You are the Quarry

[Jim Clark]

quarry

n 1: a person who is the victim of ridicule or exploitation by some hostile person or influence; "he fell prey to muggers"; "everyone was fair game" [syn: prey, target, fair game] 2: an open-surface excavation for extracting stone or slate: "a British term for `quarry' is `stone pit'" [syn: pit, stone pit] 3: animal hunted or caught for food [syn: prey] v : extract (stone, etc.) from or as if from a quarry; "quarry marble"

Make what you will of the title but ol' Moz is armed with a tommy gun and he's aiming for you. Really been enjoying the heck out of this CD the past 24 hours and think fans of Morrissey will be able to appreciate what he's done here. There is no re-inventing going on here. What transpires is for the most part vintage Morrissey, albeit from a slightly older perspective. His voice has held up nicely assuming it didn't annoy you in the first place. Occasionally signs of strain seem evident while gliding around notes that at one time he reproduced effortlessy but then on the next song he's able to recreate a sound hardly distinguishable from years ago.

This is a good album on just about every front. I don't think it's great, but it's good. I wish Morrissey and Johnny would finally realize that they would really benefit by being together. While they have both enjoyed success on their own the ability to be great seems to have dodged them. It's almost like they are two Art Garfunkles but to be fair Morrissey is the closest to a Paul Simon (for purposes of my analogy) by virtue of some outstanding early solo efforts.

Despite his advancing years he still manages to pull off the disheartened, disinfranchised soul routine without it becoming a parody. By picking on some bigger targets as the focus ie. "Jesus, I Forgive You", "America Is Not The World" and "Irish Blood, English Heart"

"I’ve been dreaming of a time when
The English are sick to death of labour
and Tories
and spit upon the name of Oliver Cromwell
and denounce this royal line that still
Salute him / and will salute him forever"

Naturally it wouldn't be complete without the tradmark woe is me songs. "How Can Anyone Possibly Know How I Feel?" seems familiar enough as does "You Know I Couldn't Last". The wit is prominent throughout most of the tracks and highlighted by "All The Lazy Dykes" plus "The World Is Full Of Crushing Bores" and there's some pretty decent guitar work too, it just ain't Johnny Marr.

jc

PS-I opted for the cheapskate 11.99 CD version so I have no idea if the DVD is worth anything. FWIW, the vid for "Irish Heart, English Blood is on his website for free and I have no idea what else is on the DVD. http://www.morrisseymusic.com/multimedia.asp

[Dave_G]

So 'ol Morrissey is still at it, eh?

I haven't listened to his output in a long time, I only have his first two solo albums.

I like his stuff.

Wish I could have seen the Smiths.

Dave