If Morrissey's new album, "You Are The Quarry", is any indication of what's going on inside his head, then it's pretty safe to bet that this talented and mopey crooner is poignantly angry. During the course of this wonderful album (probably the best of his since the wilted 'Vauxhall and I'), Morrissey doesn't try to hide the fact that he's annoyed at the U.S.'s political policies, slightly aggravated with Jesus for letting him down, and disappointed with his lackluster love life. And he accomplishes all this with careening guitar riffs, succinct drum beats, and a swingier method of orchestration that veers greatly from his more previously more subdued solo efforts.
The always melancholy Morrissey has forever relied on heartbreaking and forlorn lyrics to get his messages across (think 'I am the son and the heir of a shyness that is criminally vulgar' from his former band, The Smiths' hit 'How Soon Is Now?'). Luckily, his new stance reveals not only a depressed man but an irate one, as well.
In other words, songs like 'America Is Not The World' and 'I'm Not Sorry' depict the artist as a man that has moved on from self-deprecating desperation to a more mature telling-off of the world. Lyrics such as 'No regime can buy or sell me' and 'There is no one on earth I'm afraid of' (from 'Irish Blood, English Heart') depict a man who has trodded through the down and out times of a slightly goth, punky overly-sensitive youth to a tough, stylish hero who can't be pushed into the toilet any longer.
Of course, 'You Are The Quarry' still gloms onto some of the old-fashioned sorrow we've come to expect from Morrissey. The masochistic 'The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores' cascades with such gloomy sentiments as 'No one ever turns to me to say "take me in your arms"' and 'The world is so full of crashing bores and I must be one.'
Paired with tight rhythms and Morrissey's huskier, older voice, these sad songs turn out less Smithy but more new Morrissey. That is, the clever lad has managed to infect even his unhappy songs with a kind of irony simply due to the new confidence found in his undeniably new sexy voice. Say good-bye to the Morrissey of yore. This guy has the guts to defend his principles and infuse each new tune with a ragged edge that screams of charismatic assurance.
If Morrissey's new album, "You Are The Quarry", is any indication of what's going on inside his head, then it's pretty safe to bet that this talented and mopey crooner is poignantly angry. During the course of this wonderful album (probably the best of his since the wilted 'Vauxhall and I'), Morrissey doesn't try to hide the fact that he's annoyed at the U.S.'s political policies, slightly aggravated with Jesus for letting him down, and disappointed with his lackluster love life. And he accomplishes all this with careening guitar riffs, succinct drum beats, and a swingier method of orchestration that veers greatly from his more previously more subdued solo efforts.
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