Morrissey- Your Arsenal

Morrissey- Your Arsenal

It’s a good album. That’s about it. Or, should I elaborate? OK. If I must…

First off, I must say that I love the album cover. It is the most sexual cover in Morrissey’s career. He looks immaculate, and yes, hot as hell! I’ve always theorized that there are two Morrisseys. One who is very photogenic and sexy, and one whose worst enemy is the camera and who constantly looks dorky. Some record covers show him as gorgeous while others show him as extremely homely. I’m glad to report that the cover of his latest release, Your Arsenal, showcases the former. The apparent sexual overtone of the photo is so overt, that I cannot imagine it being accidental. The position of that huge microphone is definitely not a coincidence.

Next, let’s discuss the song titles. As usual, the titles of his songs are highly unusual. This is a signature move that dates back to his days as front man for The Smiths. The titles of his songs have a way of being humorously moronic and pretentiously charming. Past titles like “King Leer,” “November Spawned A Monster,” and “Hairdresser On Fire” are equaled on this effort with titles like “You’re The One For Me Fatty,” “Glamorous Glue,” and “We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful.” As you can tell, the usual marathon length of the titles has not changed either.

What has changed is the man himself. Morrissey has finally realized what I knew all along: he is much better in a group setting. In a group, like when he was with The Smiths, Morrissey’s depressing and pretentious lyrical themes were perfectly complemented by Johnny Marr’s cheerful rock n roll music. When Morrissey is left on his own for too long, we get stuff like the near-horrible Kill Uncle. I thought Kill Uncle was boring and filled with dirge-like songs, heavy on synthesizers and drum machines, that did nothing to balance out his melodramatic conceits.

Now, using the perfect band he used on the Kill Uncle tour, Morrissey once again sounds refreshing and spontaneous. The upbeat, guitar oriented music on Your Arsenal serves as a perfect juxtaposition to his tragic persona. This blend of happiness and sadness, with a dash of irreverence, is the formula that wove the magic of The Smiths’ success.

Your Arsenal is a chock full of entertaining and accessible, yet by no means ordinary, pop songs. The musical styles range from the hard guitar driven “You’re Going To Need Someone On Your Side” to the catchy hook of “National Front Disco” to the slow drone of “Seasick, Yet Still Docked.” The music on the album is exciting and at times even sounds like it has the influences of Garage or Rockabilly music. I believe this is because there is less studio production involved and more “jamming” between the fine musicians he has under his employ.

Morrissey’s voice even sounds stronger and more confident than in his previous outings. His whine has receded a bit from the highly annoying to the mildly tragic. This makes the lyrics on Your Arsenal poignant enough without sounding trite. And trust me, with song titles like these it is hard for the lyrics not to sound silly. But Morrissey deftly pulls it off.

Overall, it is a really good compilation of new Morrissey material. I guess it is named Your Arsenal because Morrissey expected it to be used as cannon fodder against him by his critics. I don’t know what anyone else is planning to throw at him, but as for this critic, Your Arsenal stands as one of Morrissey’s best efforts and is music of the purest kind. Go Moz!