B
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Guest
I Will See You In Far-off Places
Nice, chugging drums and heavier industrial feel. I love the vocals, but this one sounds like a missed opportunity. It could have been dramatic and truly heavy, but instead it sounds like a mixture of Alsatian Cousin and Maladjusted with an Eastern feel. It's a good start to the album and paves the way for the weepy at number 2 on the tracklist.
7/10
Dear God Please Help Me
Stunning. It's more delicate than anything Morrissey's put down on record before, except perhaps for the ghostly "Maudlin" and "I Know It's Over." Beautiful vocal medlody and touchingly amusing words leave you feeling slightly unsure if it's a happy song or a sad song. Gloriously orchestrated with nice use of gentle percussion avoiding the standard work-a-day drum sound of quarry and incorporating strings to far better effect than any other morrissey album track except perhaps "Angel."
10/10
You Have Killed Me
A definite grower. Sounded very good as a single, if not quite of the standard of the quarry singles; as an album track it's perfectly placed within the tracklist and really gets the album up to a poppy pace after the less mainstream opening duo. Nice plaintive verse and euphoric chorus, and some gorgeous lyrical touches.
9/10
The Youngest Was The Most Loved
Sounded bland on the mp3 files. It sounds markedly better here due to the stirling production work. Lyrically wonderful with the usual offbeat Morrissey theme and doomed imagery. Musically, this still feels underwhelming. Iy huffs and it puffs and it sounds like a southpaw grammar cast-off.
5/10 (4/10 without the great lyrics)
In The Future When All's Well
Morrissey at his pop best. It's got a lovely melancholic feel, which it pulls off in spite of its glammy pretentions. Nice song structure; good lyrics and memorable guitar solo. The riffs aren't quite as memorable as T Rex or Slade but overall this is a very good song and a potential hit single.
8/10
The Father Who Must Be Killed
Combines the quirky feel of "Kill Uncle" with a harsher Morrissey rock sound. This is how Kill Uncle should probably have sounded. Lyrically majestic and musically rewarding with a classic Morrissey lyric towards the close, "just as a motherless bird flies high, so shall I"
9/10
Life is a pigsty
A rousing, emotive ending, and a beginning that seems to be building towards something without ever quite taking off - rather like "I Know It's Over." Lyrically, it's the tried-and-tested formula, and musically it's not as audacious as the hype suggests but it makes good use of atmospherics and it's certainly a very good song. The problem is it could have sounded so much better with a braver attempt to make something extraordinary out of it. It sounds slightly influenced by massive attack at the beginning and you can hear radiohead's "exit music" throughout the song, especially towards the end; yet it never creates a compellingly individual feel in the way those two groups often do in their best songs. It could have been more atmospheric, and it could have featured louder guitars and a more inspiring bass line. The review of this song should read "very good - but must must try harder." Be braver next time and go all the way!
9/10 but could and should have been 10/10
I'll Never Be Anybody's Hero Now
Stunningly sung. This one sounds too melodramatic for words! Very witty and has a warm, sensual feel. Just a very good Morrissey song with a beautiful vocal and melodically soaring middle eight.
8.5/10
On The Streets I Ran
Wonderful playing by the band and a very nice melody and lyrics. It's just a bloody good song and far better than any of the meat and 2 veg stuff on maladjusted or southpaw grammar.
8/10
To Me You Are A Work of Art
workaday Morrissey song, albeit a lovely one. Again, far better than the maladjusted flip side. Nice singing and production touches elevate it above the standard rock sound.
7.5/10
I Just Want To See The Boy Happy
Very weird and musically jarring on first listen, but it's another grower. This one is quite a bold statement by Morrissey and the band in that it's very jagged and has a distinctive modern indie sound. Lyrically very good, and musically interesting. Again, the horns add something to the song and the guitar sound is suitably raucous. It shows real imagination by the band and the producer. Morrissey's voice is too high in the mix though, and the guitars should sound more distinctive - instead, they all blend into one buzzy sound.
8/10
At Last I am Born
The closer is almost absurd. It sounds childish, odd and again the mood is weirdly dysphoric. It's neither chirpy - as some have said - nor unhappy. Rather, it sounds like Morrissey has finally decided "nothing actually matters anyway." It's nihilistic and dismissive of the troubles that have plagued Morrissey and been given a voice in Morrissey's songwriting for the last 23 years. It has a certain intriguing quality to it and the ending "la la la" section is quite captivating.
8/10
overall - 9/10
a very consistent and at times beautiful album.
It's lyrically challenging, musically diverse, and brave enough to try different styles and approaches to songs, without ever quite being bold enough to do something audatious. That's its achilles heel, but Morrissey's musical conservatism may also be considered something of a strength too.
The only weak point is "youngest" which - whatever anyone says - is really just a southpaw grammar song without a decent tune.
The stand-out tracks for me are "dear god" "pigsty" "The Father" and You have Killed Me."
In summary: definitely one of his finest studio albums, possibly the best overall.
broken
Nice, chugging drums and heavier industrial feel. I love the vocals, but this one sounds like a missed opportunity. It could have been dramatic and truly heavy, but instead it sounds like a mixture of Alsatian Cousin and Maladjusted with an Eastern feel. It's a good start to the album and paves the way for the weepy at number 2 on the tracklist.
7/10
Dear God Please Help Me
Stunning. It's more delicate than anything Morrissey's put down on record before, except perhaps for the ghostly "Maudlin" and "I Know It's Over." Beautiful vocal medlody and touchingly amusing words leave you feeling slightly unsure if it's a happy song or a sad song. Gloriously orchestrated with nice use of gentle percussion avoiding the standard work-a-day drum sound of quarry and incorporating strings to far better effect than any other morrissey album track except perhaps "Angel."
10/10
You Have Killed Me
A definite grower. Sounded very good as a single, if not quite of the standard of the quarry singles; as an album track it's perfectly placed within the tracklist and really gets the album up to a poppy pace after the less mainstream opening duo. Nice plaintive verse and euphoric chorus, and some gorgeous lyrical touches.
9/10
The Youngest Was The Most Loved
Sounded bland on the mp3 files. It sounds markedly better here due to the stirling production work. Lyrically wonderful with the usual offbeat Morrissey theme and doomed imagery. Musically, this still feels underwhelming. Iy huffs and it puffs and it sounds like a southpaw grammar cast-off.
5/10 (4/10 without the great lyrics)
In The Future When All's Well
Morrissey at his pop best. It's got a lovely melancholic feel, which it pulls off in spite of its glammy pretentions. Nice song structure; good lyrics and memorable guitar solo. The riffs aren't quite as memorable as T Rex or Slade but overall this is a very good song and a potential hit single.
8/10
The Father Who Must Be Killed
Combines the quirky feel of "Kill Uncle" with a harsher Morrissey rock sound. This is how Kill Uncle should probably have sounded. Lyrically majestic and musically rewarding with a classic Morrissey lyric towards the close, "just as a motherless bird flies high, so shall I"
9/10
Life is a pigsty
A rousing, emotive ending, and a beginning that seems to be building towards something without ever quite taking off - rather like "I Know It's Over." Lyrically, it's the tried-and-tested formula, and musically it's not as audacious as the hype suggests but it makes good use of atmospherics and it's certainly a very good song. The problem is it could have sounded so much better with a braver attempt to make something extraordinary out of it. It sounds slightly influenced by massive attack at the beginning and you can hear radiohead's "exit music" throughout the song, especially towards the end; yet it never creates a compellingly individual feel in the way those two groups often do in their best songs. It could have been more atmospheric, and it could have featured louder guitars and a more inspiring bass line. The review of this song should read "very good - but must must try harder." Be braver next time and go all the way!
9/10 but could and should have been 10/10
I'll Never Be Anybody's Hero Now
Stunningly sung. This one sounds too melodramatic for words! Very witty and has a warm, sensual feel. Just a very good Morrissey song with a beautiful vocal and melodically soaring middle eight.
8.5/10
On The Streets I Ran
Wonderful playing by the band and a very nice melody and lyrics. It's just a bloody good song and far better than any of the meat and 2 veg stuff on maladjusted or southpaw grammar.
8/10
To Me You Are A Work of Art
workaday Morrissey song, albeit a lovely one. Again, far better than the maladjusted flip side. Nice singing and production touches elevate it above the standard rock sound.
7.5/10
I Just Want To See The Boy Happy
Very weird and musically jarring on first listen, but it's another grower. This one is quite a bold statement by Morrissey and the band in that it's very jagged and has a distinctive modern indie sound. Lyrically very good, and musically interesting. Again, the horns add something to the song and the guitar sound is suitably raucous. It shows real imagination by the band and the producer. Morrissey's voice is too high in the mix though, and the guitars should sound more distinctive - instead, they all blend into one buzzy sound.
8/10
At Last I am Born
The closer is almost absurd. It sounds childish, odd and again the mood is weirdly dysphoric. It's neither chirpy - as some have said - nor unhappy. Rather, it sounds like Morrissey has finally decided "nothing actually matters anyway." It's nihilistic and dismissive of the troubles that have plagued Morrissey and been given a voice in Morrissey's songwriting for the last 23 years. It has a certain intriguing quality to it and the ending "la la la" section is quite captivating.
8/10
overall - 9/10
a very consistent and at times beautiful album.
It's lyrically challenging, musically diverse, and brave enough to try different styles and approaches to songs, without ever quite being bold enough to do something audatious. That's its achilles heel, but Morrissey's musical conservatism may also be considered something of a strength too.
The only weak point is "youngest" which - whatever anyone says - is really just a southpaw grammar song without a decent tune.
The stand-out tracks for me are "dear god" "pigsty" "The Father" and You have Killed Me."
In summary: definitely one of his finest studio albums, possibly the best overall.
broken
