"I Am Not A Dog On A Chain" released (March 20, 2020)

I Am Not A Dog On A Chain - tagged articles
I Am Not A Dog On A Chain - tagged reviews
Please note: for fans of reviews, the above tag will update as new reviews come in and is a good way to check any you may have missed.

Morrissey's 13th solo studio album being recorded was first mentioned in SER's interview with Morrissey June 24, 2019 and then formally announced November 28, 2019.
It was recorded at Studio La Fabrique in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France and additional work (like Thelma's vocals) was done at Sunset Sound in Hollywood, California. It was produced by Joe Chicarelli who stated about his 4th Morrissey album:

“This is his boldest and most adventurous album yet. He has pushed the boundaries yet again - both musically and lyrically.
And once again proving that as a songwriter and singer, he is in his own category.
In truth, no one can be Morrissey but… Morrissey!”


The official Morrissey mailing list email from March 20 cites the following reviews in its promotion:

"PRAISE FOR ‘I AM NOT A DOG ON A CHAIN’

“Morrissey delivers his best music in years” - AP*
"His best album in years." - NME
"As great as anything he has ever written." - THE TELEGRAPH
“A mature work, the album stands apart in his catalog, displaying a hard-fought air of confidence that defies his roots in misery.” - RIFF MAGAZINE
"Hungry, tenacious & valid" - XS Noise
“Arguably his strongest collection in years.” - Louder Than War Magazine
"Ideal quarantine record.” - The Post Millennial
“An 11 track outing which quite frankly is one of his best albums to date... it sees him in fine form, with witty and acerbic lyrics, and a rich baritone voice that appears to be actually getting stronger the older he gets." - Wall Of Sound"

(*AP = Associated Press)


Album promotional poster (Leeds):

( clever.swine / IG)

The main 3 formats available today:
(Clear vinyl, 'Test Presses" & cassettes haven't been sighted yet).

( Denisc1 / IG)

There is no matrix message on either version of the above vinyl.

The front cover art is credited, again, to Liam Lynch (using an image by Christopher Stewart of Morrissey at Manchester G-MEX, December 22, 2006).
The rear cover is by John Fekner and is described on his site as:

"In the summer of 1980, John Fekner stencils Broken Promises, Falsas Promesas, Decay, Broken Treaties, Last Hope and Save Our School on the walls and buildings of Charlotte Street in the South Bronx. The message of the Charlotte Street Stencils focuses on pointing out the deteriorating conditions and issues that plagued the community since the 1960s. Fekner’s main purpose is to bring attention to inadequate housing, poor services and deplorable social problems that afflicted the neighborhood residents for decades."

For a gallery of this project and further details - please see: here.

For the liner notes and lyrics - see: here.

The initial assertion that the red vinyl was 'indie' record shops only changed later to include HMV - who are selling all 3 formats above.

More reviews are expected and please see the tag link to follow them as they come in.

Regards,
FWD.

 

[Cooley]

What Kind of People makes me want to kill myself. It’s like listening to Coldplay.

 

[ExpectingToFly]

I've sort of fallen out of love with Morrissey the last few years, mainly due to his views but also my own growing older and happier as a person. So this was always going to be an interesting listen for me. Given my distaste for Low in High School, I went in with very low expectations.

Verdict? I love it. It's a strong album and while there's no obvious 'First of the Gang to Die' or 'You Have Killed Me' type hit, there's plenty to celebrate. Everything else aside, Morrissey is still producing good music, and that is impressive for someone who has been in the business for nearly forty years.

Jim Jim Falls - brilliant opener, I love it. The lyrics are slightly confusing given that they could probably be aimed at Morrissey more than anyone else I can think of. I guess this is the point? Otherwise it would be completely lacking in self-awareness.

Love Is On Its Way Out - I disliked this when I heard it at first but within the context of the album it's grown on me a lot.

Bobby, Don't You Think They Know? - Similar to the above, it's grown on me. It's catchy, I'll give it that. Still not sure about the backing vocals, especially the 'You ain't fooling nobody!' bit - feels a little cringey.

I Am Not A Dog On A Chain - decent tune which seems to get better the more I listen to it. Reminds me of Kill Uncle for some reason.

What Kind Of People Live In These Houses? - again, reminds me of early Moz. Really enjoy this one.

Knockabout World - catchy tune, with a gorgeous outro. Paul Simon-esque guitars.

Darling, I Hug A Pillow - I love this song, especially the outro.

Once I Saw The River Clean - simply brilliant. Probably the highlight of the album.

The Truth About Ruth - probably my least favourite song on the album, but it's ok as album filler.

The Secret Of Music - hmm. Full marks for being experimental. I don't think it's a song that anyone would look forward to hearing live or seek out to listen to on its own. But within the context of the album, I'm ok with it.

My Hurling Days Are Done - another highlight, it's a lovely way to finish the album.

I think the days of me idolising the man are long gone, and I've yet to really study the lyrics, but this album has definitely rekindled my love for his music. Very happy to enjoying this album.

 

[Deleted member 28251]

What Kind of People makes me want to kill myself. It’s like listening to Coldplay.

Well, it’s true we wouldn’t have Coldplay without Morrissey.

 

[Dr_West]

What Kind of People makes me want to kill myself. It’s like listening to Coldplay.

Then to save face... get on with it!

 

[NealCassidy]

Bizarre that the lyrics sheet is completely wrong in some places. Based on the original lyric notes?

 

[Anonymous]

It's a good effort. That's more than I expected, and a few good songs are a relief and a welcome gift.
"Once I Saw The River Clean" is phenomenal, exceptional, magnificent. "My Hurling Days Are Done" is a highlight. But I believe he should seek to repair his reputation and status now – not by speaking, but by disappearing completely – for at least five years. Then I'd like to see him come back with new work, with a new aesthetic, a new sound, and a movement from the same old subjects. In one last trail of glory. It won't happen. But his voice is still so strong, he should think about it.

 

[mcrickson]

quite a long list of leitmotifs that you have there. more, and definitely more interesting, than the ordinary "hormonally challenged dumbo calling for warm pussy" and the inescapable "you are the greatest guy that makes me all hot, f*** me now"- answer, we have all grown tired of.

i can see that you prefer the "easter egg" approach. morrissey premeditates something and it is your job to find it. yeah, okay, better than the horribly tedious "autobiographical approach" preferred by folks who will never learn to differentiate between voice and writer. not saying it is wrong, but there is more in life than just that.

i am more of an audience-response disciple. i am an active and free agent in the interaction with the work of art and my interpretationS(!) complete it. i add meaning to the song because i am not a dog on morrissey's chain. i have my own brain. i mean, if morrissey said that jjf was all about his relationship to his father which made him all suicidal due to a lack of his support, i could accept it, but i prefer to paddle my own canoe. that's much more exciting.

I didn't say I want Morrissey to explain his songs. I'm saying that based on things like "Love Is On Its Way Out," one could easily argue that there's not much beyond the surface for a lot of these.

 

[Deleted member 25370]

I didn't say I want Morrissey to explain his songs. I'm saying that based on things like "Love Is On Its Way Out," one could easily argue that there's not much beyond the surface for a lot of these.

i see that you have an opinion, but where is the argument?
just listened to side b again and i find each song different from each other. mood, voice, topics, melody, poetic style, language, it all differs. all songs seem to have different sources of inspiration, different perspectives,
so, shortly, what do you expect to be waiting for you "beyond the surface"?
what are you not saying?

 

[Pippistrella]

I didn't say I want Morrissey to explain his songs. I'm saying that based on things like "Love Is On Its Way Out," one could easily argue that there's not much beyond the surface for a lot of these.

The album as a whole is so strong that the odd lightweight song only serves as convenient light relief from the colossal power of the majority of the tracks.

I'm so proud of Morrissey pulling this album from his hat. He's a dark horse.

 

[mcrickson]

i see that you have an opinion, but where is the argument?
just listened to side b again and i find each song different from each other. mood, voice, topics, melody, poetic style, language, it all differs. all songs seem to have different sources of inspiration, different perspectives,
so, shortly, what do you expect to be waiting for you "beyond the surface"?
what are you not saying?

You said you wanted to interpret your own meanings from Morrissey songs.
There's nothing really to interpret from "have you seen the sad rich hunting down, shooting down elephants and lions."

It's pretty cut-and-dry. It's about human violence toward animals. So is "The Bullfighter Dies."

In "I'm Not A Man," killing and eating animals is a negative trait of typical men; Morrissey implies that he is superior because he is "Not A Man" - in the same way the he implies that he is superior because he is "Not A Dog On A Chain" and uses his own brain. He doesn't read newspapers or watch the news - but "did we see the headlines? Did we see the grab-lines?"

These are the things that bother me about present-day Morrissey lyrics. So very many of them utilize that list of fall-backs that I originally provided.

At the end of the day, it is an opinion. You said you thought those "leitmotifs" were better than typical pop lyric content. Fortunately, those are not the only two options. You enjoy these lyrics. I don't.

 

[Anonymous]

The album as a whole is so strong that the odd lightweight song only serves as convenient light relief from the colossal power of the majority of the tracks.

I'm so proud of Morrissey pulling this album from his hat. He's a dark horse.

Fair enough but please remember that Morrissey doesn't write songs. Other people write all the music and play all the instruments. Massive credit is due to them and Joe Piccalilli for writing such a great bunch of compositions and arranging them in such an interesting way. Morrissey obviously deserves credit too but his musicians really have done a brilliant job this time round.

 

[Pippistrella]

Fair enough but please remember that Morrissey doesn't write songs. Other people write all the music and play all the instruments. Massive credit is due to them and Joe Piccalilli for writing such a great bunch of compositions and arranging them in such an interesting way. Morrissey obviously deserves credit too but his musicians really have done a brilliant job this time round.

I agree with you, he's a wordsmith. But he has always written his vocal melodies - he obviously has a good ear for music to be able to do this so skillfully. Marr said that they used to watch him in the studio only hearing his contribution when he was actually recording it - and they'd be in awe at his talent for this.

The 'song' is only complete when Moz has added his words - so in that sense he is a songwriter as much as the musicians who do not 'complete' the songs but only present instrumentals.

 

[Deleted member 25370]

You said you wanted to interpret your own meanings from Morrissey songs.
There's nothing really to interpret from "have you seen the sad rich hunting down, shooting down elephants and lions."

It's pretty cut-and-dry. It's about human violence toward animals. So is "The Bullfighter Dies."

In "I'm Not A Man," killing and eating animals is a negative trait of typical men; Morrissey implies that he is superior because he is "Not A Man" - in the same way the he implies that he is superior because he is "Not A Dog On A Chain" and uses his own brain. He doesn't read newspapers or watch the news - but "did we see the headlines? Did we see the grab-lines?"

These are the things that bother me about present-day Morrissey lyrics. So very many of them utilize that list of fall-backs that I originally provided.

At the end of the day, it is an opinion. You said you thought those "leitmotifs" were better than typical pop lyric content. Fortunately, those are not the only two options. You enjoy these lyrics. I don't.

i see that we agree on the lyrics being very important to us.

would like to disagree though with your condemnation of the line taken from "lioiwo". as i said in another thread, there is a focus on the visual here, visual images are presented throughout the song and are transformed into a softer "gaze" at the end. not sure whether one can call it "imagist", but i'd say it reflects our modern times, also the yearning for something softer. certainly it is not a 19th century victorian pre-raphaelite style of writing where mental states supercede physical experience.

i would say that the album is a and describes physical experience like songs hinting to "physical love", for example.

certainly you know imagist poetry, here is one example. do you see a connection? genuine question.


to your point that morrissey wants to present himself as being superior.
well, as i said, i dont think it is morrissey speaking to us about himself here. when i listen to an album, i'd rather imagine a theatre performance with different characters on stage having their 3-7 minutes of "fame" and attention each. we are not reading morrissey's diary. he has created several narrative voices that are energized by different sources inside and outside the artist.

 

[King Leer]

Enjoy the album greatly -- want to listen a bunch more times before posting some thoughts on the tracks. I will say that in some ways the contrarian bugger has come around and made the ultimate 80s electronic album. Darling, I Hug a Pillow is fantastically bonkers.

 

[BrummieBoy]

Good afternoon,
Andy asked me to post this 'hot take' on Saturday night but I can't type very well in this hazmat suit we all have to wear in the bunker deep in the quarry in the hills. 'BrummieBoy' is going to write a more in-depth review as & when the prepping schedule allows. I don't understand as this bunker / war-room was already kitted out for a nuclear war but Andy says SARS-CoV-19 has a sting in its tail so we have to just STFU and do exactly what he says. I've seen a draft of his full review and it begins with him declaring this to be Morrissey's greatest achievement ever. There's also some stuff about getting Matt Hancock MP on the phone so Andy can outline how and why every single ex-pat tax dodging sleaze-bag who thought they would be safe to hide out in Switzerland can fcUKin do one if they think they're getting an NHS bed or ventilator. There's also a poem about Morrissey's mother and father and the virus. It's called 'The Karmic Kick-Back, Blow-back is a bitch, innit?' I can't understand the poem. Maybe they're lyrics? He's doing the artwork for #VegAnarchyInTheUK and the band are in isolation booths in the studio, 2 metres (6 feet!) apart from each other but Andy is walking on top of the hills in a full hazmat suit setting up yet another satellite phone system at the ancient Roman encampment that is the Herefordshire Beacon. Oh, yes, Andy won't be answering any comments from you 'muggles' so don't bother. I think I've got it right. I am 'channeling' Andy from the top of the hills, he just texts me, tells me to close my eyes and start typing so...there we are, that's the 'hot take'. I'll come back when he's done a full review but he might not post it here, just to be contrary. The first tour after the virus is defeated is in the planning stage and there are t-shirts with a silhouette of someone who looks very much like Morrissey with the following words overlaid: "It Wuz 'Der Spiegel' Wot Don That Bitch!" and on the back it says "Take several seats, eat a party size bag of dicks. FcUKin do one Steven..#BCFC ...Mind-Zulu till we die". So, I guess he loves the album but dreams of Morrissey being used as an experimental subject for outlier vaccine possibilities? Look, it is what it is...don't stress over this...Andy won the war, there are great things in store, Inshallah!

"Salaam. Shalom. Pax Vobiscum: Bourdain, take your batshit soup recipe and stick it up your unlubed bum as you burn in hell, burn in hell, wet market proselytizing celebrity chefs: Burn in a Chinese wok-fired hell..

#VegAnarchyInWuhanHubei
is now
#VegAnarchyInTheUK
is now
#VegAnarchyInTheUSA:
#Cofid-19 demolished the #Globalist dream,
Tory command-control war economy?
Funny as fcUK: Surrealist Parliamentary scenes..

Boris is a dick. Boorish is a prick: Take my hat-pin and burst his Bullingdon balloon...a new world is coming...soon come, my friends...soon"


I just have to type it verbatim as it appears on the astral plane. I'm not allowed to proof-read or amend, just as I'm not allowed to respond to any inane 'replies. Find something else to do with your lives in this time of pandemic pandemonium. Seriously, squatting on a feckin 'fan' page all day and night. That used to be fun when the world was kinda boring but now...we are in a new existential dimension and so is Morrissey, whether he likes it or not, ignores it or not, understands it or not. It will be fun to watch him melt under pressure once he realises this virus isn't what he's thought it is...etc.

That's all folks!
The transmission is ending...

Andy says: "stay as safe as you can and I'll l see you on the other side of the panic-pandemonium, if it be God's will"

best wishes
for/on behalf of 'BrummieBoy

Sharon 'Shazza' McCormick -
Secretary [Keeper Of Secrets]


'Well....what have we here? I was totally not expecting this...'Wow' doesn't begin to capture it..
Gobsmacked from full frontal #ShockAndAwe, after his reputational implosion for talking total shite, totally bizarre to find that 'I Am Not A Dog On A Chain' is an album of baffling genius songs and lyrics, none more so than this one...10/10. Flawless...so are many other songs...incredible ascent from the abyss... still thinks he's a moron politically but... Art isn't Politics, at least not always...an exquisite voice, the voice of a serpent but... exquisite...just...gorgeous...

"Time will mold you and craft you
But soon, when you're looking away
It will slide up and shaft you
Oh, time
Oh, time
No friend of mine

Mama, mama and teddy bear
Were the first full firm spectrum of time
Now my hurling days are done
And there's no one to tell and there's nowhere to run

Time, a blossoming clover
But soon it will say, "Okay, come on son, bend over"
Oh, time
Oh, time
No friend of mine

Oh mama, mama and teddy bear
Were the first full firm spectrum of time
But now my hurling days are done
And there's no one to tell and there's nowhere to run

Time places no pressure on you
But soon it explains what it means by the Funky Alfonso
Oh, time
Oh, time
No friend of mine

Oh mama, mama and teddy bear
Were the first full firm spectrum of time
But now my hurling days are done
And there is no one to tell and there's nowhere to run

Time will send you an invoice
And you pay with your strength and your legs and your sight and your voice

Oh mama, mama and teddy bear
Were the first full firm spectrum of time
But now my hurling days are done
And there is no one to tell and there's nowhere to run..."

Morrissey finally comes out of the closet...and reveals he's always been a massive fan of the Pet Shop Boys....this is just...wonderful!
Morrissey is back in several blasts of absolute genius songcraft and lyrical flow...if anyone told me he could pull his fat ass out of the fire at this stage of the game....stunning...10/10...flawless track.

"Childish mind anticipates
Grown-up mind consummates

I walked with my grandmother
Down a windblown Chester Road
With her fifty-two new pence
For her twenty number-tens

And my forty-five pence too
Demand 'Metal Guru'
Once with hearts securely stacked
Then we walked all the way back

I walked with my grandmother
Along the groan of Talbot Road
In the gardens by the graves
I can just about behave

Arrogant and paranoid
All around, see fathead youth
Look into their brutal eyes
But only if you want the truth

Once I saw the river clean
Scratching up the latest scheme
Time will come but it hasn't yet
Someone's out to get me

I walked with my grandmother
Cornbread street, we're incomplete
She would never be again
A Dublin dancer, free and young..."

Hilarious. He's the Millwall fan of popular music: "everybody hates me but i don't care..fcUKin do one!" I think he's a total prat politically but I do admire people who say what they want, don't let eejits wag their finger as they scold and who respond with two fingers to the horror of growing old..well done, Morrissey! Never thought you still had this in you. Totally OTT emotional ventilation about real and imagined slights, enemies or just raging against the coming long dark night. Perfecto!

"I am not a dog on a chain
I use my own brain
I do not read newspapers
They are troublemakers
Listen out for what's not shown to you
And there you'll find the truth
For in a civilized and careful way
They'll sculpture all your views.."

"Love is broken down, it's on its way out
Did you see the headlines?
Did you see the grablines?
Did you see the nerve gassed children crying?
Did you see the sad rich
Hunting down, shooting down elephants and lions?
Love is on its way out..."

Rich obese American bastards hunting wild animals in Africa...rich slim Chinese eating wild animals in Wuhan...all roads from #VegAnarchyInWuhanHubei lead to #VegAnarchyInTheUK and on to #VegAnarchyInTheUSA....

My favourite track, a simply extraordinary vocal summit of Everest....shockingly good...such a surprise after his alt-right bullshit induced demise...
"Love is broken down, it's on its way out
Did you see the headlines?
Did you see the grablines?
Did you see the nerve gassed children crying?
Did you see the sad rich
Hunting down, shooting down elephants and lions?
Love is on its way out..."

 

[Anony]

Enjoy the album greatly -- want to listen a bunch more times before posting some thoughts on the tracks. I will say that in some ways the contrarian bugger has come around and made the ultimate 80s electronic album. Darling, I Hug a Pillow is fantastically bonkers.

Looking forward to hearing your further thoughts, King L. Yours is one of the few remaining voices of sanity round these parts!

 

[King Leer]

Cheers -- first post in the forum in some years. Main page is usually enough nuttiness for me.
Just glad to see Morrissey's music itself in the spotlight this time around.

Looking forward to hearing your further thoughts, King L. Yours is one of the few remaining voices of sanity round these parts!

 

[Deleted member 28251]

Good afternoon,
Andy asked me to post this 'hot take' on Saturday night but I can't type very well in this hazmat suit we all have to wear in the bunker deep in the quarry in the hills. 'BrummieBoy' is going to write a more in-depth review as & when the prepping schedule allows. I don't understand as this bunker / war-room was already kitted out for a nuclear war but Andy says SARS-CoV-19 has a sting in its tail so we have to just STFU and do exactly what he says. I've seen a draft of his full review and it begins with him declaring this to be Morrissey's greatest achievement ever. There's also some stuff about getting Matt Hancock MP on the phone so Andy can outline how and why every single ex-pat tax dodging sleaze-bag who thought they would be safe to hide out in Switzerland can fcUKin do one if they think they're getting an NHS bed or ventilator. There's also a poem about Morrissey's mother and father and the virus. It's called 'The Karmic Kick-Back, Blow-back is a bitch, innit?' I can't understand the poem. Maybe they're lyrics? He's doing the artwork for #VegAnarchyInTheUK and the band are in isolation booths in the studio, 2 metres (6 feet!) apart from each other but Andy is walking on top of the hills in a full hazmat suit setting up yet another satellite phone system at the ancient Roman encampment that is the Herefordshire Beacon. Oh, yes, Andy won't be answering any comments from you 'muggles' so don't bother. I think I've got it right. I am 'channeling' Andy from the top of the hills, he just texts me, tells me to close my eyes and start typing so...there we are, that's the 'hot take'. I'll come back when he's done a full review but he might not post it here, just to be contrary. The first tour after the virus is defeated is in the planning stage and there are t-shirts with a silhouette of someone who looks very much like Morrissey with the following words overlaid: "It Wuz 'Der Spiegel' Wot Don That Bitch!" and on the back it says "Take several seats, eat a party size bag of dicks. FcUKin do one Steven..#BCFC ...Mind-Zulu till we die". So, I guess he loves the album but dreams of Morrissey being used as an experimental subject for outlier vaccine possibilities? Look, it is what it is...don't stress over this...Andy won the war, there are great things in store, Inshallah!

"Salaam. Shalom. Pax Vobiscum: Bourdain, take your batshit soup recipe and stick it up your unlubed bum as you burn in hell, burn in hell, wet market proselytizing celebrity chefs: Burn in a Chinese wok-fired hell..

#VegAnarchyInWuhanHubei
is now
#VegAnarchyInTheUK
is now
#VegAnarchyInTheUSA:
#Cofid-19 demolished the #Globalist dream,
Tory command-control war economy?
Funny as fcUK: Surrealist Parliamentary scenes..

Boris is a dick. Boorish is a prick: Take my hat-pin and burst his Bullingdon balloon...a new world is coming...soon come, my friends...soon"


I just have to type it verbatim as it appears on the astral plane. I'm not allowed to proof-read or amend, just as I'm not allowed to respond to any inane 'replies. Find something else to do with your lives in this time of pandemic pandemonium. Seriously, squatting on a feckin 'fan' page all day and night. That used to be fun when the world was kinda boring but now...we are in a new existential dimension and so is Morrissey, whether he likes it or not, ignores it or not, understands it or not. It will be fun to watch him melt under pressure once he realises this virus isn't what he's thought it is...etc.

That's all folks!
The transmission is ending...

Andy says: "stay as safe as you can and I'll l see you on the other side of the panic-pandemonium, if it be God's will"

best wishes
for/on behalf of 'BrummieBoy

Sharon 'Shazza' McCormick -
Secretary [Keeper Of Secrets]


'Well....what have we here? I was totally not expecting this...'Wow' doesn't begin to capture it..
Gobsmacked from full frontal #ShockAndAwe, after his reputational implosion for talking total shite, totally bizarre to find that 'I Am Not A Dog On A Chain' is an album of baffling genius songs and lyrics, none more so than this one...10/10. Flawless...so are many other songs...incredible ascent from the abyss... still thinks he's a moron politically but... Art isn't Politics, at least not always...an exquisite voice, the voice of a serpent but... exquisite...just...gorgeous...

"Time will mold you and craft you
But soon, when you're looking away
It will slide up and shaft you
Oh, time
Oh, time
No friend of mine

Mama, mama and teddy bear
Were the first full firm spectrum of time
Now my hurling days are done
And there's no one to tell and there's nowhere to run

Time, a blossoming clover
But soon it will say, "Okay, come on son, bend over"
Oh, time
Oh, time
No friend of mine

Oh mama, mama and teddy bear
Were the first full firm spectrum of time
But now my hurling days are done
And there's no one to tell and there's nowhere to run

Time places no pressure on you
But soon it explains what it means by the Funky Alfonso
Oh, time
Oh, time
No friend of mine

Oh mama, mama and teddy bear
Were the first full firm spectrum of time
But now my hurling days are done
And there is no one to tell and there's nowhere to run

Time will send you an invoice
And you pay with your strength and your legs and your sight and your voice

Oh mama, mama and teddy bear
Were the first full firm spectrum of time
But now my hurling days are done
And there is no one to tell and there's nowhere to run..."

Morrissey finally comes out of the closet...and reveals he's always been a massive fan of the Pet Shop Boys....this is just...wonderful!
Morrissey is back in several blasts of absolute genius songcraft and lyrical flow...if anyone told me he could pull his fat ass out of the fire at this stage of the game....stunning...10/10...flawless track.

"Childish mind anticipates
Grown-up mind consummates

I walked with my grandmother
Down a windblown Chester Road
With her fifty-two new pence
For her twenty number-tens

And my forty-five pence too
Demand 'Metal Guru'
Once with hearts securely stacked
Then we walked all the way back

I walked with my grandmother
Along the groan of Talbot Road
In the gardens by the graves
I can just about behave

Arrogant and paranoid
All around, see fathead youth
Look into their brutal eyes
But only if you want the truth

Once I saw the river clean
Scratching up the latest scheme
Time will come but it hasn't yet
Someone's out to get me

I walked with my grandmother
Cornbread street, we're incomplete
She would never be again
A Dublin dancer, free and young..."

Hilarious. He's the Millwall fan of popular music: "everybody hates me but i don't care..fcUKin do one!" I think he's a total prat politically but I do admire people who say what they want, don't let eejits wag their finger as they scold and who respond with two fingers to the horror of growing old..well done, Morrissey! Never thought you still had this in you. Totally OTT emotional ventilation about real and imagined slights, enemies or just raging against the coming long dark night. Perfecto!

"I am not a dog on a chain
I use my own brain
I do not read newspapers
They are troublemakers
Listen out for what's not shown to you
And there you'll find the truth
For in a civilized and careful way
They'll sculpture all your views.."

"Love is broken down, it's on its way out
Did you see the headlines?
Did you see the grablines?
Did you see the nerve gassed children crying?
Did you see the sad rich
Hunting down, shooting down elephants and lions?
Love is on its way out..."

Rich obese American bastards hunting wild animals in Africa...rich slim Chinese eating wild animals in Wuhan...all roads from #VegAnarchyInWuhanHubei lead to #VegAnarchyInTheUK and on to #VegAnarchyInTheUSA....

My favourite track, a simply extraordinary vocal summit of Everest....shockingly good...such a surprise after his alt-right bullshit induced demise...
"Love is broken down, it's on its way out
Did you see the headlines?
Did you see the grablines?
Did you see the nerve gassed children crying?
Did you see the sad rich
Hunting down, shooting down elephants and lions?
Love is on its way out..."

Another five star review.

 

[Mozzer1980]

Sometimes He drives me mad. I hate photoshops on Morrissey Central and stupid posts about charts, especially those in Poland.
But the MUSIC defends itself again. The weakest link in this album is Thelma Houston. Damn it, this is a great album with a few thrilling moments.

1 Jim Jim Falls 9/10

2 Love Is on Its Way Out 8/10

3 Bobby, Don't You Think They Know? 6/10

4.I Am Not a Dog on a Chain 7/10

5 What Kind of People Live in These Houses? 7/10

6 Knockabout World 8/10

7 Darling, I Hug a Pillow 6/10

8 Once I Saw the River Clean 7/10

9 The Truth About Ruth 6/10

10 The Secret of Music 8/10

11 My Hurling Days Are Done 9/10


Btw , worse than Thelma is awful CD gat-fold packing with "tiny lirycs "
But as I mentioned earlier, music music and music ....

 

[Deleted member 29417]

I agree with you, he's a wordsmith. But he has always written his vocal melodies - he obviously has a good ear for music to be able to do this so skillfully. Marr said that they used to watch him in the studio only hearing his contribution when he was actually recording it - and they'd be in awe at his talent for this.

The 'song' is only complete when Moz has added his words - so in that sense he is a songwriter as much as the musicians who do not 'complete' the songs but only present instrumentals.

He does enough to have a credit for the music if he wanted to, but for some reason he doesn't.