silent and grey writes:

"You are the Quarry" only merited one and a half out of four stars in the eyes of reviewer Jim DeRogatis in Sunday's edition of the Chicago Sun-Times.

"Dropping out of sight for seven years is the smartest thing that Morrissey could have done: Other pop stars whose well-crafted personas border on the obnoxious should really try it (Madonna, are you listening?). As a result, the 45-year-old singer's return is being greeted as the musical equivalent of the second coming. But "You Are the Quarry" shows that Moz has nothing new in his bag of tricks: If you were a fan of his post-Smiths solo output, you'll love these 12 new songs. If you weren't, you'll still be wondering what the fuss is about.

Morrissey is fronting a standard two-guitars, bass and drums quintet (with keyboard help from Jellyfish veteran Roger Manning), but the music is disappointingly anemic, lacking the bite and the bottom to punctuate his acerbic lyrics. Contrary to what his cult would have you believe, the singer is not rock's answer to Oscar Wilde; his hyperbolic hubris can indeed be amusing (as on "The World Is Full of Crashing Bores"), but it can also be off-putting ("I Have Forgiven Jesus"). And he still isn't able to view the world at large outside the filter of his own infamous obsessions.

"America, it brought you the hamburger/Well, America, you know where you can shove your hamburger ," the celebrated vegetarian sings in the opening "America Is Not the World," which puts our imperialism in the context of our addiction to fast food. Meat may be murder, but empty-headed political criticism is crap.

We've been here and done this before, and with better results. If Morrissey is determined to live in the past, he should just bury the hatchet with his ex-mates and revive the Smiths. At least then the music would justify the hoopla."