Pitchfork review by Mina Tavakoli - IANADOAC 6.1/10

Boring review.

Doesn't know anything about politics or old male writers.

Barely mentions the album & seems to think that it aiming barbs at newspapers, television, big game hunters & a clothing company that uses fur is narrow-minded rantings from The Manosphere.

Conde Nast should be ashamed. That's their standard now.
 
Yes, as an album review this fails, because it barely mentions the album. But as an essay on Morrissey now, I think it's very perceptive.
 
Yes, as an album review this fails, because it barely mentions the album. But as an essay on Morrissey now, I think it's very perceptive.

In what way?

It also manages to negatively label anyone who is still a fan as if we're all bad or stupid & insults Latin Americans.
 
In what way?

It also manages to negatively label anyone who his still a fan as if we're all bad or stupid & insults Latin Americans.

I think the comparisons to Houllebecq and Bret Easton Ellis (I have read everything by both writers) are interesting and valid. The writer's description of "those who have actively chosen to forgo Morrissey (the man) for Morrissey (the feeling)" perfectly suits my current attitude to him, so personally I don't feel insulted.

BTW: Why do you think he insults Latin Americans? I Think "disproportionate number" refers to the fact that people there very rarely take a liking to an eccentric English indie/art rock singer like they have done with Morrissey.
 
I think the comparisons to Houllebecq and Bret Easton Ellis (I have read everything by both writers) are interesting and valid. The writer's description of "those who have actively chosen to forgo Morrissey (the man) for Morrissey (the feeling)" perfectly suits my current attitude to him, so personally I don't feel insulted.

BTW: Why do you think he insults Latin Americans? I Think "disproportionate number" refers to the fact that people there very rarely take a liking to an eccentric English indie/art rock singer like they have done with Morrissey.

Because she singled Latin Americans out as part of a fanbase she's deriding.

Morrissey has said almost nothing to get cancelled. It's literally a few pull-quotes & a pin. Bret gets cancelled on Twitter every other week & engages extensively in these debates. Michel has been writing about & discussing Islam & its relation to France seriously & in depth for years. She's picked them because they're old, male & she's heard they're problematic.

& she links to articles that don't back up the things she's claiming. For example Moz's terrible stance on immigration is linked to a 2007 article about him taking the NME to court.

It's a heap of shallow recieved opinions.
 
Because she singled Latin Americans out as part of a fanbase she's deriding.

The sentence goes: "His present fanbase is survived by the morose, the nostalgic, the unaware, a disproportionate number of Latinxs, and those who have actively chosen to forgo Morrissey (the man) for Morrissey (the feeling). " At least the last two groups are mentioned in a neutral manner. Like I said, I don't feel offended.
 
I would suggest that "a disproportionate number of Latinxs" is indelicately phrased. "Large" instead of "disproportionate" would have worked equally well.

But in a time of global pandemic, maybe I shouldn't be spending time on detailed analysis of a bloody Pitchfork review!!
 
The sentence goes: "His present fanbase is survived by the morose, the nostalgic, the unaware, a disproportionate number of Latinxs, and those who have actively chosen to forgo Morrissey (the man) for Morrissey (the feeling). " At least the last two groups are mentioned in a neutral manner. Like I said, I don't feel offended.

That's not neutral. She's literally saying that all Morrissey fans are emotional or deluded or Latin American (which is not flattering).

If only we were as clued up as her, we wouldn't be fans.

I don't think she's shown any insight into politics, Morrissey or music, so IMO she's in no position to judge anyone.
 
I would suggest that "a disproportionate number of Latinxs" is indelicately phrased. "Large" instead of "disproportionate" would have worked equally well.

But in a time of global pandemic, maybe I shouldn't be spending time on detailed analysis of a bloody Pitchfork review!!

I think she used disproportionate because she means 'why do so many Latin Americans like this dreadful man'.
 
That's not neutral. She's literally saying that all Morrissey fans are emotional or deluded or Latin American (which is not flattering).

If that's your reading of what she's saying, you're entitled to it. How would you describe your own reasons for being a fan?
 
I don't honestly know how anyone can review this album without mentioning that the last minute or so of "Darling, I Hug a Pillow" is one of the most gorgeous pieces of music ever made.
 
If that's your reading of what she's saying, you're entitled to it. How would you describe your own reasons for being a fan?

Clear-sighted appreciation of talent.

And I like him as a person.

People who demonize him based on next to nothing are being ridiculous.
 
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Once again, another far too kind review. It’s a 3/10 album at very best.
 
Pitchfork reviewers are hacks that are dedicated to the hipster, vape smoking, woke people

I preferred Kermit Girl because she didn't even pretend, she was full-on 'old men who criticize Islam are pieces of shit'.

To be fair, reading them does make me wish I lived in a theocracy that would block their websites.
 
The only problem with this is review is that it says everything it's got to say in the first paragraph.

It's like someone going, 'I went on holiday, some of it was good and some was bad' then proceeding to give you ten minutes on checking in at the airport.

Incidentally, 6.1 is an odd score isn't it?
 
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"But Morrissey’s bitterness is firm and stolid, an adamance to self-righteousness that creates a moral and aesthetic compass by which to navigate a system that—as he wails in “Knockabout World,” the second single—turned him 'into a public target.'"

The writer of this abominable sentence is in the business of criticizing other people's writing.
 
I don't honestly know how anyone can review this album without mentioning that the last minute or so of "Darling, I Hug a Pillow" is one of the most gorgeous pieces of music ever made.
It’s beautiful isn’t it. I wanted it to go on forever.
 
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