steven9988's Full Review: You Are the Quarry by Kelis/Morrissey
What is their to say? Morrissey, lead frontman of the once Smiths, is back working on his solo carreer. Let me just say it now I love this man and I love this album. He totally reinvented himself and reestablished himself as an awesome song writer. Yet, he is still being himself unlike some pop stars who need a publicity stunt to reinvent themselves and put themselves back on the market. You're only going to get Morrissey here and it couldn't be any better.
He hasn't been getting too much love by the American audience as of yet with this album. Although maybe some decently good reviews, which are totally underrating it in my opinion. But this stuff will happen when your first track is "America Is Not The World" which is composed of acoustic sounding guitar strumming, synthy drums and of course the confident voice of Morrissey. The lyrics express negative comments towards America (you know how greedy and close minded we all are) but he also insists that he still "loves us" Simply this is just a good opening track keeping in mind that he's not going to keep anything to himself and when something is on his mind we will be sure to hear about it. One lyrical excerpt is:
"And don't you wonder, Why in Estonia they say, Hey you, Big fat pig"
Next track is the single "Irish Blood, English Heart" which as far as I can tell isn't getting too much play on any of my local radio stations. Which is a shame since it's a truly great track. At this point of the album I'm already daydreaming of being Morrissey. Get a bowl of grapes and various other fruits and begin stuffing my face like a king. Because that is who Morrissey is to me, he's an idol and I'm now a ridiculous fanboy. No, but truly the confidence and precision on Morrissey's delivery in tracks such as this one is remarkable. I love it, it's so honest. As far as the musical composition is considered, it's one of the more aggressive tracks, distorted guitar and pounding drums but still in a pop and good songwriting sense instead of just mindless noise.
"I Have Forgiven Jesus" is another high point of the album. (and mind you their aren't too many lows) When I hear the chorus I'm just like "WHAT?! You forgive Jesus? Ahh" Of course a huge overreaction, it's nothing new for artists and groups trying to say insane things for a few more fans but like I've been previously saying his voice is so convincing. The vocals during the chorus are rather high, and a little choir like which is completely fitting. The whole song slowly builds up to the great repeated lyric:
"Jesus, do you hate me? Do you hate me?"
And then is ends with a synthy outro.
The next track is a classy, slow piano driven, orchestrated ballad with Morrissey showing a bit of emotion and setting a romantic mood. It's entitled "Come Back To Camden" and I'm lost in a fantasy world runned by Kings and Queens, and castles and well, it's another great song. The whole album is wonderful at setting this sort of mood yet focusing on the future at the same time giving us a glimpse at some sort of reniassance but appropriately in the year 2004. No, I don't think this album is revolutionary or ground breaking but it's a truly appropriate album for the time we are in (in words that I can not explain) and somehow captures this idea with using just traditional good songwriting. "I'm Not Sorry" is the next track and is not noticeable different in style compared to the previous track but is fitting, and helps give the album a sense of solidity. Obviously the song structure is different enough so that you could not confuse the two tracks and begin singing the wrong lyrics because they each do have their own flow, it's just style wise it remains. There's some sort of wind instrument solo in the middle and it's very fitting giving the track a suddle yet wild edge.
"The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores" is my favorite song both lyrically and vocally. The vocal execution again seems to be the deciding factor and the only thing to really mention. It's just plain good songwriting which is hard to write about because you need to here it for yourself, right? It's not any extraordinary sound it's just a properly planned chemistry between the guitars, drums, piano, and synths. Here's an excerpt:
"Lamenting policewomen policemen silly women taxmen, Uniformed ******, Educated criminals, Work within the law
This world is full, Oh oh, So full of crashing bores, And I must be one, cause no one ever turns to me to say
Take me in your arms, Take me in your arms, And love me, And love me"
I have seen one recent review regarding Morrissey as "the greatest lyricist of all time" and although that is a tough title to earn Morrissey is definately one of my favorites and could be one of the best. It's not necessarily metaphoric or deep, but it's how he words everything and how he follows each line with another that could mean the same exact thing as before yet gives you another piece of some odd puzzle of emotion.
The stubborn song "How Could Anybody Possible Know How I Feel" is a slightly more upbeat tempo compared to the previous three tracks but it still is quite classy. All the songs sound wise are not much different then his previous works but the album feels much better for whatever reason. The tone of the voice or maybe he just spent a little more time coming up with the absolute best song structures he could. Or maybe it's just you forget how much you miss the man when he's gone. The only con I have with this whole album is that sometime he can be a bit whiny and lame such as in the lyric:
"Because you wear a uniform, A smelly uniform, And so you think you can be rude to me"
"First Of The Gang To Die" is just another example of a good song as well as all the other tracks, "Let Me Kiss You", "All The Dykes", and "You Know I Couldn't Last" (but he surely did) I think the most impressive thing about this album which makes it so special is that so many years later Morrissey is still releasing good, respectable material. Of course you guys could name older ones such as those random classical rock groups. But Morrissey still has longevity and I'm not sure of the chances of him making it into something like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but frankly it would be a breathe of fresh air compared to the mostly populated classical rock bands getting all the praise. (not to say I have nothing against classical rock, I can't really explain it, I guess)
To end it up, this is just a great album to listen to and proves Morrissey can still be himself and produce good material after all of these years. A breathe of fresh air from the usual mainstream and just some straight up good writing. These are the songs you are going to think of 20-30 years later and be reminded of the "good times"
You Are the Quarry, the first new solo material from Morrissey in seven years; it is an album of original songs using keyboards interwoven with crunch...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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