On the Shelf 194: Morrissey
Jul. 5th, 2019 07:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bedsitter23Artists are bastards.
Some of my favorite artists have major flaws.
So what to make of Morrissey, indeed, my favorite of all artists, as he seemingly comes across as a racist these days.
It is easy to say either thing- “I’m done with him” or “it doesn’t matter one bit” but neither seems fair.
He has become a cranky old man like the poet Philip Larkin, and there is actually some romance in seeing the Moz as an old man cursing kids on his lawn, the Sun, and anything else that crosses his path. Unfortunately, in the current culture, it means everyone wants to put a mic in his face so they can run news stories.
Of course, these days, I can enjoy his music quite legally without putting much money in his coffers. Any moral quandary that I may have does seem lessened.
I have not always agreed with the critics since his career hits its apex with a steadily ascending success that resulted in a Billboard Hot 100 hit and had leveled off.
Looking back, you can see a solid enough singles career. Critics probably overstated his case but there are moments. I always credited him working with Tony Visconti as some of his best work, but that may have been overstating things. Indeed, the previous You Are The Quarry and the follow up Years is Refusal now stand up as rather worthwhile records- a few great songs with some filler. My at-the-time regaling of Ringleader of the Tormentors has cooled, but these three albums in a 6 year span probably deserves some praise.
This decade finds Moz lyrically bereft, but producer Joe Chiccarelli (a Zappa alumni, of all things) does seem to capture a strong vocal every time out.
Moz now comes with a covers record. As a fan, I have always felt Moz’s weakest moments are the covers. Work is a Four Letter Word, What’s the World, Skin Storm are songs I could go the rest of my life never hearing again.
On the other hand, improbably, a cover of The Pretenders’ “Back on the Chain Gang” actually worked. So maybe?
That Moz has a touch of Sinatra in him, I tend to group him with Marc Almond at times. Marc doesn’t gather the attention Moz does.
Almond is all over the place - from obscure spoken word records and collaborations with Coil and Michael Cashmore to albums produced by Chris Braide (Britney, Beyoncé, Sia, Christina Aguilera) and a collaboration with Jools Holland’s Big Band.
Would’ve Moz taken these chances? Bold in directive, a five year timeframe saw Almond move into trip hop, reunite (!) his famous band, and cover otherwise unheard Russian composers. I consider all those discs necessary purchases.
Oddly, both have come to a point in there career, where they are releasing covers albums. (Almond just had a Visconti detour as well- the Dancing Marquis which is fantastic and shows what Moz could have been able to do). While Almond’s recent cover work is hardly essential, he has always been indebted to Judy Garland, Johnnie Ray and Gene Pitney to name a few, and it shows. Meanwhile, Moz comes off a bit Fat Elvis.
It is easier to dismiss Moz’s attitude when the output isn’t very good.
Much has been made of the selections on Moz’s covers disc. Critics like to call it a mockery of left wing politics, but they are overthinking it. Yes, you could jump to that conclusion, but I think this is simply a collection of songs that Moz grew up with - Dylan, Joni, Ochs, Hardin, Buffy St Marie, Melanie. The titles are also a give away- he’s name checked “Loneliness Remembers What Happiness Forgets”, his love for Joni Mitchell is well documented and “Suffer the Children”, c'mon.
Things start off promising enough with a cover of Jobriath’s”Morning Starship”. It’s a faithful version which 1) shows how talented the original singer was and 2) would have worked well as a Morrissey b-side.
Quickly, we find out why this album doesn’t work. Critics had fun writing reviews about how he “subverted” Dylan, Ochs and the other liberal voices, but truth be told, Morrissey is ultimately soulless in his interpretations.
It is telling that the best moment is Gary Puckett’s “Lady Willpower”- a big production that features Moz as the type of Vegas lounge singer that SNL has parodied for decades (Bill Murray, Will Ferrell).
Almost as Moz had been one of the early British Elvises he idolized, and was an otherwise generic pop singer. Orbison should work, but “It’s Over” doesn’t quite warrant repeat listenings.
On”Loneliness...”, Moz mimics Dionne Warwick to the point, one instinctively goes to stop the track and look for hers.
Most will know “Wedding Bell Blues” from the 5th Dimension. If you’re digging for a story, the lyrics unchanged become about same sex love. Unfortunately, it’s not even camp. Something your parents listened to on the AM, it is the worst of possibilities- it’s just lame.
At best, these songs could be B-sides. Closer “Some say I got Devil” has some signs of life, but as the record ends, we are left asking what is the point and where is the Morrissey we loved. Morrissey s folk musings make Bobby Darrin's folk musings (he also covered Hardin and Buffy St Marie) look like Smiths era Morrissey.
Chicarelli once again seems to get the best vocal performance of Morrissey possible. There are, of course, many guest stars (Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, Petra Haden, members of Broken Social Scene, Young the Giant, and Grizzly Bear)
So, like the similarly Omni-monikered Glenn Danzig. A covers album sounds great (and something we looked forward to), but far removed from fronting a groundbreaking bands and closer to “Fox News special guest” territory. What we thought we might want, we no longer want. That Moz has entered Tom Jones territory is less fun that it sounds.
Some of my favorite artists have major flaws.
So what to make of Morrissey, indeed, my favorite of all artists, as he seemingly comes across as a racist these days.
It is easy to say either thing- “I’m done with him” or “it doesn’t matter one bit” but neither seems fair.
He has become a cranky old man like the poet Philip Larkin, and there is actually some romance in seeing the Moz as an old man cursing kids on his lawn, the Sun, and anything else that crosses his path. Unfortunately, in the current culture, it means everyone wants to put a mic in his face so they can run news stories.
Of course, these days, I can enjoy his music quite legally without putting much money in his coffers. Any moral quandary that I may have does seem lessened.
I have not always agreed with the critics since his career hits its apex with a steadily ascending success that resulted in a Billboard Hot 100 hit and had leveled off.
Looking back, you can see a solid enough singles career. Critics probably overstated his case but there are moments. I always credited him working with Tony Visconti as some of his best work, but that may have been overstating things. Indeed, the previous You Are The Quarry and the follow up Years is Refusal now stand up as rather worthwhile records- a few great songs with some filler. My at-the-time regaling of Ringleader of the Tormentors has cooled, but these three albums in a 6 year span probably deserves some praise.
This decade finds Moz lyrically bereft, but producer Joe Chiccarelli (a Zappa alumni, of all things) does seem to capture a strong vocal every time out.
Moz now comes with a covers record. As a fan, I have always felt Moz’s weakest moments are the covers. Work is a Four Letter Word, What’s the World, Skin Storm are songs I could go the rest of my life never hearing again.
On the other hand, improbably, a cover of The Pretenders’ “Back on the Chain Gang” actually worked. So maybe?
That Moz has a touch of Sinatra in him, I tend to group him with Marc Almond at times. Marc doesn’t gather the attention Moz does.
Almond is all over the place - from obscure spoken word records and collaborations with Coil and Michael Cashmore to albums produced by Chris Braide (Britney, Beyoncé, Sia, Christina Aguilera) and a collaboration with Jools Holland’s Big Band.
Would’ve Moz taken these chances? Bold in directive, a five year timeframe saw Almond move into trip hop, reunite (!) his famous band, and cover otherwise unheard Russian composers. I consider all those discs necessary purchases.
Oddly, both have come to a point in there career, where they are releasing covers albums. (Almond just had a Visconti detour as well- the Dancing Marquis which is fantastic and shows what Moz could have been able to do). While Almond’s recent cover work is hardly essential, he has always been indebted to Judy Garland, Johnnie Ray and Gene Pitney to name a few, and it shows. Meanwhile, Moz comes off a bit Fat Elvis.
It is easier to dismiss Moz’s attitude when the output isn’t very good.
Much has been made of the selections on Moz’s covers disc. Critics like to call it a mockery of left wing politics, but they are overthinking it. Yes, you could jump to that conclusion, but I think this is simply a collection of songs that Moz grew up with - Dylan, Joni, Ochs, Hardin, Buffy St Marie, Melanie. The titles are also a give away- he’s name checked “Loneliness Remembers What Happiness Forgets”, his love for Joni Mitchell is well documented and “Suffer the Children”, c'mon.
Things start off promising enough with a cover of Jobriath’s”Morning Starship”. It’s a faithful version which 1) shows how talented the original singer was and 2) would have worked well as a Morrissey b-side.
Quickly, we find out why this album doesn’t work. Critics had fun writing reviews about how he “subverted” Dylan, Ochs and the other liberal voices, but truth be told, Morrissey is ultimately soulless in his interpretations.
It is telling that the best moment is Gary Puckett’s “Lady Willpower”- a big production that features Moz as the type of Vegas lounge singer that SNL has parodied for decades (Bill Murray, Will Ferrell).
Almost as Moz had been one of the early British Elvises he idolized, and was an otherwise generic pop singer. Orbison should work, but “It’s Over” doesn’t quite warrant repeat listenings.
On”Loneliness...”, Moz mimics Dionne Warwick to the point, one instinctively goes to stop the track and look for hers.
Most will know “Wedding Bell Blues” from the 5th Dimension. If you’re digging for a story, the lyrics unchanged become about same sex love. Unfortunately, it’s not even camp. Something your parents listened to on the AM, it is the worst of possibilities- it’s just lame.
At best, these songs could be B-sides. Closer “Some say I got Devil” has some signs of life, but as the record ends, we are left asking what is the point and where is the Morrissey we loved. Morrissey s folk musings make Bobby Darrin's folk musings (he also covered Hardin and Buffy St Marie) look like Smiths era Morrissey.
Chicarelli once again seems to get the best vocal performance of Morrissey possible. There are, of course, many guest stars (Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, Petra Haden, members of Broken Social Scene, Young the Giant, and Grizzly Bear)
So, like the similarly Omni-monikered Glenn Danzig. A covers album sounds great (and something we looked forward to), but far removed from fronting a groundbreaking bands and closer to “Fox News special guest” territory. What we thought we might want, we no longer want. That Moz has entered Tom Jones territory is less fun that it sounds.
