BookishBoy
Well-Known Member
The song for today is "Black Cloud" - a Morrissey/Boorer composition from the Years of Refusal album.
What do we think of this one?
It makes me laugh that he gets ROCK LEGEND Jeff Beck to play on this song and you can barely hear it. And this story from Jeff Beck is funny:
Chrissie Hynde was the catalyst between us. I met them at the bar in the Sunset Marquis during cocktail hour. They were shitfaced. Morrissey leant over to Chrissie and I thought he wanted to leave. Chrissie turned to me and said, 'He's too shy to say it, but he would like you to play on a track on his album.' The next day I found a CD under my door with a note from Morrissey saying, 'It was really nice meeting you, would you play on this track?' We knocked it out in a couple of hours. He was charming: I never thought he would even give me the light of day."
Refusal has grown on me over the years, but this remains the low point of the album. Just a very ordinary and an unmemorable song. Getting Jeff Beck to play and then making him nearly inaudible (like BookishBoy wrote) is of course a classic Morrissey move -- something he does with nearly all his collaborators.
Refusal has grown on me over the years, but this remains the low point of the album. Just a very ordinary and an unmemorable song. Getting Jeff Beck to play and then making him nearly inaudible (like BookishBoy wrote) is of course a classic Morrissey move -- something he does with nearly all his collaborators.
I don't think it's "shyness", although it seems to be the term he prefers. It's more like a form of social anxiety.I don't know how he copes with being that shy AND making the kind of confrontational art that gets negative attention.
I would die of stress.
He plays the opening lead section, ie the first 25 seconds. Also that wobbly lead line right at the end. Not a huge amount, but considering the song is only 2.5 minutes long, it's not too bad. That wobbly tremelo sound of his is pretty unique, so I'm always surprised people can't hear the difference between that and Jesse.This a stupid question - what does Jeff Beck actually play on Black Cloud?
What ? I can hear Linder loud and clear on ‘Driving your..’Refusal has grown on me over the years, but this remains the low point of the album. Just a very ordinary and an unmemorable song. Getting Jeff Beck to play and then making him nearly inaudible (like BookishBoy wrote) is of course a classic Morrissey move -- something he does with nearly all his collaborators.
This is the album he lost me. The single Paris is great. But the last few songs are now what all of his albums sound like. Sadly for meI love Years Of Refusal, I think there's not one bad or even mediocre song on it.
That being said, Black Cloud is probably one of the weaker tracks on the album but I like the dark mood, the sample at the beginning, the musical chaos that's going on towards the end when the keyboards go bonkers - it's just a very energetic track.
In Morrissey's voice there's again a sense of utter urgency and I've always wondered who the subject of the song might be (if there is one) and if they were possibly rather scared off by this boisterous expression of affection.
I really like this bit, think it's kind of revealing
I play the game of favourites now
I can I must I will I do
And I can please you
Or, I can freeze you out
The album should have ended at track 9. "I'm OK..." is inoffensive mid-tempo Morrissey-by-numbers.. which is actually a huge improvement on some of his recent effortsThis is the album he lost me. The single Paris is great. But the last few songs are now what all of his albums sound like. Sadly for me