Search - Morrissey :: You Are The Quarry (Gatefold)

Halfway back -- three and a half stars

William Whyte | Somerville, MA | 06/06/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"It's so nearly great. The guitars chug along, doing nothing we haven't heard guitars do before. Some of the songs are shapeless, more like rambles with a tune than actual songs. But some are almost perfect, and they all have moments that could only come from Morrissey. "America is not the world" starts off seeming like it'll be frankly embarrassing, a childish rant, and then twists round on itself to come out entirely different, a spurned lover's overreaction. "I have forgiven Jesus" seems to be a ripoff of the courtroom scene in Trainspotting, ironic and no more, and then with the line "I have forgiven Jesus/for all the love He placed in me" it assumes tragic proportions, steeped in original sin. "How can anybody possibly know how I feel?" obsessively repeats "because you wear a uniform", astonished at the arbitrariness of power and the easiness of brutality. Nothing here quite matches "Speedway" off Vauxhall and I, or "Every Day is Like Sunday" off Viva Hate -- none of the songs have quite the tightness of structure to deliver the punch full-force -- but he's certainly more than halfway back."

The redemption of Saint Morrissey

Nathan Bethea | Sharana, Paktika, Afghanistan | 11/29/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It might just be that the patron saint of adolescent sexual frustration and malaise got tired of the shtick that made him so popular. From his pompadoured, "asexual" persona at the head of the Smiths to a decade of self-indulgent solo albums, Morrissey became very predictable: his album covers would feature a near-exact design, his song titles would be ridiculously wordy and the actual music would be relatively unremarkable.



That's changed. Morrissey hasn't sound this inspired since Viva Hate. In fact, songs like "Irish Heart, English Blood" actually rock - I would venture to say that Alain Whyte has finally proven to be a better co-writer than Stephen Street ever was (despite his helping to write "Suedehead"), and Morrissey finally manages to come across as being more honest than coy. "How Can Anyone Possibly Know How I Feel?" is indicative of this album as a whole: it retains Morrissey's biting, verbose lyrics (and title) and manages to be catchy at the same time. In fact, its guitar work sounds very similar to that of a brand-new band from Morrissey's dear Britain: Franz Ferdinand. The ability to confuse Morrissey's music with that of a band bursting with youthful vitality is a very, very pleasing thing.



This is the best work Morrissey has done in years, and it is most likely his best solo work yet. It's nice to see him finally step outside of his tired old formula; if this is his swan song, he's going out on a really high note.

"

'A Bullet in the Gullet'

Paul Ess. | Holywell, N.Wales,UK. | 09/01/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Unfortunately, it isn't saying much that 'You Are the Quarry' is Morrissey's best solo venture, and it'll come as no surprise that the best songs on it are the ones which sound most like the Smiths.

It has much the same failings as 'Southpaw Grammar', ie; Moz resorting to sub-rock MOR, which is unforgivably lazy as well as artistically unchallenging.

It feels strained and contrived; a dash of strings here, a twiddle of synth there, a sporadic Mozzer exclamation just enough to save it all from inevitably going down the pan.



But, and it's big but, he has a handful of songs here, which out of the complete blue, partially resurrect him as a protuberant talent and go some way to re-establishing him as a force in modern pop. If only he had a couple more, he'd be within a midget's wink of achieving what's really important to him; critical acclamation, and therefore some sort of Morrissey assuage.



'You Are The Quarry' has one of the best songs Morrissey has ever written: 'First of the Gang To Die' is certainly his best solo effort but I think it would stand up to most Smithsongs. Racy, percussive, then giving way to a mad terrace-chant chorus, with howling lyrics and a ferocious Marr-style guitar/mandolin arrangement.

I don't know if it's a surprise or not that he can still produce stuff like this, but it shows a bit of the old spirit and bile is still there after all this time.

Is he deliberately keeping it hid? Perhaps to punish the critics, and remember it was his failure as a rock-writer which inspired him to write lyrics in the first place. When Marr met him he already had reams. Song after song features snippets of reviews and quotes, and all are stuck it to by Moz and his venomous canards and spirants.



'I'm Not Sorry' is a goodish slushy ballad with a cool flute outro, and the album heads for home quite powerfully with the VERY Smithsian 'All the Lazy Dykes' but it's the final song 'You Know I Couldn't Last' that takes the final lap. 'Paint A Vulgar Picture 2' would be a better title, with it's ruthless barbs at the music industry and yet more digs at those perennial targets - music journalists.



Solid Mozzer songs to be sure but the rest is pure filler; 'America is Not the World' (try telling Bono that!) is dull, 'The World is Full of Crashing Bores' is as pretentious as its desperately eccentric title warns and 'How Could Anyone Possibly Know How I Feel' is just plain frightful. It's the usual solo Morrissey-down-in-the-dumps confusion, as if he's excitedly found some piece of new self but can't let go of the (very!) old.



If he calmed down a bit he might enjoy some form of renaissance but I'm convinced he'd be better employed elsewhere.

Give him a TV show, cast him as Hannibal Lecter in the next Thomas Harris adaptation, he'd probably write you a great soap.....



We wait with baited breath. It'll be the greatest back-from-the-dead trick since Lazarus."