Morrissey - You Are The Quarry

Back in December of '09, I made a large gamble in the form of buying a bunch of CD's by artists strictly based on the recommendations of my automatic recommendations from Rateyourmusic.com. Among those albums was Morrissey's Vauxhall And I, an experience that I mildly appreciated, but ended up giving away to my brother-in-law who enjoyed it a fair amount more than I did. So, when RYM, once again, recommended a Morrissey album, I got in from the library, lessening the financial, if not temporal, gamble. As it turns out, now I wish I owned it.

Right away, You Are The Quarry makes it clear that it's not planning on pulling any punches. "America Is Not The World" is ferocious in its calm explanation of much of what is wrong with North American culture. Any song that starts off with lyrics like "America, your head's too big / Because, America, your belly is too big" is not trying to make any friends. Like much of the rest of the album, however, the prosaic, less-structured nature of the lyrics feels inconsistent with the cool music happened underneath. Morrissey isn't trying to write pop hits, he's trying to tell you something important, but he doesn't always make you want to listen.

That being said, the next song, just as angry and political is one of my favourites in recent memory. "Irish Blood, English Heart" is absolutely listenable but also unforgiving in its scathing indictment of much of the state of England. I am not going to pretend that I understand most of what he is railing against, but even devoid of context, the rage and frustration gets across.

"I Have Forgiven Jesus" is an intriguing song about rejection against and rejection of divine love and favour.

In "The World Is Full Of Crushing Bores," Morrissey is raging against a world that celebrates the lowest common denominator. Going even further, he is regretting his own unremarkable position within it. In the song, he demystifies the individual, realizing that he, like everyone else, is maintaining a system that nobody inherently wants.

I had said earlier that sometimes the message of the song gets lost because of the lack of structure. On the other hand, you've got "First Of The Gang To Die," the poppiest track on the album. In it, you've got philosophizing lyrics over top of a Hanson-accessible musical sound.

Other suggested tracks:

"You Know I Couldn't Last"

Rating: 3.8 stars