The Guardian reviews "Years of Refusal"

[justme]

The fact that the writer is the same person who gave Ringleader 5 stars and had no problem with Morrissey personally in that review suggests that this is a editorial decision to attack him, based on politics more than anything else.

Wait... Paul Morley did that 5 star review,no? this one is Alexis Petridis - the Guy who gave YATQ 2 stars and basically hates Moz, no? did he also gave ROTT 5 stars??

 

[David]

I think it's a pretty fair review,

I literally laughed out loud at this.

 

[Danny_]

Wait... Paul Morley did that 5 star review,no? this one is Alexis Petridis - the Guy who gave YATQ 2 stars and basically hates Moz, no? did he also gave ROTT 5 stars??

Yes, the Morley review was in The Observer. Alexis also gave Ringleader a 5 star review in the Guardian.

 

[justme]

Yes, the Morley review was in The Observer. Alexis also gave Ringleader a 5 star review in the Guardian.

well, you are absolutely right then.

 

[justme]

OK,Just for fun , here is the highlights os his YATQ review:

And who could have guessed that Morrissey's seventh solo album would open with a hip-hop breakbeat?

Never has a mere rhythm been more likely to cause widespread consternation. This is Morrissey, bequiffed scourge of dance music and erstwhile hanger of DJs, who topped the charts during 1988's acid house Summer of Love with an album called Viva Hate. Any nod in the direction of urban music constitutes a dramatic change in outlook. What else, you wonder, is the revitalised Smiths frontman capable of? Rapping? A patois-heavy ragga duet with Beenie Man? His own range of bling-bling sportswear?

You are jolted from such reveries by the song's lyrics. Morrissey fans expect to be shocked by what he has to say. He once bravely led the listener to places that pop music never dared venture before: this way, please, for child murder, regicide and the world-view of a racist football thug. Morrissey fans are certainly likely to be shocked by America Is Not the World, which takes four minutes to deliver the excoriating announcement that some Americans are overweight and that George Bush's foreign policy may not be entirely motivated by altruism.

You can't help feeling deflated. Morrissey broke a seven-year silence in order to state the blindingly obvious? It is the first sign that his comeback may rest on shakier foundations than was first thought.

Once you have got over the initial shock, the breakbeats just seem incongruous, giving I'm Not Sorry and I Like You the awkward air of a 1980s rock band forced by their record label to "go baggy" in the wake of Madchester. Meanwhile, the cheap synthesised strings on I Have Forgiven Jesus and Come Back to Camden are flatly horrible.

Worse, the lyrics seem trapped in the past: not the mythic pre-Beatles England that Morrissey's songs usually evoke, but the less romantic environs of the mid-1990s.



OK, I feel better now

 

[This charming man.]

Also: they gave Ringleader five stars. What are these people on?

ROTT deserved a five star review imo. I think 3/5 is pretty fair for YOR, but like other posters have pointed out, this Guardian review seems like a personal attack on Moz and doesn't justify a 3/5 rating.

 

[Bluebirds]

Check out Alexis in the Guarniad's Weekend Magazine pretending to be an ironic style icon. EVERY f***ING WEEK. Its plain embarrasing for him, for me, for you, for the country but most of all for his parents.

Anyone who reads the GU Music Blog know the majority of the writers are wankers of seismic proportions. However I alaways thought Alexis gave people a fair crack of the whip. sI guess since they're employing another 20 people from the NME the witchhunt continues unabated

As I understand it the Guardian were supposed to get an interview, haven't and thus another review which doesn't tell anyone anything apart from Morrissey is a bit of a cock who was a genius. Yawn

 

[Bluebirds]

I'm with him on You Were Good In Your Time though. Immense track

 

[Barking]

"A patois-heavy ragga duet with Beenie Man?

You are jolted from such reveries by the song's lyrics.

Worse, the lyrics seem trapped in the past: not the mythic pre-Beatles England that Morrissey's songs usually evoke, but the less romantic environs of the mid-1990s."

ALERT ALERT ALERT​

I have never seen a Foreign word used correctly in a British newspaper before! 3 in the same article! Aaaaah I am going to faint.

Is that journalist Greek, or what?

(For the record and anybody's off-topic personal bilingual culture, "the 400 blows" has to be the worst translation of a film title in the entire History of Cinema. It, well. blows.)

 

[bhops]

What's with all this personal attack stuff?

As a long time Morrissey fan (22 years or something like that) I've read a fair amount of personal attacks on him in my time and this review is reasonably gentle by comparison to some.

Is it just possible that the guy didn't like the album? Why does a review that is less than positive immediately become some sort of hatchet job on Morrrissey?

Honestly sometimes his fans can be as paranoid as the man himself and that's saying something.

I don't particularly love it myself , nor do I loathe it I just find it (yet again) another middling effort.

I'm in the minority but I really didn't love Curry that much and thought Tomotoes was a far more rounded effort.

So does this guy. What's the fuss?

His point is that lyrically Moz has been lazy and it's a crticism that I find hard to argue. I get the sense that what he's saying is that with a little more effort this album could've been GREAT and again I have to agree.

Morrissey's solo career has been a magnificent effort and I can't think of a single artist that has come out of such an influencial group (and that includes every Beatle) who has gone on to have such significant artistic success as a solo artist, but if there was one word I would use to describe Moz's solo efforts it would be 'sporadic.'

I'd say The Guradian is right.

3/5. Fair enough.

 

[spleenhead]

What's with all this personal attack stuff?

As a long time Morrissey fan (22 years or something like that) I've read a fair amount of personal attacks on him in my time and this review is reasonably gentle by comparison to some.

Is it just possible that the guy didn't like the album? Why does a review that is less than positive immediately become some sort of hatchet job on Morrrissey?

Honestly sometimes his fans can be as paranoid as the man himself and that's saying something.

I don't particularly love it myself , nor do I loathe it I just find it (yet again) another middling effort.

I'm in the minority but I really didn't love Curry that much and thought Tomotoes was a far more rounded effort.

So does this guy. What's the fuss?

His point is that lyrically Moz has been lazy and it's a crticism that I find hard to argue. I get the sense that what he's saying is that with a little more effort this album could've been GREAT and again I have to agree.

Morrissey's solo career has been a magnificent effort and I can't think of a single artist that has come out of such an influencial group (and that includes every Beatle) who has gone on to have such significant artistic success as a solo artist, but if there was one word I would use to describe Moz's solo efforts it would be 'sporadic.'

I'd say The Guradian is right.

3/5. Fair enough.

Agreed.

 

[Manchester Neil]

I think it's a pretty fair review, although it's a bit more negative than I would be.

A pretty fair review? In what way?

But the main themes of the review I completely agree with: 1) The music is bland and uninspiring.

We've established you like Birthday. So you think Skull, Mama, Black Cloud, Paris, Carol, AYNIM, OK by myself and Good in your time are bland and uninspiring? Seriously, if you do then i can't understand why you frequent a Moz fansite. In my opinion these are really strong songs and I can't quite understand what else you are expecing from a Moz album.

2) The lyrics are often quite lazy. There are still flashes of vocal or lyrical genius in almost every song (excepting "That's How People Grow Up" which has ZERO redeeming qualities), but a lack of consistency here.

Again, what exactly are you looking for? What topics do you want him to be singing about? So what if much of his work returns to the subject of love or unrequited love? The majority of great pop songs throughout history are about love. Paris, for example may not be full of deep, hidden meanings and references from Elizabeth Smart but its a beautiful song about unrequited love accompanied by a strong melody with a great hook. Name another artist that writes lyrics as intelligently as those in 'Carol'?

It pisses me off the way every single lyric he writes is subject to extensive analysis and criticism. Lilly Allen's album gets rave reviews up and down the country with songs about f***ing chinese takeaways.

 

[Bluebirds]

That review doesn't merit a 3 star rating. It merits a 2 at best.

"which is among a handful of moments that makes Years of Refusal more disappointment than disaster."

If you go on the Guardian site though one of the banner adverts is for Years Of Refusal!!! GO FIGURE

Personally I think its a 3 but I'm not disappointed by it. Well apart from Thats How People Grow Up. Ugh.

 

[Bluebirds]

It pisses me off the way every single lyric he writes is subject to extensive analysis and criticism. QUOTE]

Unfortunately if you managed to lyrically touch every other music journalist during their adolescensce then you have to expect the extensive analysis and criticism.

 

[dizzywhore_1804]

It pisses me off the way every single lyric he writes is subject to extensive analysis and criticism. Lilly Allen's album gets rave reviews up and down the country with songs about f***ing chinese takeaways.

Uh oh, unreasonable Morrissey fan alert!

You go from arguing that songs about love can be simple and obscure, just to go and slag one off in the next sentence.
'Chinese' by Lily Allen is a great little pop song, it's not going to change the course of popular music, but it's a nice song to have.

I think the problem with Morrissey is that, like it or not, he has written lyrics that have changed people's lives so when he writes something substandard it's twice as bad, or at least percieved that way.

I admit my feelings on 'Years Of Refusal' have mellowed but I think overall the lyrical quality is not there. Despite the occassional vocal flourish I have yet to find anything on this album that takes my breath away.
I think this album is going to be one where I like a lot of the songs when they're performed live ('Black Cloud' live on Radio 2, was already better than the album version) but won't listen to the actual album that much.

 

[bhops]

A pretty fair review? In what way?



We've established you like Birthday. So you think Skull, Mama, Black Cloud, Paris, Carol, AYNIM, OK by myself and Good in your time are bland and uninspiring? Seriously, if you do then i can't understand why you frequent a Moz fansite. In my opinion these are really strong songs and I can't quite understand what else you are expecing from a Moz album.




Again, what exactly are you looking for? What topics do you want him to be singing about? So what if much of his work returns to the subject of love or unrequited love? The majority of great pop songs throughout history are about love. Paris, for example may not be full of deep, hidden meanings and references from Elizabeth Smart but its a beautiful song about unrequited love accompanied by a strong melody with a great hook. Name another artist that writes lyrics as intelligently as those in 'Carol'?

It pisses me off the way every single lyric he writes is subject to extensive analysis and criticism. Lilly Allen's album gets rave reviews up and down the country with songs about f***ing chinese takeaways.

But Neil would it be fair to say that the majority of fans on this site became fans because of what he has done in the past?

How many fans on this forum have become fans in the last couple of months due to All You Need, Paris and Grow Up?

Therefore the past must inform the present.

I listen to a new Morrissey album with ridiculously high hopes BECAUSE of what he has done in the past. Why else would I have such high hopes?

You don't just pop down to your local record store and pluck a CD out of the new artist section and sit there with crossed fingers and toes hoping it will be great.

The reason people are so emotionally invested in Morrissey's releases (pardon the obvious pun) is due largely to the resevoir of goodwill he has built up through his body of work.

I won't apologise for hoping each release is as great as 'Vauxhall'and nor do I think I should have to.

I'm not living in the past, it's just that I know the bar that Morrissey has set for himself and for his fans and I would love him to reach it again (as much for him as for myself.)

I happen to think that his latest stuff is not the strongest, that doesn't mean I don't have ears or am being unreasonable, it just means that I don't love it as much as other stuff.

It really is as simple as that.

Flip this idea for a moment. Say Britney released a song called 'I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris' how withering would you be in your disdain?

Methinks a lot.

 

[Manchester Neil]

Uh oh, unreasonable Morrissey fan alert!

You go from arguing that songs about love can be simple and obscure, just to go and slag one off in the next sentence.
'Chinese' by Lily Allen is a great little pop song, it's not going to change the course of popular music, but it's a nice song to have.

Why am i unreasonable? You've missed my point entirely. I don't have a problem with her subject matter but it's unfair to analyse every lyric Moz writes and criticise his songs on that basis when other recording artists are not subject to anywhere near the same lyrical scrutiny.

 

[Manchester Neil]

I think this album is going to be one where I like a lot of the songs when they're performed live ('Black Cloud' live on Radio 2, was already better than the album version) but won't listen to the actual album that much.

Why can't you just admit you were so eager to slag the album off but now you've actually given it a listen you've realised your initial assumptions were wrong.

You love it - go on admit it.

 

[dizzywhore_1804]

Why am i unreasonable? You've missed my point entirely. I don't have a problem with her subject matter but it's unfair to analyse every lyric Moz writes and criticise his songs on that basis when other recording artists are not subject to anywhere near the same lyrical scrutiny.

I don't think it is. As bhops said Morrissey has set his own standards and any new release is going to be measured up to that.
Lily Allen has set herself up as an amusing pop lyricist who comments on very mundane things in an intelligent, interesting, perhaps innocent, way.

You can't compare music across the board, artist create their own standards which is what they're measured against.

Scouting For Girls' best album is likely to never be as good as 'The Queen Is Dead', for example, but that is not what they're trying to do. And more importantly it's not what people are expecting from them.

Why can't you just admit you were so eager to slag the album off but now you've actually given it a listen you've realised your initial assumptions were wrong.

You love it - go on admit it.

Haha, nah. I will gladly admit that my thoughts on it have softened. But I would still say it's averaging about 3/5.
Carol, You Were Good (minus the stupid outro), Skull are the only really interesting songs. Mama is a good song badly produced, I still prefer live versions without the three year old playing keyboard in the back.

 

[Barking]

'Chinese' by Lily Allen is a great little pop song, it's not going to change the course of popular music, but it's a nice song to have.

Cool! If it's on par with the Montys "I like Chinese fooood/ The waiters never are ruuuude", I simply have to go and youtube it. 56k or not.