Word: morrissey
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...brush on the most sincere and melancholic topics like love and disappointment. These skills have persisted in his solo albums, although he has lost much of his wit and he occasionally comes off like an inarticulate confessional poet. In “The Never-Played Symphonies,” Morrissey sings, “You were one / You meant to be one / And you jumped into my face / And kissed me on the cheek / And then were gone.” This track, indicative of a prevalent flaw on “Swords,” reveals Morrissey scraping...
...although 50 years old and no longer bearing the sharp chin and product-heavy ’80s hairdo—continues to be exceptionlly prolific, having issued nine solo albums since the disbanding of The Smiths in 1987. “Swords,” the second Morrissey album released this year, is a compilation of 18 B-sides off singles from “You Are the Quarry” (2004), “Ringleader of the Tormentors” (2006), and last February’s “Years of Refusal.” Like those...
...fact, the songs on “Swords” are so poor that the finest track is the one not penned by Morrissey. “Drive-In Saturday,” a live David Bowie cover, showcases Morrissey’s vocal talents even though it barely elaborates on the original. But with his bold, elongated proclamations, Morrissey—who once was the U.K. branch president of the New York Dolls fan club—at least does justice to his passion for ’70s glam-rock. Elsewhere, album closer “Because...
...People Saying Goodbye”—the track most recalling The Smiths with its jangly Johnny Marr guitar—highlights Morrissey’s idiosyncratic singing until a harp budges in and confuses the mood. The depressive lyrics hit a little too close to home, as Morrissey seems somewhat conscious of his own recent mediocrity: “At one time the future / Did stretch out before me / But now / It stretched behind...
...music still bore some indications of talent that helped make The Smiths one of the greatest British bands of the 1980s. “Swords,” however, contains only the disappointing aspects, too disappointing to even make it to the studio albums. It seems as though Morrissey has employed every single instrument and producing effect to cover up the nauseating mediocrity of the songs. Instead, they do nothing but highlight...