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MEBY review in Jan '99 AP Magazine
Posted on Thu, Dec 3 1998
by David T. <[email protected]>
From Sammy Sanchez:

This is what the articleread:

Sporadically brilliant odds-and-ends collection from the last quintessentially English pop star.

My Early Burglary Years isn't a "new" Morrissey album, but a seemingly haphazard compilation of singles, b-sides, album tracks and oddities; and, as such, it's an inevitably patchy collection littered withoutstanding moments.

Morrissey's greatest triumph as leader of the Smiths was to reverse the "stylemag" values of the '80s Mainstream pop espoused by the likes of Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet. It's hardly surprising, then, that well over a decade later, the singer's solo records have become decreasingly relevant with time and that the Last Quintessentially English Pop Star seems lost and unsure about his place in the grand scheme of things. This lessened impact is accentuated by the fact that the most thrilling and vital music in the '90s has been created by the DJs and electronica artists who have no place within Stephen[sic] Patrick's personal aesthetic - though listening to his recent a-sides collection, I was struck by how experimental and downright weird much of Morrissey's early oeuvre sounds.

For me, though, the singer became a little less interesting around the time that he claimed he no longer read newspapers; that he'd literally stopped caring. Tellingly, then, by far the best song on "Burglary Years" is also the most compassionate: On "Boxers," Morrissey perversely summons up some tenderness for the title's bowed and bloodied pugilist.

(REPRISE) David Hemingway

I don't know how to take this review. I personally love both Morrissey and the album, by far one of my favourites, and AP gave it a 3 "Ear Candy for Fans of This Style". Go figure.


Comments / Notes



I reviewed the album at www.section3.com
in the album review section (how clever).

Being a fan, I thought I was very fair.
My publisher would prefer you visit the
site and not copy the content to here.
There is a link on section 3 to here.


jm <[email protected]>
- Fri, Dec 04, 1998 at 10:21:17 (PST)



Perhaps I missed something, but a large portion of the MEBY review made no sense. First, the reviewer states that the vital music of the 90's is electronic. Why would they assign a fan of traditionally unemotional electronic music to review Morrissey? Second, the reviewer seems perplexed by Morrissey's "weird" sound. MEBY is a collection of B-sides. I'm not quite sure what the reviewer is getting at by using the word "weird". If every song Morrissey released sounded like sterotypical Moz, then Morrissey would be criticized for not moving on. I can understand if the reviewer does not like the album, everyone has different tastes, but his reasons seem misguided. Perhaps there was a deadline. Why did the reviewer lose interest in Moz's music when Morrissey "stopped reading newspapers"? That statement makes no sense. How many DJ's or electronica's read the New York Times from cover to cover? Could the reviewer decipher an informed DJ from an uniformed DJ?
I also wonder why the reviewer says he lost interest in a supposed "uncaring" Moz, yet he claims the most important music of the nineties is DJ & electronic. It would be hard to make an argument that the worst song on MEBY has less emotion than the best DJ "song".

Cory <[email protected]>
- Fri, Dec 04, 1998 at 22:44:59 (PST)





* return to Morrissey-solo