Northern Soul review of Dog on a Chain by Danny Moran (most detailed to date?)

A well-written, interesting and balanced review.
www.northernsoul.me.uk/album-review-i-am-not-a-dog-on-a-chain-morrissey/
  • 'his finest work in a long generation'
  • 'It’s no longer in the words these days, for instance, where the window on Morrissey’s soul can really be found, but in the voice.'
  • 'If there’s a catchier collection of tunes in the Morrissey catalogue then it’s long since been deleted from the popular playlist. Let’s not shrink from this – there’s scarcely a dud to be found among this eclectic 11-strong suit'
  • 'Back in the mists of time it was the rolling chords from Johnny Marr’s fiendishly detuned guitars which allowed the young singer to extemporise on a canvas unlike any in popular music. Now, in having him throw his arms around a synthesiser, producer Chiccarelli and writing partner Jessie Tobias suggest credible, belated reinvention and a potential lifeline in the waters presently engulfing the Morrissey shipwreck. The indifferent bleep and the Mozzer croon bowl along quite handsomely, funnily enough, and in tossing out so many of the old gestures – the ersatz machismo of his regular minstrel players – the new idea of a kind of enlightened Left Banke chanteur is given a leg up.'
  • 'If you sing your heart out on national television with the insignia of the far right pinned to your lapel then you broadcast a message which every sensible-thinking citizen will see as their duty to throw back in your face. If you lack the perspective to see that there is a war taking place across the globe between tolerance and hatred and that there is no room in that landscape for your faux patriotism and pick-and-mix prejudices then you deserve a picket line under your chin, a record-pyre at your local sports ground, and you can take your ten-dollar trumpet and stick it sideways where the sun once shone – irrespective of the nuances of your position.'
  • 'The singer refuses to leave the stage, unbent and unbowed he would have you believe, though with the pridefully wakened passions of a man singing for his life.'
 
What "fiendishly detuned guitars?"
I kind of get " there is a war taking place across the globe between tolerance and hatred and that there is no room in that landscape for your faux patriotism and pick-and-mix prejudices then you deserve a picket line under your chin" but I don't think it's that simple. Is the war about tolerance vs hatred? I think it's about cultures and there is intolerance on all sides. It's not the good vs the bad or the guilty against the innocent. But he's right about Morrissey being inconsistent. It's time to realize that Morrissey's politics are not that different than many people of his age from his background and education and that sometimes after a few drinks he wants to share his opinion to the detriment of everyone involved really when he could just smile and talk about his great new record.
 
good review but a bit too flowery for me,insouciance of a thrice wed gaslighter,WHIT.
 
Why bother? The album has been out for weeks and sold all it’s going to sell. It charted for one week and then sunk into oblivion. What’s the point of reviewing something when everyone who’s going to buy it has already done so?
 
Why bother? The album has been out for weeks and sold all it’s going to sell. It charted for one week and then sunk into oblivion. What’s the point of reviewing something when everyone who’s going to buy it has already done so?

I don’t think that’s how Morrissey sells...he’s not a one album wonder. There are many ears out there yet to discover this wonderful album...this will sell for many years to come as have all of his albums. His work has a long shelf life!
 
Why bother? The album has been out for weeks and sold all it’s going to sell. It charted for one week and then sunk into oblivion. What’s the point of reviewing something when everyone who’s going to buy it has already done so?
In all fairness the review has been out for a while - it's only just been brought to out attention...
 
A most intelligent review by someone who studies and knows Moz well....my admiration to you, sir..
 
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“If you sing your heart out on national television with the insignia of the far right pinned to your lapel then you broadcast a message which every sensible-thinking citizen will see as their duty to throw back in your face.”
 
Keep it singing morrisey never stop ! Your voice is a gift to me in this knockabout world!. Your writing speaks the true. And the Band sounds Amazing. I don't care about what anyone says About you. Morrisey is my personal jesus. And as long as I live. I love you So. Heaters. You are wasting you r time ! I'm counting. The days till you come back to USA. And see. You soon. At Las Vegas. And NYC.
 
These folks get discombobulated cause they're worried about what
so and so and such and such are gonna say about them listenin' to Moz.
Let so and so and such and such go ahead and say what they want.
If the music is movin' ya then go ahead and listen, cause listen' to music
that moves ya is good for ya constitution.
 
These folks get discombobulated cause they're worried about what
so and so and such and such are gonna say about them listenin' to Moz.
Let so and so and such and such go ahead and say what they want.
If the music is movin' ya then go ahead and listen, cause listen' to music
that moves ya is good for ya constitution.
I do think it's pretty much impossible to review his record without mentioning the backlash but that's fair as long as they talk about the music. This review suffers from excessive use of the thesaurus though. I think that's a bigger problem.
 
Why bother? The album has been out for weeks and sold all it’s going to sell. It charted for one week and then sunk into oblivion. What’s the point of reviewing something when everyone who’s going to buy it has already done so?
It's not all about money. I'm still interested in reading that review. Yes it would have had more impact if it came out sooner. I'd pay closer attention to a review weeks after release than a review written a week before release by a journalist who listened to the album once. The best albums take time to sink in properly. I remember when I first heard DISINTEGRATION I loved the 1st half and hated the 2nd half. After repeat listens it all clicked. Same for YOU ARE THE QUARRY and RINGLEADER.
 
I don’t think that’s how Morrissey sells...he’s not a one album wonder. There are many ears out there yet to discover this wonderful album...this will sell for many years to come as have all of his albums. His work has a long shelf life!
That's just anonymous talking more shit. They're here to add fertiliser.
 
A well-written, interesting and balanced review.
www.northernsoul.me.uk/album-review-i-am-not-a-dog-on-a-chain-morrissey/
  • 'his finest work in a long generation'
  • 'It’s no longer in the words these days, for instance, where the window on Morrissey’s soul can really be found, but in the voice.'
  • 'If there’s a catchier collection of tunes in the Morrissey catalogue then it’s long since been deleted from the popular playlist. Let’s not shrink from this – there’s scarcely a dud to be found among this eclectic 11-strong suit'
  • 'Back in the mists of time it was the rolling chords from Johnny Marr’s fiendishly detuned guitars which allowed the young singer to extemporise on a canvas unlike any in popular music. Now, in having him throw his arms around a synthesiser, producer Chiccarelli and writing partner Jessie Tobias suggest credible, belated reinvention and a potential lifeline in the waters presently engulfing the Morrissey shipwreck. The indifferent bleep and the Mozzer croon bowl along quite handsomely, funnily enough, and in tossing out so many of the old gestures – the ersatz machismo of his regular minstrel players – the new idea of a kind of enlightened Left Banke chanteur is given a leg up.'
  • 'If you sing your heart out on national television with the insignia of the far right pinned to your lapel then you broadcast a message which every sensible-thinking citizen will see as their duty to throw back in your face. If you lack the perspective to see that there is a war taking place across the globe between tolerance and hatred and that there is no room in that landscape for your faux patriotism and pick-and-mix prejudices then you deserve a picket line under your chin, a record-pyre at your local sports ground, and you can take your ten-dollar trumpet and stick it sideways where the sun once shone – irrespective of the nuances of your position.'
  • 'The singer refuses to leave the stage, unbent and unbowed he would have you believe, though with the pridefully wakened passions of a man singing for his life.'

Yes, burning things is always a sign of tolerance.
 
I do think it's pretty much impossible to review his record without mentioning the backlash but that's fair as long as they talk about the music. This review suffers from excessive use of the thesaurus though. I think that's a bigger problem.

He's not just mentioning the backlash, he is part of the backlash. He's saying it doesn't matter if it's good, Morrissey is a bad person, who apparently hid his badness while in The Smiths.
 
He's not just mentioning the backlash, he is part of the backlash. He's saying it doesn't matter if it's good, Morrissey is a bad person, who apparently hid his badness while in The Smiths.
He also says the music is good. If Morrissey has the right to a political position others have a right to an opinion on it.
The defining post on all of this was posted here the other day by @BrummieBoy who stated that Morrissey has made his best record, that Morrissey is not a racist, but that he is a troll. And most people just voted "dislike" even though he literally said "not a racist."
He is mentioning the backlash, explicitly. And this guy wouldn't say "bad" when he could use a five syllable word to show how clever he is.
 
Why bother? The album has been out for weeks and sold all it’s going to sell. It charted for one week and then sunk into oblivion. What’s the point of reviewing something when everyone who’s going to buy it has already done so?
Do you really think anyone buys a Morrissey album based on their reading of an online review? Although to contradict myself I do think the current mess we're in has affected sales to a point so any positve publicity for the album may encourage 'casual' fans to consider buying. That said if your a casual fan the album's available online without a purchase which doesn't help physical sales either.
 
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