Years Of Refusal is a classic

[mcrickson]

I said anyone who thinks "Swords" is anything more than a cash grab is a tool.

What was that about gutlessly picking out one-liners and critiquing them?

That's fact.

No -- it's an opinion. And a rather arbitrarily rude one at that.

One can EASILY find/buy/download all the tracks already.

Well what if we HAVEN'T yet? We must be bad fans!!

We waited six months for yet another re-issue re-package?

Indeed -- shame on Moz for making it more convenient for fans who do not already own these tracks.

My wanting it to be something more: to have Morrissey place a modicum of effort into the album seems to have sent you into a tizzy fit.

It's honestly not my fault that you can't grasp that I and many others LIKE YOR because we feel that he placed effort into it. You just need to calm down and stop harping on people's opinions just because they differ from yours.

This album could have been so much more. He could have emptied the vaults and given his fans something worth cherishing. Instead it's recycled b-sides, but I'm a bad fan for asking Morrissey to actually work for my money. Whatever.

Oh, yes -- you want to hear 'Kit.' A discarded B-side demo from 1997. As a Moz fan (albeit, apparently not 'true' enough of one for your club) I definitely would've cherished that forever

The B-sides aren't recycled if the person buying the collection doesn't own them. You do -- fine, then don't buy 'Swords.' No one has a gun to your head, mate. And absolutely NO ONE called you a 'bad fan' -- you think you'd be able to recognize that, you've implied as much in your posts about people whose opinions differ from yours.

 

[Our Lady]

Thanks for proving my point. Like I just wrote, you have to blindly support whatever Morrissey is releasing now and then one can arbitrarily criticize his past work. This being the mind numbing short term memory of the Moz-Solo forum, of course "Swords" will be "the greatest" Morrissey album ever...

Whenever I want a shortcut to actually thinking about something Morrissey related, I just come to the forum.

Swords is a compilation of b-sides from Quarry, Ringleader and Years of Refusal, isn't it? I've never bought a single. So Swords falls under the banner of 'past work', more so than Years of Refusal.

 

[bored]

After many listens, I feel I personally can judge Years Of Refusal a classic Morrissey album. Songs like Skull, Mama, maybe Paris, All you need is me, Birthday and Farewell are really THAT good! For what concerns the other songs, well same good level as many other good songs on other albums. What do you think?

I think Black Cloud and Carol are the two best tracks on the record. I think it's a very good record with a lot of good songs but ends a little weak. I still listen it to it more than any other record and it's one of 3 solo works on my iphone (V&I and SG Legacy being the others).

I said anyone who thinks "Swords" is anything more than a cash grab is a tool. That's fact. One can EASILY find/buy/download all the tracks already.

I'm one of those people that likes to have everything on physical media and right now I only have downloaded files for quite a few of the songs.

For me this is the perfect type of release based on the rarity and cost of some of the more recent singles.

It was only 2 weeks ago that I got the 7" for Grow Up and All You Need (4 total) but I can't even play them for the b-sides.

This is a physical purchase I will enjoy having. I think for the average fan who doesn't buy all the singles or for those living in the US where those singles were hard to find this has value.

Just because some people have no reason to buy it does not mean others do not.

If someone wanted to buy all the tracks they would probably spend the same amount of money and have no art work, no physical media and not get the extra live tracks from Poland. There are plenty of people who like Morrissey, buy his ablums but not his singles. This is their chance to get a stack of 18 songs they've never heard before.

The Greatest Hits record on the other hand didn't offer this kind of value.

 

[skull]

To my humble ears songs like Skull, Mama, Birthday, Carol, All you need, You were good, Ok by myself are all quite unique in his catalogue, so yes I would say he put some effort in this album. Of course you can like it or not.

 

[Girl-with-the-Thorn]

What was that about gutlessly picking out one-liners and critiquing them?



No -- it's an opinion. And a rather arbitrarily rude one at that.




Well what if we HAVEN'T yet? We must be bad fans!!




Indeed -- shame on Moz for making it more convenient for fans who do not already own these tracks.




It's honestly not my fault that you can't grasp that I and many others LIKE YOR because we feel that he placed effort into it. You just need to calm down and stop harping on people's opinions just because they differ from yours.



Oh, yes -- you want to hear 'Kit.' A discarded B-side demo from 1997. As a Moz fan (albeit, apparently not 'true' enough of one for your club) I definitely would've cherished that forever

The B-sides aren't recycled if the person buying the collection doesn't own them. You do -- fine, then don't buy 'Swords.' No one has a gun to your head, mate. And absolutely NO ONE called you a 'bad fan' -- you think you'd be able to recognize that, you've implied as much in your posts about people whose opinions differ from yours.

 

[spinelessswine]

I gotta say i agree with Vauxhall95. YoR to me is pretty laughable. I struggle to get through it as it seems incredibly insincere and very forced and the music is just very bland, I think even Snow Patrol would dismiss it as too pedestrian.
ROTT on the other hand had a certain beauty to it. Yes, it's not his best album but it just felt more believable to me. Some of the arrangements were stunning - Dear God Please Help Me, for example, is an incredible piece of music with a truly beautiful vocal. Little cracks in the voice, the odd pitching mistake, but those things only add to the beauty of the piece. On YoR the vocals are autotuned to within an inch of their life! I don't mind people using the odd bit of tweaking here or there but on YoR it sounds like they took every vocal track and autotuned every single note. That just sucks the heart out of it, it loses the individuality of the artist. That's why he sounds so strong vocally on this record. Do people not stop to think why it's odd that a man with an ever increasing tendency for throat problems was all of a sudden able to sing a vocal like Birthday just out of the blue? A vocal unlike any other he's done before? A big bellowing rock n roll vocal - and then he can't recreate it live?
So to answer the original post, i don't think YoR is in any way a classic. I think time will remember it even less fondly than it does Kill Uncle.

But as has been stated many times before...each to their own.

 

[Our Lady]

But as has been stated many times before...each to their own.

Shamefully.

 

[skull]

Just imagine you are still 22 or 24 years old...and you can maybe guess that the effect this album will have on you can be compared to the effect once had Your Arsenal in that far far far 1992...

 

[spinelessswine]

Shamefully.

Why shamefully?

 

[Our Lady]

Why shamefully?

I just don't understand the virtues of 'to each their own'. Perhaps you could explain.

 

[spinelessswine]

I just don't understand the virtues of 'to each their own'. Perhaps you could explain.

Perhaps I could.

I simply meant that the paragraphs above represented my opinion on a topic, that topic being Years Of Refuzzzzzlol. However I do not post these things in an attempt to force people to change their own views. Some people seem to, others take great offence to someone having a different view to them. I just put that on the end as i had no interest in getting into a big thing about it, was just giving my opinion and wasn't bothered if people disagreed.

Does that clear this already clear statement up?

 

[Erik]

I honestly havent listened to it since the day i downloaded it in December last year. I was truly disappointed upon first listen, second, etc. I knew instantly it really had no melody to speak of, and no lyrics to grab hold of and relate with. I like the B-sides better than the album tracks.
It's Not Your Birthday Anymore had slight potential, but fizzled out fast with lame lyrics and out of place chorus and vocal melodies. I think hearing most of the album months in advance, and having AYNIM and THPGU included certainly didn't help matters.

I really hope he can get back to an earlier writing style on the next album if/when there is one.

 

[Qvist]

You know it has no melody to speak of after one listen?

Well, you must have better ears than I do....

cheers

 

[David]

He knew instantly! Obviously the man is a musicologist.

 

[Our Lady]

Perhaps I could.

I simply meant that the paragraphs above represented my opinion on a topic, that topic being Years Of Refuzzzzzlol. However I do not post these things in an attempt to force people to change their own views. Some people seem to, others take great offence to someone having a different view to them. I just put that on the end as i had no interest in getting into a big thing about it, was just giving my opinion and wasn't bothered if people disagreed.

Does that clear this already clear statement up?

I didn't ask for an explanation of the concept, but an explanation as to why it's such a popular notion. But thank you, I suppose.

 

[Stoned]

It is an amazing album, i find it very solid and alive from start to finish while ROTT was slightly weak in its last part, according to my modest opinion.
YOR bloody rocks , The Mozfather is on top of the game (yet again i should say)
Cheers Moz

 

[Raphael Lambach]

YOR is better than VAI and YATQ.

Tru fax.

Not at all.
To me- puting together YA - those 4 albums are the best.
Consider this: YoR is so ""young"" we cannot called clssic nor the best. It takes time.

 

[spinelessswine]

I didn't ask for an explanation of the concept, but an explanation as to why it's such a popular notion. But thank you, I suppose.

It isn't that popular a notion really. I just feel sometimes it's better to air it, especially round here, as a lot of people here treat differing opinions to their own with the same horror and disgust as they would had they been handed a video of their mother being fisted.

 

[Vauxhall95]

He knew instantly! Obviously the man is a musicologist.

No, I think Eric is a open minded fan who approached YOR intending to like it, but the album being so dreadful, so lyrically devoid of wit, humor, and insight left him feeling wanting. Many long time fans have the same feelings about YOR.

Again, why is it taboo to criticize Morrissey's latest effort, but I read quotes all day long lambasting ROTT? So, it is okay to take Morrissey apart, but just don't do so in a way which impacts potential album sales? Are you people fans or a wing of Decca's marketing department?

 

[Maurice E]

No, I think Eric is a open minded fan who approached YOR intending to like it, but the album being so dreadful, so lyrically devoid of wit, humor, and insight left him feeling wanting. Many long time fans have the same feelings about YOR.

Again, why is it taboo to criticize Morrissey's latest effort, but I read quotes all day long lambasting ROTT? So, it is okay to take Morrissey apart, but just don't do so in a way which impacts potential album sales? Are you people fans or a wing of Decca's marketing department?

is there really the need for such histrionics? we're all allowed to criticise Morrissey's work round here and we all do, frequently.
That's How People Grow Up is an appalling song - one of his worst ever, and most of us agree. there was also tons of criticism for the choice of 'Squeezing My Skull' as a single.
But Years of Refusal did pretty well critically http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/morrissey/yearsofrefusal
gathering considerably more acclaim than ROTT and Quarry.
most of us probably agree that Morrissey's lyrical skills have been on the wane in the last 10 years. the humour and insight has indeed diminished in recent years.
but the idea that ROTT was full of profound observation and wit is absolute nonsense. lyrically, it was his clumsiest, dreariest album to date. Father Must Be Killed, On Streets I Ran, Kegs Between Legs, Entered Me With A Key; these songs are just dreadful, lyrically (and the music ain't much better in the first two).
the reality is that most of the recent Moz stuff hasn't been that great - but there are still a few really good songs, if you're happy to search for them (e.g. on the b-sides of singles).
but claiming that ROTT is a work of genius and YOR is an all-time low is nonsense.
they're both kind of ok-ish, and criticism of either is fine.