plorentz's Full Review: You Are The Quarry by Morrissey
Are you tired of Republican manipulation, and Democratic self-victimization? Want a presidential candidate who will be brutally honest with you, who will promise to open his heart and body and mind and soul to you, even though he knows you couldn’t possibly love him back the way he needs you to? Are you tired of the immense cruelty and dark emptiness of our consumerist culture? Are you ready to tell McDonald’s where they can shove their hamburger?
VOTE MORRISSEY FOR PRESIDENT IN 2004
[insert John Phillip Sousa march here]
Maybe he doesn’t want his hat thrown in the ring, and yes, I concede that the U.S. Constitution currently requires any candidate for President to be a native-born U.S. citizen – but can you tell me with a straight face that the Republicans aren’t burning the midnight oil trying to figure out a way to get Arnold into the White House as we speak? Call it a pre-emptive attack.
And as Morrissey’s self-declared unofficial presidential campaign manager, I hereby submit Morrissey’s recently released (after a seven-year hiatus) seventh studio album “You Are The Quarry” as his opening salvo. In just under 50 minutes, Morrissey – in his own inimitable way – lays out his party’s platform [note to self: come up with a catchy name for Morrissey’s party. The Suedehead Party, perhaps? It has a nice classicist ring to it.], a platform which, I believe, could galvanize the American electorate (though, perhaps not as effectively as the American Idol franchise has) and provoke real change in this great nation.
MORRISSEY ON THE ISSUES YOU REALLY CARE ABOUT
On gun control…
Morrissey is generally in favor of guns… especially when used as a fashion accessory, along with a slick, black pin-striped suit and lavender tie. The look says: I’m a renegade, a maverick, the Lavender Gangster of Love and Overwhelming, But Un-channeled Sexual Desire.
And though, Morrissey does not sanction the use of guns as instruments of person-to-person (or person-to-non-person) violence, he also can’t deny their glamour and magnetism. See his tribute to Hector (“the first in the gang with a gun in his hand, and the first in the gang to die”) – with its strident beat, its singalong chorus, and glammy guitar sound, Morrissey celebrates his old friend despite that friend’s undeniable criminality: “He stole from the rich and the poor and the not very rich and the very poor… and he stole our hearts away.”
On Jesus…
Despite years of animosity between Morrissey and Jesus, on this album, Morrissey adopts a somewhat more moderate (or is it?) policy on Jesus, as evidenced by the song “I Have Forgiven Jesus,” in which he absolves (or does he?) our Saviour for filling him with so much love in a loveless world; this in the face of nagging, deeply personal doubts of the Christ’s actual love for the Morrissey (“Jesus, do you hate me? Do you hate me? Do you hate me? Do you hate me? Do you hate me?”).
On flute solos…
Morrissey is okay with the occasional flute solo, as long as it is tastefully wispy, and occurs as the song is winding down and fading out, as in “I’m Not Sorry”.
On abstinence…
One of the most exciting possibilities of Morrissey’s presidential campaign may be his ability to unite both the extreme conservative and extreme liberal bases of the electorate. On one hand, Morrissey himself is an avowed celibate, and his staunch position in favor of sexual abstinence and against pornography and sexual exploitation will resonate with Bible Belt voters. On the other hand, if one must be sexual, he is absolutely supportive of each individual’s search for sexual fulfillment, be it of the hetero or homo variety. (Rick Santorum’s constituents should note that Morrissey has never explicitly disapproved of “man-on-dog” sex – though his support of PETA suggests an anti-bestiality stance).
His position is best exemplified in the song “All the Lazy Dykes” in which a housewife who gives and gives and gives and gives to her presumably neglectful husband ultimately decides to “join the girls”, and her eyes are opened to a kind of love she’d never imagined possible: “When you talk to me, you actually see me and I’ve never felt so alive in my whole life.”
Morrissey, despite his reputation for depressing lyrics, is most definitely in favor of happy endings.
On America…
Morrissey favors a more nuanced form of patriotism than our current administration. In his own words:
America, your head is too big
Because American, your belly’s too big
And I love you
And on Great Britain…
I’ve been dreaming of a time when to be English is not to be baneful
To be standing by the flag and not feeling shameful, racist or partial
On Rock…
Morrissey’s position on rock has often been misunderstood by a general public who have generally dismissed him as a sort of musical spinster. Because his singing is so mannered, so full of jaded, aristocratic weariness and melodrama, his phrasing so viscous and petulant, people mistakenly believe that Morrissey is incapable of rock. Even his lyrics, which quite often deal with, you know… feelings, are devoid of the kind of angsty, testosterone-driven posturing most folks require of their rock heroes.
(Don’t get me wrong. There’s plenty of posturing in Morrissey’s music – it’s just not angsty, and it’s certainly not testosterone-driven.)
Still, it should be noted that Morrissey is rock enough to have hired Jerry Finn, better known for his work with the likes of Bad Religion, Blink 182, and Green Day (and a zillion other punk and punk-pop acts), to produce this record. “You Are The Quarry” doesn’t sound remotely like any of those bands, but Finn has given the record a clean, rock/pop edge. Gary Day’s bass is exacting and punchy, and Dean Buttersworth’s utilitarian drumming is neither flashy, nor boring. And the guitars supplied by veteran Morrissey collaborators Alain Whyte and Boz Boorer go from the jazzy coffeehouse acoustic/electric layers in “I’m Not Sorry” to the grand, arena-ready bombast of “The World Is Full of Crashing Bores”, to the dark, feisty licks of “Irish Blood, English Heart,” to the infectious new wave hooks of “The First of the Gang to Die”.
Morrissey may forever be known as a pop star, but let it also be known that he’s very much in touch with his inner Jon Bon Jovi. And “You are the Quarry” finds a moderate position between the messy, imitation punk-n-grunge that marked his last two albums (“Southpaw Grammar”, 1996, and “Maladjusted”, 1997) and the pathetic limp-wristedness of some of his earlier solo work (i.e. “Kill Uncle”, 1991).
Most importantly, “You Are the Quarry” marks the first time since his 1992 masterpiece “Your Arsenal” where Morrissey actually sounds like he’s having fun. And that fact, combined with seven years of antici… pation could be enough to make Morrissey a winner at the polls in November (and at the record stores all summer).
Still, with our government reeling from the complications of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, not to mention the Abu Ghraib torture scandals, electing Morrissey president of the United States might not be enough…
VOTE MORRISSEY FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSE IN 2004
- - - - -
Morrissey did not approve this message, nor would he if he were asked to.
Paid for by Concerned Citizens Who Are Full of Love in a Loveless World Who Give and Give and Give and Give, Who Have Never Eaten Hamburgers, and Who Believe That The World is Full of Crashing Bores and They Must Be One ‘Cos No One Ever Turns to Them to Say “Take Me In Your Arms and Love Me” For a Better Universe.
Your tax-non-deductible donations to CCWAFLLWWGGGGWHNEHWBTWFCBTMBOCNOETTSTMYALM can be sent to:
Morrissey '04
501 Front Street
Norfolk, Virginia 23510
- - - - -
“You Are the Quarry” by Morrissey
Attack Records
Released 5/18/04
Produced by Jerry Finn
49 min.
SONGS: America, You Are Not the World – Irish Blood, English Heart – I Have Forgiven Jesus – Come Back to Camden – I’m Not Sorry – The World Is Full of Crashing Bores – How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel – The First of the Gang to Die – Let Me Kiss You – All the Lazy Dykes – I Like You – You Know I Couldn’t Last
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
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.