submitted by Paul Jones
from The Irish Times (Aug. 16, 1997)

Album Of The Week:
Morrissey, Maladjusted.

MAN OUT OF TIME

In the 10 years since the demise of The Smiths, Morrissey has wittered along through a number of solo albums, sometimes hitting a high point, more often just droning along like a complaining next door-neighbour. ‘Maladjusted’ has its moments, like the snidely epic title track, a first person tale of atrophied adolescence in the vein of ‘The Queen is Dead’, or the top grade tune ‘Alma Matters’, a classic Moz jangle complete with crap public school pun. The peripheral piffle of ‘Papa Jack’, however adds little to the Moz mystique, while ‘Wide To Receive’ is a minimal ballad which just fails to catch the spirit.

‘Satan Rejects My Soul’ is a mischievous romp through Morrissey’s inner hellfire, with forked tongue-in-tongue lines like "He won’t be dragged down/ He’s seen my face around". Another light-hoofed tune is ‘Roy’s Keen, a transparent tale of a wicked window-cleaner, but ‘Ammunition’ and ‘Trouble Loves Me’ are more honest and hard-hitting, looking deep into a cracked mirror and pulling no punches. Alas, ‘Sorrow Will Come In The End’ has been taken off the album, because of a reference to certain ex-smith to whom Morrissey lost a recent court battle.

The wit and word play is still as sharp and archly English as ever, and Morrissey’s gallows humour still hangs from every hook , but in the end, ‘Maladjusted’ mostly reflects the increasingly bitter meanderings of incipient middle age, and Moz comes across like a man out of time, rock’s own Reggie Kray trying to muscle his way back in with a new breed of wise guys.