2004. He’d been gone for nigh-on seven years but he was back. Morrissey. The last we’d heard from him as a recording artist was 1997 and we didn’t care much for what he was doing. But here he was, sporting a maroon suit and a machine gun on the cover of You Are The Quarry, holding down a residency on the “Late Late Show”, and getting to number one in the UK album charts. Seemingly happy, confident, triumphant, and still be-quiffed, Steven Patrick had returned with a vengeance and received a welcome acknowledgment as one of the greats — we’d missed him, he was a treasure, and the musical landscape was far more interesting with him around. 
You Are The Quarry was just the album to come back with, elevating Morrissey from someone with a great back-catalogue to someone who actually had a great album out. In 2006 its follow-up, Ringleader of the Tormentors, was as well-received, and it seemed like he was here to stay. I caught him on tour in 2007 and it was great — an exciting and energetic show in Baltimore that was essentially a love-fest between the man and his fans; we were so happy to have him back and him so happy to be back. But pop is fast-moving, moreso now than ever — could Morrissey keep up? Or would he join the ranks of the journeymen, putting out albums every couple of years to be heard by the fans and ignored by the rest?
It’s now 2009 and with the release of Years of Refusal, it seems Morrissey has decided that regular output is the way to go. Not a bad thing as having Morrissey around is much better than having him languish in bitter obscurity. But does the album do him justice?
It starts off well enough. “Something Is Squeezing My Skull” begins with the rockier guitar sound he’s been using of late. And then that voice, that voice kicks in, as good as it ever was (it really is — his oh-whoa-whoas could be from a much younger Moz). Most of the tracks keep the harder rock edge and faster tempos. The new Morrissey is beefier than the old: bigger and thicker and more physically confident. And the music reflects this change: it’s thick and loud and fast and has little time for self-doubt or insecurity. That’s quite refreshing but it doesn’t work on every song; “Mama Lay Softly On The Bed” is quite hard to listen to, not least because of the horrible military beat that runs throughout the song. “That’s How People Grow Up” is also pretty stodgy, and is quite redundant lyrically — how many times have we heard Morrissey refute religion in song before? Indeed, Morrissey seems to go over the same ground in many of the songs here, themes that he’s touched upon before: having no one to love, being loved by no one, and how he won’t forgive his foes.
There are definitely bright moments though. “Black Cloud”, “When I Last I Spoke To Carol”, and “One Day Goodbye Will Become Farewell” all display a Latin influence that changes things up nicely. A poppier, sweeter sound is displayed on “I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris”. The best tracks, however, come towards the end of the album, and contrast quite sharply with the harder, faster, sounds that make up the bulk of it.
“It’s Not Your Birthday Anymore” is a full five minutes long and it’s as if the track is given room to breath and grow — it’s not racing towards the end like “Skull” or “Carol”; instead, it’s given time to build up, then come down, then build up again. “You Were Good In Your Time” is all David Arnold-style strings and could be on the soundtrack to a James Bond film — if James Bond were retiring. It’s far slinkier than anything else on the album, and ends with an ominous two minute instrumental that seems to sample the TARDIS, a French film, electronic sounds, and strings, all while underwater. It’s not groundbreaking but it is good and it suits this older confident Morrissey more than the rock bravado we see elsewhere here.
So there we have it. Is it an essential album? No. But there are moments of transcendence, and almost every song has a chorus displaying a classic Morrissey touch. He’s still here and songs like “You Were Good In Your Time” and “It’s Not Your Birthday Anymore” bode well for the future, as does the confidence on display throughout the album — confidence without the need to be defiant is when Morrissey is at his best. “I’m doing very well,” he says, and I’m inclined to agree with him.
Years of Refusal is out February 17, 2009.
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