was to render them unable to subsequently release any more than 2 more tracks of musical merit, the following years’ Start Me Up and the excellent Waiting On A Friend. And they still haven’t gone away you know.
Neil Young’s case is less straightforward. After a string of almost flawless albums from 1970’s After the Goldrush to 1979’s Rust Never Sleeps, 1981 saw the release of the pretty uninspiring Re-ac-tor (featuring the 9 minute repetitive yawn-fest T-Bone). Since then his solo career has not been totally merit-free (Freedom, Harvest Moon and Silver and Gold all had their moments), though it never scaled the heights of the 1970s.
Similarly with the aforementioned David Bowie. He bestrode the 70s like a colossus, with some brilliant albums (Hunky Dory, Aladdin Sane, Low), some very good ones (Ziggy Stardust) and some critically acclaimed (though overrated) ones (Diamond Dogs, Station to Station, Heroes). He inspired punk, post-punk and even the new Romantics, and invented Berlin as a cool destination for making music. So he could have defined 80s mainstream music. Unfortunately he let it define him. Let’s Dance was the start of it. Commercial as hell, aside from the title track it featured a terribly sanitised version of China Girl, which he wrote for Iggy Pop in 1977, which set the benchmark for the remainder of the decade. He released cheesy albums like Tonight and Never Let Me Down, before forming the noisy and tedious Tin Machine. Since then, he has been less relevant, releasing a series of albums in divergent musical styles, none of which has been awful but few with any really high quality tracks.
I can’t claim ownership of any of the above as I was too young for them in their prime. So what of the next generations of bands. Are there any who have managed a string of consistent albums, without any let downs?
Definitely out of the reckoning: Morrissey (Kill Uncle, Maladjusted, Years of Refusal), Mark Eitzel (despite the quality of the American Music Club albums, his solo albums are generally pretty patchy), The Cure (should never have been allowed release anything after 1989), Jesus and Mary Chain (ditto except fast forward to 1994). Also out would be Sonic Youth - too many dodgy noise experiments, key piece of evidence being their collaboration with Mats Gustafsson, Hidros 3, which consists of little more than noise and some particularly nasty groaning from Kim Gordon.
The Lemonheads released a pretty awful covers album last year (Varshons), and Primal Shame are really just a bunch of chancers. And Lurid (Lou Reed) had the same problem in the 1980s as Bowie and Neil Young. As for the grunge scene, Pearl Jam didn’t keep their initial momentum going, in fact they deliberately pulled back, while Soundgarden were all well and good but I don’t know if Chris Cornell’s credibility will ever recover from last year’s Timbaland-produced Scream.
Arab Strap were a candidate, though I was reminded that they were off the boil sometimes, and had too many albums that sounded the same. And the problem with Ryan Adams, apart from the awful Rock N Roll, was the media attention he received turned him into a pain in the neck really, which manifested itself in some of his music, of which he released too much to even approach consistency.
REM is an interesting one. 1994’s Monster is probably the most bought REM album. What I mean is that, with their critical stock at an all-time high after Automatic for the People, everybody wanted Monster. What an aptly named album though, within months you could pick this up easily in any second-hand music shop (of which there used to be plenty in the mid-90s). They haven’t released anything of note since. But imagine Michael Stipe had died after Automatic for the People, he would be deemed way more important than Kurt Cobain. There were rumours about his health at this time. Thankfully he is alive and well, though if a hypothetical premature death had occurred I’d say he’d have been revered, almost deified.
As for the possibles, the first band that occurred to me was the National. Although the first album wasn’t really anything special, subsequent albums have been way better. Though perhaps it’s them remaking the same album, just better each time? Radiohead would probably be the most obvious candidate, though it’s hard to make a case for Hail to the Thief as a truly enjoyable album. Nick Cave probably counts as one but he’s just so goddamn unloveable really, I can never get truly moved by him. He seems incapable of getting bad reviews though.
Mark Kozelek is probably an example of this, ever since his Red House Painting days, and perhaps Mark Lanegan would count too, no serious mis-steps (in my opinion). Tindersticks would also be one, though it’s probably just for my ears really. Richmond Fontaine are discounted as they don’t really make much impact, and I actually prefer Willy Vlautin’s books, I’d argue that’s where his true talent lies.
The problem is that many bands just make the same album over and over (often with diminishing returns), does that make them consistent? All feedback welcome!
Friday, June 25, 2010
Album Review: Morrissey – Bona Drag
Morrissey’s late 80s singles were complied on Bona Drag. It’s a little hit and miss, opening with weak, jaunty single Piccadilly Palare. Much better is Interesting Drug, which features glorious guitar from Craig Gannon and a soaring melody. In other words vintage Morrissey.
Just as good, though markedly different is November Spawned a Monster. It’s darker, featuring a forlorn vocal from Morrissey, but most notable an almost strangled wordless vocal from Mary Margaret O’Hara in the bridge. There are some great lyrics here: “and if the lights were out would you even dare to kiss her full on the mouth or anywhere.”
Morrissey since his days in the Smiths had always released strong B-sides, and thankfully many of them are captured here. Such a Little Thing Makes Such a Big Difference has a quirky melody with some unpredictable twists and turns, while Hairdresser On Fire has a soaring melody ably aided by Stephen Street’s piano showcasing Morrissey’s preoccupation with London.
The collection does contain some of his weaker singles, Ouija Board, Ouija Board being a case in point. The single arrived at precisely the point when my previously ardent devotion to buying up all things Smiths and Morrissey related began to waver. It’s a pretty uninspiring tune, almost inoffensive. Much better is final track Disappointed, featuring a strutting guitar line and wonderfully self-deprecating lyrics from Morrissey: “this is the last song I will ever sing”, followed by cheers from the crowd… then he sings “no I’ve changed my mind again”, followed by a disappointed “awww”! It’s cheesy but it works.
This album is not far off being essential for Morrissey fans. It’s let down by one or two Morrissey-by-numbers tracks (Last of the Famous International Playboys, Yes I Am Blind) but these are more than made for by the high points mentioned above.
Just as good, though markedly different is November Spawned a Monster. It’s darker, featuring a forlorn vocal from Morrissey, but most notable an almost strangled wordless vocal from Mary Margaret O’Hara in the bridge. There are some great lyrics here: “and if the lights were out would you even dare to kiss her full on the mouth or anywhere.”
Morrissey since his days in the Smiths had always released strong B-sides, and thankfully many of them are captured here. Such a Little Thing Makes Such a Big Difference has a quirky melody with some unpredictable twists and turns, while Hairdresser On Fire has a soaring melody ably aided by Stephen Street’s piano showcasing Morrissey’s preoccupation with London.
The collection does contain some of his weaker singles, Ouija Board, Ouija Board being a case in point. The single arrived at precisely the point when my previously ardent devotion to buying up all things Smiths and Morrissey related began to waver. It’s a pretty uninspiring tune, almost inoffensive. Much better is final track Disappointed, featuring a strutting guitar line and wonderfully self-deprecating lyrics from Morrissey: “this is the last song I will ever sing”, followed by cheers from the crowd… then he sings “no I’ve changed my mind again”, followed by a disappointed “awww”! It’s cheesy but it works.
This album is not far off being essential for Morrissey fans. It’s let down by one or two Morrissey-by-numbers tracks (Last of the Famous International Playboys, Yes I Am Blind) but these are more than made for by the high points mentioned above.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Album Review: Morrissey – Viva Hate
This was Morrissey’s first solo album, released in the aftermath of the Smiths’ split. In these pre-internet days of 1988 I was somewhat taken aback that he had regrouped so quickly and was a little worried about the quality of the writing.
I needn’t have bothered worrying, the album is stronger than it has any right to be. He had been working with erstwhile Smiths producer Stephen Street, and guitar genius Vini Reilly (of Durutti Column). The album kicks off with the heavy Alsatian Cousin, which followed on nicely from heavier Smiths tracks like I Started Something I Couldn’t Finish. There is some wonderful imagery here – “leather elbows on a tweed coat, oh is THAT the best you can do?” After the vaguely Spanish sounding ode to a forgotten TV star Little Man, What Now? (Morrissey loves to throw in commas in his song titles!) came one of his most popular and enduring singles, Everyday Is Like Sunday, with soaring strings and an uplifting melody, sort of in the vein of There Is A Light That Never Goes Out.
Bengali in Platforms was criticised at the time for some semi-racist overtones but the tune itself is pleasant enough, and following track Angel, Angel, Down We Go Together is a pleasing bit of melodrama that some interpreted as an ode to Johnny Marr. Not that Morrissey would ever admit it.
Album centrepiece Late Night, Maudlin Street is a seven minute epic tale of growing up, late night brushes with the law, and moving house. It features classic self-loathing Morrissey lyrics (“when the world’s ugliest boy became what you see, here I am, the ugliest man”, amongst many others) and some lovely piano (Street) and guitar touches from Reilly. When this was released, I actually was “moving house” and did feel like “a half-life was disappearing.”
After the poppy single Suedehead the album takes a bit of a dip in quality. Break Up the Family is quite pleasing though with some nice guitar over some bongos and a great vocal performance by Morrissey. Here shades of optimism take over in the lyrics – “I’m so glad to grow older, to move away from those darker years.” The next 2 tracks are comparably weak, The Ordinary Boys being a piano-led song without a very good tune basically, while I Don’t Mind If You Forget Me is basically a watered down version of the Smiths’ You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet Baby.
Dial-A-Cliché is great, with some lovely guitar lines and a nice bit of French horn, while closing track Margaret On the Guillotine brings Morrissey’s loathing of Thatcher to its logical conclusion. It’s a simple enough tune and lyrics that leave nothing to the imagination (“when will you die”). The song continues for a bit with some nice guitar touches before ending abruptly with the aforementioned guillotine.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Album Review: The Smiths – The World Won’t Listen
How to review an album I’ve been listening to on and off for 23 years?? This odds and sods collection of songs was most welcome in 1987. A bit like “Hatful of Hollow 2”, it was a collection of non-album singles, B-sides, some album tracks and one new song.
It started off with 2 of the Smiths more commercial singles, Panic and Ask. Panic had become an unlikely hit the summer before, indeed, its Dublin reference in the lyrics had made it one of the first Smiths songs that people didn’t call “depressing”. It’s a kind of stomping, glammy anthem which zips along in less than 2 and a half minutes. Ask, which follows is one of the Smiths’ weaker singles with a fairly bog standard Morrissey tune, though it features nice jangly guitar from Johnny Marr.
London is one of Morrissey’s “leaving home and heading to the big smoke” songs. Lyrically it’s right on the money, with lines like “and you think they’re sad because you’re leaving, but did you see the jealousy in the eyes of the ones who had to stay behind.” Musically it’s a very fast song, which speeds up even more towards the end. Many of the songs are less than 3 minutes long, and quite fast in tempo, so the album flies along.
The rest of the first “side” of the album features mainly album and non-album singles, but the heart of the album is after this when we get to the B-sides. The Smiths’ singles were always worth buying, more so than any other band of the era as some of their strongest songs were on the B-side. Asleep is a wintry ballad, which sounds as morbid as Morrissey gets, over a simple piano tune, with some studio trickery creating a howling wind. Unloveable follows, a classic Morrissey self-loathing ballad. Check out these lyrics: “I know I’m unloveable, you don’t have to tell me” or “I wear black on the outside cos black is how I feel on the inside”. Some would base their ideals for living around these throwaway lyrics. The music itself is relatively simple, a descending guitar line with plenty of room for Morrissey to sing the aforementioned lyrics.
The next track, Half a Person is even better. Marr’s guitar playing on this one is quite wonderful, and Morrissey’s vocals sound great, without an ounce of strain on them. The song borrows a little from the Velvet Underground’s “That’s the Story of My Life”, but the Smiths put their own twist on it to create an absolute classic… “if you have 5 seconds to spare.”
Stretch Out and Wait follows, another superb slowish song . Marr chooses a great set of chord changes, which I haven’t heard anywhere else, and the melody is quite unusual also. Lyrically, Morrissey’s very much on ‘home ground’ (“will the world end in the night time I really don’t know”).
The one completely new song here is You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet Baby, which is kind of like the great lost Smiths single. The tune is bright and upbeat, and it sounds like it would have been a hit. Once more Marr excels himself on guitar.
Listening to this album it’s hard to review these songs, as most of them are completely imprinted on my brain. However it would be wrong to ignore this album for that reason. Final track Rubber Ring, says it all: “don’t forget the songs that made you smile, and the songs that saved your life.”
It started off with 2 of the Smiths more commercial singles, Panic and Ask. Panic had become an unlikely hit the summer before, indeed, its Dublin reference in the lyrics had made it one of the first Smiths songs that people didn’t call “depressing”. It’s a kind of stomping, glammy anthem which zips along in less than 2 and a half minutes. Ask, which follows is one of the Smiths’ weaker singles with a fairly bog standard Morrissey tune, though it features nice jangly guitar from Johnny Marr.
London is one of Morrissey’s “leaving home and heading to the big smoke” songs. Lyrically it’s right on the money, with lines like “and you think they’re sad because you’re leaving, but did you see the jealousy in the eyes of the ones who had to stay behind.” Musically it’s a very fast song, which speeds up even more towards the end. Many of the songs are less than 3 minutes long, and quite fast in tempo, so the album flies along.
The rest of the first “side” of the album features mainly album and non-album singles, but the heart of the album is after this when we get to the B-sides. The Smiths’ singles were always worth buying, more so than any other band of the era as some of their strongest songs were on the B-side. Asleep is a wintry ballad, which sounds as morbid as Morrissey gets, over a simple piano tune, with some studio trickery creating a howling wind. Unloveable follows, a classic Morrissey self-loathing ballad. Check out these lyrics: “I know I’m unloveable, you don’t have to tell me” or “I wear black on the outside cos black is how I feel on the inside”. Some would base their ideals for living around these throwaway lyrics. The music itself is relatively simple, a descending guitar line with plenty of room for Morrissey to sing the aforementioned lyrics.
The next track, Half a Person is even better. Marr’s guitar playing on this one is quite wonderful, and Morrissey’s vocals sound great, without an ounce of strain on them. The song borrows a little from the Velvet Underground’s “That’s the Story of My Life”, but the Smiths put their own twist on it to create an absolute classic… “if you have 5 seconds to spare.”
Stretch Out and Wait follows, another superb slowish song . Marr chooses a great set of chord changes, which I haven’t heard anywhere else, and the melody is quite unusual also. Lyrically, Morrissey’s very much on ‘home ground’ (“will the world end in the night time I really don’t know”).
The one completely new song here is You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet Baby, which is kind of like the great lost Smiths single. The tune is bright and upbeat, and it sounds like it would have been a hit. Once more Marr excels himself on guitar.
Listening to this album it’s hard to review these songs, as most of them are completely imprinted on my brain. However it would be wrong to ignore this album for that reason. Final track Rubber Ring, says it all: “don’t forget the songs that made you smile, and the songs that saved your life.”
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