His new songs are ALL very good, I think. the thing about his "best work" is that I'm not sure if we agree when that period was anyway. I'm shocked when I hear people go on about Meat Is Murder. It's the worst Smiths album. (worst is all relative, yada yada yada)
Anyway, that was the second record, and compared to the first, or the third, or the last, it just didn't make it, but that's how it goes.
You Are The Quarry had excellent songs throughout, though the production was a little more "hit single" than "deep album cut", meaning immediate pay-off, though maybe just a little slick for repeated everyday listening.
ROTT? strange lyrics, about what? I'm not sure. Seem to be really specific to various situations, but not exactly sure who he's singing about in Father Who Must Be Killed, or On The Streets I Ran, though The Youngest Was The Most Loved works in spite of this. But it's basically like a song you would hear in a dream, and it would make perfect sense, then you'd wake up and half remember it, and think, "oh my, what was going on there, then?"
But All You Need Is Me, is CLASSIC!!! He's singing as hi9mself, not as some character, and it makes sense, and it ROCKS, and that's important. It's funny, it's fun to hear, he loves singing it, and it just shows that he still has it.
That's How People Grow Up, I liked less at first. The "small fat child in a council/welfare house" line got me, so I preferred All You Need Is Me, and I didn't hear the genius of the way he was throwing away throwaway lines like the part about how he "crashed and broke my spine", but that's only because I loved AYNIM so much. "people grow up" is another classic, just maybe a little more understated.
Something Is Squeezing My Skull is also an excellent song.
That's not to even mention, "Ganglord", one of the highlights of the shows last year, and a few others, that we can afford to overlook because the bar is so high. If You Don't Like Me is an excellent song, for example. The cover of Magazines, "Song From Under The Floorboard" is so good on those live recordings.
I could go on. In the last 4 years or so, he's released, recorded, or performed, enough excellent songs to make three excellent albums. The problem is the way they've been released hasn't maximized the potential of the albums.
You Are The Quarry was an excellent record. He might have been better mot to do the re-release with the extra songs. Putting two great new songs on The Greatest Hits might not have been a great idea either. In fact that record, and that re-release were both controversial with fans, but besides the commercial considerations, I think they may have led to squandering some good material.
Anyway, it's all out there, and who listens to CD's anymore anyway? You could make a case that he might forget it and just release each song individually. It would serve the purposes for the way many of us listen to them.
Did Morrissey ever disappoint me? As I said, I wasn't completely thrilled with Ringleader once the initial buzz wore off, but the overall answer is, No, he hasn't, really.
