On the Shelf 124:Morrissey
Well, you knew I would get to it.
As a huge Morrissey fan, obviously I am excited for a new disc. 21st Century Moz, of course, is a different proposition. As Moz moves into senior statesmanhood, he joins the ranks of icons like Bowie, Iggy, Lou Reed, even Dylan. In most aspects, his best work is behind him, but you never know when you are going to get delivered a New York or a Time Out of Mind.
21st Century Moz is a bit divisive. Critics and fans alike are all over the board on his three albums to date. For me, I find this last decade and a half to be largely disappointing. I find the Mickey Finn-helmed albums to sound largely "overproduced". I find Ringleader of the Tormentors (the Tony Visconti album) to be quite rewarding.
In any case, I don't know that I have ever been disappointed in a Morrissey album. People hate KillUncle but I always found a lot of charm in it, and rockabilly-style bootlegs of that era are excellent. Southpaw Grammar may have been the wrong move commercially, but I always enjoyed those songs. Maladjusted is largely considered below-par and it is (released during the height of Britpop when Moz should have been riding a wave of popularity), but has enough to still recommend it.
So it is with World Peace is None of Your Business, an album that should be riding the coattails of the great press given to Morrissey's autobiography published last year. It is, ultimately, the first Moz album that has really disappointed me. There was the drop off in quality with Maladjusted and You Are The Quarry, but they still had songs that propped them up.
Once again, reviews on Moz in 2014 are all over the board, and for many people, this might be the Moz album that they want. For me, it is not. Once again, more Adult Contemporary than Adult Alternative; and, yes.... I need to talk about it.
World Peace pairs Moz up with producer Joe Chiccarelli. Joe has an interesting resume. He got his start with Frank Zappa as an engineer circa Sheik Yerbouti and Joes Garage. In the 80s, his best known production work was with Oingo Boingo. He helped discover Tori Amos, and has spent recent years as a producer in demand pretty much all across the spectrum, working with the Strokes, Jason Mraz, the Shins, My Morning Jacket, the White Stripes, Alanis Morrissette, Juanes, and the Ranconteurs.
It's Morrissey, though at fault. While he says time and time again in his autobiography, how others made him make those critical and commercial mistakes, one would hope he is now making the music he wants to make. Maybe he is, and there is a lot of musical experimentalism (of the kind you would hope for) but it's the lyrics that are his weakest to date. So here goes...
"World Peace is None of Your Business"- Moz opens things with an ambitious idea a la The Queen is Dead or Maladjusted. This song does not reach the career best of the former or the more reasonable expectations of the latter. Its not that it's a particularly bad song, but it's not the great opening salvo I was hoping for. It feels to me like much of his 21st century work, wanting to be full of energy, but not particularly energetic. The song finishes with the refrain "Each time you vote, you support the process". So..... What would you suggest, Stephen? Monarchy? Moz has a chance to write some biting lyrics about the 1%. Remember "Margaret on the Guillotine?" Sadly, this feels tootless, and worse, forgettable.
"Neal Cassidy Drops Dead" The problem with WPiNoYB is that all those things people make fun of Morrisseyfor are here in spades. Moz has made some oblique references to being a fan of the beats, but really embraces it here. Which means this has what may be his worse lyrics to date "Everyone has babies, babies full of rabies, rabies full of scabies".
Ho! the worst rap since Blondie's "Mars/cars/bars/guitars" Rapture. People hate "Ghetto Defendant" (I think) and all that represents in the career decline that is The Clash's Combat Rock. That said, I always kind of stood up for the song. Sure, if it's not outright silly, it's at least reasonaby strange.Its biggest benefit is that it has the Allen Ginsberg. Time only makes the song better, I think, as those involved have started to pass away, the songs stands up as tribue to the genre and the talents of Joe and Allen.
In any case, goes on the wrong side of camp. The music itself has promise and in a better situation might have been salvagable.
"I'm Not A Man"- Oddly, this song might be Moz a his most Sonic Youth-ish. There's a 90-second long build up of quietness and ends after nearly eight minutes with some of the loudest sounds in the Mozzer's catalogue. It's the inbetwen though, where this is a dud,
This song is another example of what is wrong with this album. Moz has made a career out of criticizing gender roles, but he has always done it by way of subtle swipes. There's no subtelty here and the lyrics sound like a Moz caricature "I'm not a man. I'd never kill or eat an animal". More clunker lyrics here include "Wise ass, smartass, workaholic, thick-skinned, two fisted hombre, ole"
Moz's sentiment is spot on, and the music again gives some promise, but the lyrics are not up to the task of pulling it off.
"Istanbul" - Clearly, the strongest song on the album. One can't help feel if the album had a couple of strong songs like "First of the Gang to Die", the album would be brought up a level or two. This song isn't enough to do that, but it does make things a shade better. Again, it's the music that saves the day. The song grooves on a beat that would have fit well on Suede's Headmusic. In another universe and under other circumstances, this would be a chart hit, but I really can't see that.
"Earth is the Loneliest Planet of All"- I love the Spanish guitar that opens it up (and it makes one wish Morrissey had chosen to work more with Vini Reilly. Reilly says Moz was too interested in making Viva Hate again, while Reilly wanted to move Moz away from typical pop). Once again, it's not that this is a bad song, but it could be so much better. "Earth" as well as "Not a Man" remind me bit of Marc Almond's recent singles, except I feel that Marc really nailed similar songs in a way that they felt worthy of his catalogue. Surounded by better songs, "Earth" would be fine, but it's ultimately another forgettable moment.
"Staircase at the University" This one seems to be one of the better received new songs. I understand why. It would have been a fine B-side for Strangeways (actuall better than the oens the Smiths ended up recording). It's got a reasonably good premise- the college student who needs As for her father's approval- and like much of Strangeways, ends in death. The key of course is here it sounds like a Strangeways b-side and not like a song that would have made the cut. If this were a "lost' song that ended up on the cutting room floor, it would probably feel better than what it is- something chosen as best of new material.
"The Bullfighter Dies" Well, it's a better song than "Meat is Murder". At barely over two minutes, it's hard to say if this song would have been better served as a four minute single or if it is better for all involved that it's as short as it is. Like so much of this album, Moz's lyrics are his downfall, like a comedian who explains his jokes. Again, in better days, this would have been a B-side.
"Kiss Me a Lot" Get it? It's Besame Mucho! Another song that opens up with a promising Spanish flavored tune and then some laughably bad lyrics ("Your mammy's backyard"? Really?) Moz wuld have always taken a song like this and filled it with clever lyrical twists. This one's pretty blunt. For what it is, it stands up to repeat listenings, but a shell of what it might have been.
"Smiler with a Knife" In which Moz slows things down to add an element of horror. It's the not first time that he's went down this road, and people laughed when he did it with "Ambitious Outsiders" (which I actually thinks is a song that works well). I like the concept here, but it gets to a point where what was a shocking 'notice the music" moment begins to get repetitive, and ultimately, this songs wears out is welcome quickly. A missed opportunity.
"Kick the Bride Down the Aisle"- So...the same guy who rallied against the Men's Libbers early on in the same album gives us this seemingly misogynistic ditty. Once again, the band seems up to task putting together another song in the Strangeways vein. Telling people marriage doesn't make the world work has been Moz's modus operandi for thirty years now. There's potential here, but once again, Moz finds a way to kill it. The biggest offender here is the line "Look at that cow", but the twist is that Moz isn't talking about the bride, but an actual bovine. Hey Oh!
"Mountjoy" - You know how "Late Night Maudlin Street" is this terribly rambling song that you only really probably need to listen to once. "Mountjoy" is like that. But "Maudlin Street" has a certain charm to it. It paints a mental picture (both musically and lyrically) that closes out a side of an album, and drops some phrases that are instantly quotable. "Mountjoy" is sort of like that, but without any of the redeeming moments.
"Oboe Concerto" This isn't an Oboe Concerto, but a song about one, which is probably the wrong move, but this whole album is about making artistic decisions that end up being the wrong ones. This is supposed to be a big-time closer like "Disappointed" and "Southpaw". I think people hate "Southpaw". They certainly did at the time. I loved it, and still do. It's a sweeping almost prog-rock moment that builds up eight minutes buoyed along by crashing drums and charging guitars. I wish this song would do that. It opens up with that promise, and it clearly has that intent (there's samples and a steady beat). It even has a decent premise ("All the best ones are dead"). At around the two minute mark, you realize that this song isn't going to accomplish what you hoped it had set out to do. At four minutes, you feel like you have listened to something equivilant to the near, ten minutes of "Southpaw"; which in case you noticed, isn't a compliment.
So, there's the twelve tracks that comprise the new Morrissey album. I am likely being a bit harsher than necessary. It's hard not to think of an album like Indie Cindy, in that it's hard to totally disregard the whole thing; and there's times when you want to have new material in your playback device of your choice; but it is a disappointment. It certainly suffers in comparison to what has been, and in terms of what could have been (which either means recent albums or similar albums. It doesn't help that Marc Almond has recent new material that is not dissimilar- lyrics about growing old artistically over music that alternately wants to rock out like classic T Rex or theatrically motivate in terms of extreme emotions- and it sounds fresh)