chrisarclark
Boycott Moz
"Family Line," "There Is A Place...," and maybe "Our Frank" are all pretty good Moz songs. The rest are his typical early-90s period "novelty" songs, and pretty much absolutely blow.
It's common wisdom that "Driving Your Girlfriend Home" is a great Morrissey song on a bad album. Meh. I don't really agree. Had it been on any other album, it would have been totally forgettable. That tells you something.
Kill Uncle is easily the worst Morrissey album of all time. It has no compelling singles and only a few good album tracks. Its only saving grace is that its tour kicked ass.
Someone else upthread said that You Are the Quarry is Morrissey's most overrated album. What rubbish. Quarry is easily one of Morrissey's most compelling albums. "How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel?" and "America Is Not the World" are the only two iffy songs on the album. The singles from Quarry are some of his best ever, I think, and the depth that songs like "I'm Not Sorry," the gorgeous "Come Back to Camden," and "The World Is Full of Crashing Bores" offers makes it a remarkable work.
im sorry- the "depth" of "The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores"? ilike the song, but "depth"? im not sure ieven buy in completely to the supposed depth of "I'm Not Sorry" and "Come Back To Camden" (again, two songs ienjoy, but they feel more like the work seasoned pop balladeer than a genuine aching heart).
you want depth? listen to "Our Frank", "Driving Your Girlfriend Home", "(I'm) The End Of The Family Line" and "There's A Place In Hell For Me And My Friends". those are songs that really get to the core of Morrissey.
if Kill Uncle is the most underrated album of Morrissey's career (which it is), You Are The Quarry is surely the most overrated. ive ranted on before of the god awful production on the album- iwont do that again. but poor production aside, there is still a lot on Quarry that rings hollow when you try to get into it.
ilike "America Is Not The World", but it's fairly simplistic in its take on the US- igiv it a pass there thanks to the wonderful line "And I love yah, I just wish you'd stay where you is."
"Irish Blood, English Heart" is muddled- in its defence, ive reached to make sense of the lyric in the past, but at best it is poorly conveyed (and most likely it's juste a complete contradiction- and not ina clever way).
"I Have Forgiven Jesus" can feel like a three and a half minute excuse to use the title line ina song. iquite enjoy the day-by-day summation and the finale, but the early verses fairly dire.
"Come Back To Camden" and "I'm Not Sorry" are lovely, but as isaid, im not sure their anything more than the master at work- which is fine, but it's not like say, "Trouble Loves Me" or "Break Up The Family".
the pettiness and paranoia that begins to creep in songs like "The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores" and "How Could Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel?", and then later in the final two tracks, "I Like You" and "You Know I Couldn't Last" really marr the good feelings of a triumphant return for Morrissey. iwont go through and quote them all, but these lines make it a difficult record to sing along to as so much of it is completely absurd infantile- and much of it isnt even good lyrically, like the clunker toward the end of HCAPKHIF chastising the person in the "smelly uniform".
"First Of The Gang To Die" is simply the most overrated song of Morrissey's entire career. why everyone is so enamoured with this track is beyond me. comparisons of this track with some of Morrissey's truly great singles are laughable.
"Let Me Kiss You" is much along the lines of "... Camden" and "... Sorry"- not so much heartfelt, but excellent songs nonetheless. LMKY is particularly good lyrically- the phrasing is wonderful here.
oddly, ifind the only genuinely touching track on here is "All The Lazy Dykes". its depiction of a kept-in housewife is one of Morrissey's most vivd and endearing portraits ever- it's a great song.
ican enjoy Quarry from time to time, but ususally only when im not really paying attention- there are really too many things wrong with it to be truly enjoyable. it's also disappointing, becos it doesnt feel far off from being a masterpiece, but when you really get in there you find it's an ocean away. not only would isay it's his most overrated album, but You Are The Quarry competes in the basement with Maladjusted (with is unfortunate done in by two or three truly poor tracks) for Morrissey's worst album.
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