| Re: "Aging Morrissey delivers ridiculous pop," by Michael White, Music, May 20 — May 26, 2004.
Mr. White's cursory review of Morrissey's latest release, You are the Quarry clearly demonstrates a critic still stuck in the ’90s mentality of "let's tear down the Mancunian miserablist." His cries of insular writing, egocentric topics and, worst of all, shallow lyrics are simply indefensible. Would he criticize previous Smiths lyrics (such as "I'm a girl and you're a boy... lalalalalalalalala") as such? For it's sometimes that very simplicity which makes his verse so universally appealing. Stating the obvious, however controversial, has always been Morrissey's strong suit... Meat "is Murder," "The Queen is Dead," "America is not the World," "The World is Full of Crashing Bores." And Mr. White quite obviously skipped over the track "All the Lazy Dykes," which is probably one of the most heartfelt olive branches ever offered to the Lesbian community by a male singer – it's the absolute opposite of an egocentric, insular song!
The ages-old debate over the quality of Morrissey's songwriting team (Whyte/Boorer) will forever rage, if simply because the critics will never let go of Johnny Marr. What they fail to recognize is that Morrissey moved on in 1987 whle the rest of the world stood still. If anything, that writing team represents Morrissey today in musical terms, far better than Marr possibly could. He is a pop-singer. He's not a bedsit obscurist. His songs are catchy, radio-friendly tracks for a reason... he wants to draw people in! The progression in terms of production sees You are the Quarry make a quantum leap into the future from his previous two releases. He sounds thoroughly modern, and as a result has had his highest charting ever with both his single, "Irish Blood, English Heart" and, surely, with the album once the first week's sales are released.
Really, a rating of one out of five? Can anyone really believe that review is anything but sour grapes? I suppose that Hillary Duff's latest gets three out of five, right? The Morrissey movement of 2004 is clearly a boat that you've missed while slowly sinking in the 1984 Hatful of Hollow dinghy. As the great James Maker once quothe: "Evolve or perish." Words of wisdom.
Coulter Leslie
Via e-mail
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