A nice review of the album in one of the leading French (and leftist) culture magazines
https://abonnes.lesinrocks.com/musi...lifornia-son-morrissey-a-lheure-des-reprises/
Excerpt:
De retour avec un album de reprises, le Moz fait entendre la beauté quasi immuable de sa voix mais aussi celles d’artistes engagés d’une autre époque.
Here's my translation of the review:
Returning with an album of covers, Moz makes us listen to the eternal beauty of his own voice, as well as those of engaged artists of another time.
Ah, Morrissey ! The man we love to detest. Because of his notoriously bad character, his radical vegetarianism of which he relentlessly preaches the merits, and his often reactionary views. But today, the tracklisting of California Son speaks largely in his favor. As the title indicates, his 12th solo album draws on the works of American protest writers from the years 1960 and 1970, the majority of them of Californian inspiration. There are a few exceptions, such as the Canadian Buffy Sainte-Marie, of whom he covers Suffer the Little Children – almost the title of a Smiths song. It closes the circle for the amateur of covers that Morrissey is.
Produced by Joe Chiccarelli, California Son goes all out on rythmes and on Moz's singing. It recalls the passion of the latter for grand melodies, melancholic and baroque at the same time, which break the heart and transport the soul. In addition to a conscientious (gender) parity in the choices of covered artists / bands, the singer also surrounds himself by musical friends. As such, the album opens with Morning Starship of Jobriath, which he shares with Ed Droste (Grizzly Bear), followed by Don’t Interrupt the Sorrow of Joni Mitchell, on which Ariel Engle of Broken Social Scene is credited.
A manifesto of independence
Next, he stirs up the old fire of Days of Decision, one of the best pieces of protest singer Phil Ochs. Morrissey also tackles Bob Dylan revisiting, with his usual swagger, Only a Pawn in Their Game. Of coure, we could have happily done without the nasal timbre of LP at the opening of It’s Over of Roy Orbison.
However, as soon as Morrissey seizes the microphone, the magic operates… and it persists on the following track Wedding Bell Blues, of the unjustly forgotten Laura Nyro, featuring Billie Joe Armstrong, the leader of Green Day. Further, the energy of Loneliness Remembers What Happiness Forgets, originally interpreted by Dionne Warwick, remains intact, whereas he succeeds to disengage himself from the sensuality of Carly Simon's When You Close Your Eyes.
Morrissey closes this beautiful piece of work with a manifesto of independence by the folk singer Melanie, Some Say I Got Devil, where he replaces the word “girl” not by “boy”, but by “someone”… He could actually have been the author of the words, as they suit him so well : “Some say I got devil / Some say I got angel (…) / And though I'd like to tell it / Exactly how I feel it / Somehow the music / Hides it and conceals it.”
https://abonnes.lesinrocks.com/musi...lifornia-son-morrissey-a-lheure-des-reprises/
Excerpt:
De retour avec un album de reprises, le Moz fait entendre la beauté quasi immuable de sa voix mais aussi celles d’artistes engagés d’une autre époque.
Here's my translation of the review:
Returning with an album of covers, Moz makes us listen to the eternal beauty of his own voice, as well as those of engaged artists of another time.
Ah, Morrissey ! The man we love to detest. Because of his notoriously bad character, his radical vegetarianism of which he relentlessly preaches the merits, and his often reactionary views. But today, the tracklisting of California Son speaks largely in his favor. As the title indicates, his 12th solo album draws on the works of American protest writers from the years 1960 and 1970, the majority of them of Californian inspiration. There are a few exceptions, such as the Canadian Buffy Sainte-Marie, of whom he covers Suffer the Little Children – almost the title of a Smiths song. It closes the circle for the amateur of covers that Morrissey is.
Produced by Joe Chiccarelli, California Son goes all out on rythmes and on Moz's singing. It recalls the passion of the latter for grand melodies, melancholic and baroque at the same time, which break the heart and transport the soul. In addition to a conscientious (gender) parity in the choices of covered artists / bands, the singer also surrounds himself by musical friends. As such, the album opens with Morning Starship of Jobriath, which he shares with Ed Droste (Grizzly Bear), followed by Don’t Interrupt the Sorrow of Joni Mitchell, on which Ariel Engle of Broken Social Scene is credited.
A manifesto of independence
Next, he stirs up the old fire of Days of Decision, one of the best pieces of protest singer Phil Ochs. Morrissey also tackles Bob Dylan revisiting, with his usual swagger, Only a Pawn in Their Game. Of coure, we could have happily done without the nasal timbre of LP at the opening of It’s Over of Roy Orbison.
However, as soon as Morrissey seizes the microphone, the magic operates… and it persists on the following track Wedding Bell Blues, of the unjustly forgotten Laura Nyro, featuring Billie Joe Armstrong, the leader of Green Day. Further, the energy of Loneliness Remembers What Happiness Forgets, originally interpreted by Dionne Warwick, remains intact, whereas he succeeds to disengage himself from the sensuality of Carly Simon's When You Close Your Eyes.
Morrissey closes this beautiful piece of work with a manifesto of independence by the folk singer Melanie, Some Say I Got Devil, where he replaces the word “girl” not by “boy”, but by “someone”… He could actually have been the author of the words, as they suit him so well : “Some say I got devil / Some say I got angel (…) / And though I'd like to tell it / Exactly how I feel it / Somehow the music / Hides it and conceals it.”