World Peace is way better than Years of Refusal for me - which I have always thought was the nadir of Moz's recording career. World Peace was the start of his finding his way again, via Low in High School, and culminating with Dog. And it does look like Bonfire is maybe better than Dog as an album. Without Music we haven't heard enough of yet.
I could NOT agree less!
I didn’t think anyone disliked LIHS more than me, but alas…
Thank you for that. You have to love Moz to answer this question so honestly.
Personally I think Joe C has worked some minor miracles on numerous Morrissey songs during his tenure as producer. The problem isn't JC - it's the fact that a large chunk of recent songs haven't been very good. You can hear the producer desperately throwing everything at the material to try and add some sonic texture and interest, but ultimately a highly polished turd remains exactly that: a turd. No amount of production genius is going to turn material like 'Who Will Protect Us From the Police' into a good song - unless perhaps it's a producer with the nerve to say to Morrissey: "Listen, boss. This song just isn't cutting it. Take it away and come up with some better lyrics and vocal melodies, or bin it."
The 'unpleasant development in the lyrics' is also an interesting theme. There is a hint of nastiness in Low in High School that was remarked upon by many. The thing I loved about Dog is that it felt like the old Morrissey was back - singing about love and redemption. Did it take California Son for him to find that again?
I agree. He is not someone who can switch styles like New Order or Roxy Music, he is a bit limited in that way and he does not play instruments like Bernard or Bryan do. I think maybe his themes had a shelf life, that sort of teenage/young adult angst played well when he was younger but is not something you can sing about for your entire career. I thought he got a bit more grown up when he went solo, but refusing to tour on Viva Hate was just stupidity. He should have known then, as all people in their 30s or approaching their 30s realize that someday you will be past your peak, either professionally or personally or both and you have to make the most of it when you can. I think the Smiths ended when they should have, went out on a very high note and ended up being a good launching pad for M's solo career, but he does not have that kind of creative output now and hasn't for a while, at least in my opinion and maybe it's just time for him to stop being the diva and accept reality or retire. Or he can be the legacy act he seems to loathe, and play what people actually want to hear, it works for his contemporaries.
I agree, that IANADOAC is the best of the three original JC albums, though still not so good, that I can say for myself: Yes it is! Quarry was his LA album, ROTT was Rome, Refusal was living the outsider thing but from then on it got erratic. I don't need a romantic description of Instanbul holidays
Again: Couldn't agree more. But reality (without help) was never an option. He has his very own and sees a big conspiracy (remember the 4 people - or so - in the UK who were planning his downfall) against him and that's the MAIN reason, why he is not pinned on everybody's bedroom door or wall anymore.
True, he won't accept where he is at in life, and he won't accept how he got there, and he won't accept that he is his own worst enemy.
Never in my life would I have thought, in the 90s and 00s, that things would develop so negatively. Even after the good Swords tour and the concerts before WPINOYB, it was a joy and exciting experience to see the man in full halls or at open-air concerts. With WPINOYB it was more difficult to endure 9 tracks of the new record. You could really feel it in the audience. Friends with more distance to the artist now told me "It was clear that everything would turn out like this". Not for me. That's why I have such a problem with his public image. But I don't understand, how you can unconditionally defend him. A case of failing to provide assistance. In the collective memory of pop music listeners with reach, he ends up at Quarry at the latest.
