John Harris hates Morrissey and doesn't waste an opportunity to have a go.

this slipped "under the radar": there are 9 words about Morrissey.

John Harris is currently at phase 12: "thin air".
Let's say he's improving.

  "One fine day ... "

Harris knocks professional critics for their rating system, but his "pub game" is designed for critics and critics only. On that score it might be fun (although I disagree about his verdict on Morrissey) but it's ultimately an academic exercise. It doesn't describe an actual listener's experience. Aside from fans who have followed an artist for all or most of his career, most will discover a band or singer in mid-career. The chronology is jumbled up. A fifteen year old kid buying his first Morrissey or Stones CDs is going to be buying stuff from all three phases at once, so the encounter is totally different and therefore the three "phases" break down. Who's to say our fifteen year old kid won't be justified, in his own tastes, in preferring "Ringleader Of The Tormentors" to "Vauxhall and I"? We play "Phase Three" records knowing the first two phases, but perhaps we'd react differently if we listened with fresh ears.

If the artist isn't discovered in a straight linear chronology, the question then becomes, not whether or not an artist has "lost it", but if all the releases in an artist's career meet a certain standard of quality and consistency-- whether each album adds colors and depth to the overall portrait, to borrow a metaphor Morrissey has used. I can't speak about the Stones, but I genuinely believe that Morrissey passes that test easily, even allowing for the dozen or so absolutely dreadful tracks he's released in his solo career. Certainly some albums are better than others, but Morrissey has always enriched his overall work, never weakened it; "The Smiths" is better because Morrissey made ROTT, which you probably can't say about the other bands Harris mentions. In any case it's a mug's game for barstool encyclopedists and not in any way a meaningful verdict about Morrissey's current work.

-- Worm

sorry

It honestly baffles me why some crirics and fans don't see "Ringleader" as one of Morrissey's best albums. It is his most consistent, thematic, fun, sad, funny, rocking work in a really long time. It's my 2nd favorite after Vauxhaul...

"Quarry" had some excellent songs but is horribly inconsistent..and the production lacks soul.

-Jordan

Definition of vultures: creatures that fly around bodies threatened by death.

That seems to be what defines The Gardien: Morrissey's "creative death" attracts degrading and profitable news.

What a shame the Bristish press is. I think it is even worse than the American press. For the worst of the American news, Morrissey had a fit; the worst of yours, he is "dead", and it isn't even clear whether from the throat infection or from the ROTT. This lack of clarity gave Gardien therefore the opportunity to use Morrissey's illness to justify the weakness of his last album. How cheap. How lame.

... his e-mail address is: me@johnharris.me.uk

There are always going to be haters.

John Harris has a point. But I thought he was the boy with the thorn in the side of the New Labour moveemnt.

Does John write about sport too. Specifically football. Sport, music and politics? Like a proper pub bore!!! Hope he does the quiz on a Tuesday.

When it comes to artists I respect and admire, I personally get no pleasure out of exercises like this. Whether they are musicians, painters or writers, everyone goes through phases. Yes, there are artists I cannot stand, and I'm not above saying a nasty thing or two about them, but when it comes to those I love, I'd rather celebrate the beauty that remains than pick over what's been lost. This is just plain smug and mean-spirited.

Most artists who have very long careers are indulged for a reason - they've accomplished things that most of us mere mortals cannot dream of. Save the petty score-keeping for politicians.

The blame is on those explosive kegs between his legs.

John Harris = cunt