http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090217.CD17/TPStory/TPEntertainment/Music/ [theglobeandmail.com]

Will you?!

Great character shot. Reviews are solid; first lap of hurdles nicely cleared.

Moz is communicating that he is not crying over spilled milk, nor should we. "Show me the barrel and watch me scrape it, faced with the music as always I'll face it."

Not sure where 2 post this, but this'll probbly do:
Hiya Babs! Shazza here, Andy’s P.A/Secretary,

Thanx 4 all the emails. He’s in London with the wife and kids. Half-term. He’s done a review of YOR, but I haven’t typed it up yet from his notes. Sorry! I’ve had a bad hair-xtension kind of day.

From what I can tell of his barmy ‘Notes From A Chaise Longue’, he seems to think it’s the best Morrissey album ever and also the worst. There’s something about a ‘ Paradox of Subliminal Libidinous Discontinuities’, although that’s actually been crossed through. Yes, I gave the password to Kingsley who wrote that horrid vile review when it was leaked and Jessie got all hot and bothered under his tour-bus duvet. But Kingsley has got an enormous cock. Almost as humungous as Andy’s. And I love cock.

I will see you all in far off places. Well, in the upper circle at Birmingham Symphony Hall. Andy sez it’s ‘acoustically pure’ up there, unlike the riff-raff stalls. Don’t hassle me if’n u see me n Julie. Yes, Julie Walters is my Auntie. No, she’s not from Birmingham, she’s from West Bromwich. I have to say that or Andy will go barmy. He’s St Andy of Sparkhill, according to his blog which he never actually posts. But Julie says Morrissey was always just laying palm fronds to Andy’s Jesus. She actually says Morrissey was the donkey on which Andy’s Jesus Genius rode into the Bull Ring. But Andy says that’s a bit harsh….

Anywayz, I’ll post his barmy review as and when I can be arsed. I’ve had enough of this P.A/Secretary job. Andy is a really dangerous thug. He is not a joker. He means business. I guess Morrissey will have retired to Mama Roma by the time Andy launches the nukes at 20:12 20/12 2012. Oh well!

All the best, Shazza.

Ps: I ain’t replyin to anymore emails to his address or mine. Girls aloud!

  Pps: Andy doesn’t do ‘moderation’. I tippex out any userid, any score then pass it to him. He scores it +1, -1, troll, etc. He never actually sees your name or comment history. That’s my job. Tara!

"This album features several good new variations on Morrissey's core themes, including That's How People Grow Up, released earlier as a new single from his recent greatest-hits collection. Miserable as he may seem to be, Morrissey sounds confident and even, at times, exultant. He's a better singer now than in his supposed glory years with the Smiths, and his own melodies are usually better than the caged, time-marking tunes written by the Smiths' Johnny Marr."

Here we have yet another example of why music reviews mean just as little when they're positive, as when they're negative.

There's praise, and then there's mindlessly referencing some alternate universe.

Having given the record a good number of spins, I have to say I feel the reviews have been overly congratulatory and overly generous.

There seems to be a renewed interest in Moz, it's true -- and with it a desire to see him do well and to recognize his copious talent -- and while the appreciation most have displayed is heartening for our hero, the record is really not quite as wonderful as many of the critics would have you believe. It seems to me that much of the press has been altogether too quick to laud YOR with praise.. simply on account of it being a Morrissey record.. something that's surprisingly in vogue at the moment.

That said, my own critical take on YOR would give it 2.5 stars out of 5. It's half as good as Viva Hate or Your Arsenal or Vauxhall... but no where near as imaginative or beautiful.

The muscular guitar riffs and bombast of the songs rarely lets up on the album.. and it comes off sounding like so much noise in the end. It's tuneless in a way that a good Moz record should never be. Short on melody.. high on melodrama.

 

I can't explain:}

Give a rating out of 4?

There should be a rule that its out of 5 or ten.

People who violate this should have their privates removed with a rusty razor blade.

"When do we get another classic Morrissey album?

And now we have an answer: tomorrow. "Years of Refusal" is Morrissey's third album this decade, and it is easily his most vital and engaging and maybe even heartbreaking since 1992's "Your Arsenal." Morrissey isn't time-warping to the bad old days, though, nor is it a throwback to the Smiths. "Years of Refusal" is remarkable for how reinvigorated Morrissey sounds, from the stridency of his vocals to the lean, muscular melodies completely in service of the man at the mike."

http://www.boston.com/ae/music/cd_reviews/articles/2009/02/16/morrisseys_years_is_worth_the_wait/