Morrissey - Years of Refusal (2009)

Morrissey blah blah legend blah blah The Smiths blah blah solo career blah blah downhill in the 90s blah blah but Vauxhall and I was quite good blah blah ambiguous sexuality blah blah comeback blah.

With the obvious preface out of the way, we can take a look at Years of Refusal. Opener "Something is Squeezing my Skull" is a perfect summary of the "Angry Moz" mode, with thumping beats, Fripp-esque quitar and cracked vocal scales. There is an immediacy in his delivery that seems quite fresh, perhaps brought on by lyrics that are now far less self-deprecating and much more bile-spewingly angry than they have been of late. Even the more personal pleas are directed at others- this is a good move, as it removes the much loved 'cloying' from the Standard Book of Morrissey Criticisms.

The biggest problem with the first half of the album is that too many songs sound like attempts at bombastic comeback singles. Part of this is due to the fact that three of them actually are ("I'm Throwing my Arms Around Paris", "That's how People Grow Up" and "All You Need is Me") and it is possible to get a little lost in the sameness of it all. A more careful listen does, however, reveal some early favourites. There must be a story surrounding the gorgeously bittersweet "When Last I Spoke To Carol", which details Morrissey's final conversations with the (recently deceased) titular Carol, whose birth date is given to be 1975- probably too young to even be an original Smiths fan. One can easily imagine the refrain "Life is nothing much to lose/It's just so lonely here without you" from "Mama Lay Softly on the Riverbed" being permanently etched in the minds of high school journal-keepers for decades to come. It is a strong first act, carried largely by renewed vigour on the part of our Moz, and an increasingly intuitive band who can now seamlessly turn Morrissey's fractured melodies into powerful songs. There is also a sense of structure here, which is something almost totally new for a solo Moz effort, a sense of ever-increasing tension and build up...

... and "It's Not Your Birthday Anymore" is the release. It is the fist-pumping, chest-beating, stadium-filling, climb-on-stage-and-hug-this-man-inspiring classic that "I have forgiven Jesus" and "Life is a Pigsty" almost were. A beautiful cocktail of tenderness ("the heart has a will of its own"), callous disregard ("Did you really think we meant all of those syrupy, sentimental things that we said yesterday?") and disturbing connotations ("It cannot be given/And so it must be taken")- crooned over melodramatic synths and crashing drums. Top Track.

After this we get the interesting character sketch "You were Good in your Time"- a quiet, string-soaked slow-burner, the also-ran rocker "Sorry Doesn't Help Us" before the "At Last I am Born"-esque bombastic closer "I'm OK by Myself".

It is good to hear the Pope of Mope inspired once more by something other than himself, his renewed enthusiasm for songwriting is infectious and will carry you through some of the weaker songs. A marked absence of the auto-pilot delivery that has marred much of his solo career is what makes this a strong album. Recommended.

84
(73 - AI)
Combined Rating = 78.5