His most under rated album imo.
Not really.
Per meteacritic it has a higher number of positive reviews than any of his post-2004 albums, including You Are the Quarry.
Per Pitchfork's rating it got a better numerical score than not only Ringleaders, Swords, and World Peace, but also the Viva Hate, Your Aresenal, Vauxhall reissues (which I can never tell if said reviews are of the reissue, as a reissue or of the overall quality of the albums). In fact, the only two albums to get higher scores than it are the Bona Drag reissue (which Bona Drag is probably quite frankly the best work of his entire solo career--though I suspect many on here will argue with me) and You Are the Quarry.
None of these reviews mean anything to me, but I have long since used them to point out to people on this forum who exist in an alternative version of reality and like to make silly claims about Years of Refusal being of universally recognized poor quality, hence why his career fell apart.
Shit then, shit now.
Having said that, it's still preferable to that nonsense he put out last summer. I still haven't had the patience or determination to sit through the entirety of 'World Peace...'.
Shit then, shit now.
Having said that, it's still preferable to that nonsense he put out last summer. I still haven't had the patience or determination to sit through the entirety of 'World Peace...'.
I don't go on Pitchfork so I don't know but opinion of it on here seems pretty dim. Agree on Bona Drag.
Oh I know. Opinion of that album on here is pretty universally that it is a terrible record--and responsible for any number of Morrissey's woes.
I don't usually go on Pitchfork very much, but they do seem to consistently review Morrissey albums. It was just a random review site I picked.
All Music Guide gave it four stars--same as Quarry and only half a star away from Viva Hate, Bona Drag, Your Arsenal, and Vauxhall and I.
Critically, it is one of his most acclaimed albums. I don't put much stock in that sort of thing, but I do find it odd given the naysayers on here. Than again to be totally fair I get the sense that people here seem to like World Peace much more than the commercial critics do.
I can imagine it gets highly rated, not so much on artistic merit, but because it's probably the most accessible of his recent work. Lets be real, Morrissey's recent output is usually only liked by core fans. I'd imagine that he could right the absolute best song he's ever written and people would yawn and ask him to play suedehead or there is a light. This is a rocking album for better or worse and it's one that could get someone interested. Moz-lite.