Someone played me a clip of "life is a pigsty" on a very poor internet connection and it sounded absolutely majestic.

I think it's absurd to get over-excited about the single and to say "oh it's the same again, then."

The single is a nice song. It's better than all of the Your Arsenal singles and Hold onto your Friends, better than dross like Roy's Keen, and beats some of his post viva hate work like Pregnant for the Last Time. Morrissey has a track record of choosing strange singles. I agree with those who are saying it's not a "great" single: it's evidently not. It's a nice song, with a tender, melancholic yearning and a beautiful vocal. The problem is it sounds slightly half-formed, as though it was meant to last 5 minutes with another verse-chorus and a key change.. only it doesn't have those things and finishes rather abruptly after 2 minutes and a bit.

Suedehead was jangly and playful; IBEh was raucous and addictive; everyday was beautifully languid; FOTGTD was just a sugar sweet pop song with dark poetry. This isn't up to those standards, but it's a good album track. I just wish it had been developed a little more fully.

As for the album, first we had the rolling stone hailing it as his best solo work, then we had NME describing it as "extraordinary" and later as "better than Quarry" (which they gave 8/10). We've had numerous other VERY positive press reports and now another journalist who has been critical of much of Morrissey's late 90s output - paul Morley - saying "this is up there with his finest solo work" and even saying this is the album he's promised to make since he left the Smiths.

I think it's time to relax and wait for the album.

The only negative stuff has been posted by the Morrissey trolls on this site - a handful of people who make it their life's work to ridicule anhd personally abuse Morrissey on this site, throwing in a bit of racism and homophobia for good measure.

The "review" of the first song - Far off Places - was written by one of these trolls. It was a poorly written, and absurdly reasoned attack on Morrissey dressed up to look like a semi-respectable critique of a song.

that's the sum total of the negative press vs a whole raft of positive early reports from the usually hostile music press.

Morrissey may have finally attained the media respect as a solo artist he has deserved for so long; Ironically the trolls on this board continue to post trash about Morrissey and his latest album before they've even heard it. Perhaps the next album will feature numerous references to morrissey solow and to Mike Joyce and others who use this site to attack morrissey!

The single is a good song but nothing great. I think the album is going to be good enough to be the soundtrack to 2006.

Let's wait and see.

broken

All looking very positive.

I agree with broken's sentiments above, so I won't repeat them.

You can't look at anything out of context kids, you don't buy a house by just looking at two rooms do you? be patient and wait till the complete product is delivered...

then it will be a classic...

I've deliberately not listened to anything after the first leaked track as I don't want to form a negative opinion over the album before it's released.

I remember not feeling too affectionate towards IBEH or The more you ignore me the closer I get when they were first released but I loved both songs and the albums that they were on once I heard the whole package.

All of the negative talk here had massively lowered my hopes but this review has gone a long way to getting my excitement back up.

Excellent stuff. I love Paul Morley and he is a very respected journalist. Is he from Manchester?

like him or not, he's eloquent and his live reviews are always fantastic.

well said sir

and YAY to broken for getting freeyourself banned from this site again!

After all the hype from the listening party, the Observer ran the first honest, objective review of You are the Quarry. Unlike much of the music press (NME, Mojo, Uncut) they hadn't been granted an interview with Moz. And their review gave it 6 out of 10. That was pretty much the first time I realised that Quarry might not be the greatest album of all time, as indeed it clearly wasn't.

It is extremely significant that the same publication appears to be giving Ringleader its first proper (and objective) review which also suggests we might finally have a classic Moz album on our hands. If this really is the case, I only have one thing to say to Steven Patrick:
"What kept you so long? What kept you so long?!!"
Hoorah!
Maurice.

Since I couldn't find in stores around here even the shadow of the NME magazine with Moz on the cover, the only thing I fear is that what happened with the instantly sold out shows may happen to the release of the album. God please help this not to happen! Well, there's going to be mp3 downloads to buy, but it's not the same as going to a store and getting to hold the so wished-for package. This inspiring review makes me even more eager for it. I can picture myself daily harassing the sales folks already, or the delivery people from the UPS.

Paul is a good guy. He's extremely honest with his opinions and views and - still - extremely knowledgeable about music. He's quite a good laugh as well, but he's from up here, so you'd expect that.

Strawberry.

"Taking things seriously; intelligence is not an awkward, obscure thing which is difficult to set in motion, but a way to glory. When you have thoughts of your own, you can be assured that you will be accused of seriousness. So? Morrissey is serious, but he offers us rapture, not dialectics. 'This Charming Man' is an accessible bliss, and seriously moving. This group fully understand that the casual is not enough... This is one of the greatest singles of the year, a poor compliment. Unique and indispensable, like 'Blue Monday' and 'Karma Chameleon' - that's better!"

- Paul Morley, New Musical Express, November 12, 1983

The Manc who would be King by Paul Morley - see page 50 of The Observer Music Review. Lovely picture of Mozz by the riverside, with big grey quiff, looking pensive.

Morley says "this is the troubled wordsmith's greatest solo album yet". "Morrissey has never sung better".

Vinete x

Viva Hate had "bengali" and "margaret" KU had "asian rut" and YA had "NF Disco" and "glam glue"

There's always been a political element to Morrissey and even the odd semi protest song in his solo catalogue - this is nothing new.

broken

It seems to me that you have only liked some of Morrissey's work and not much of what he has to say outside of it. Morrissey has always attacked political figures that he doesn't care for.

I'm fed up of Americans moaning about how life is so hard on them because the rest of the World is miffed at their foreign policies. Behave yourselves and we won't talk about it.

"Morrissey is a business man"

So you're worried that his art gets in the way of his bank balance? Surely if he's not bothered why should you be?

Nah, you're just a troll trying to wind people up.

... who says it's about the Middle East? The idiot who reviewd it for Pitchfork? That reading was dubious in the extreme really. It can be read as a straight forwardly personal lyric.

Surely you contradict yourslef here Rab...you bemoan the fact that Moz is now a "business" and only worried about catering for the masses, then you claim that "I will see you..." doesn't have a broad enough appeal which would let more people personalize with the song.

Surely an artist only cares about what the song means to them, not how people will be able to relate to it. Once he does that, he can no longer call himself an artist.

By the way, I'm sick of the negativity on this site too and will probably not be reading the boards too much in the future. Nothing wrong with having an opinion (I have Moz songs I love and ones I really don't care for) but there desire on this site of some people who seem to WANT Moz to fail is a little overwhelming.

I don't think you're bashing, I just think you're extraordinarily stupid. Your opinion is so far wide of the mark on so many levels it's baffling. I mean, nothing you could ever say could have any value whatsoever.

- Moooooom Mell morrissey to make more of those ambiguous "love" songs cause I don't give a sh*t about what's going on in the world and Islam. Let them bomb, make war, I don't care. I just want to stay forever teenager! Tell him mom!