ore than ever, people need their thinking shaken up. People are settling into rigid narratives as a means of belonging to a group, rather than standing up for truth. If you step out of line, whether you are on the right or the left, it is as though your group will abandon you to die. Consequently, no one questions their reality, and the division between left and right has been deemed victorious by the power-hungry elite. But apparently, it easier for the governments of the world to find scapegoats for the masses to divert their anger and attention towards.
Morrissey asks the listener to consider their soul, and question the mindless mainstream media messages that bombard them day and night.
Any ideology, religion, philosophy, or political movement that declares any set of questions forbidden is declaring itself an establishment that needs smashing. The world needs Morrissey’s agitation, even though it is uncomfortable. Those that find what he has to say to be nervous, clearly need his timely anxiety the most.
Nobody like Morrissey! Nobody like Morrissey sang the discomfort of the middle class without ever taking sides politically in his favor. Nobody like Morrissey threw to the winds a following of devoted fans did, ready to forgive many creative drifts. Nobody like Morrissey played Scrapbook Paper cover versions, just at the moment when the ‘appeal against critics and audiences borders on zero especially after putting on display a pin of the far-right party during For Britain a TV show.
With this background, talking of his latest album “California Son” is almost a waste of ink or words via the web, but before you dismiss this album as a useless exercise in style, or even as the lowest point in the career of the former Smiths, you should take a small step back.
After five years of absence, the return of the musician in 2014 with the excellent “World Peace Is None Of Your Business” He accompanied the transition from adulthood awareness to the resignation of senior citizens, even if only these days the artist has reached the edge of the 60 years. “California Son” so states the official entry at that stage of physical and psychological change more than others terrifies us mere mortals, and perhaps this is the reason that prompted Morrissey to turn our gaze to the past, putting together a list of songs that make you smile or cry, but most think.
The lavish production, and perhaps at times overabundant, Joe Chiccarelli (listen to the riot of strings and woodwinds in “Lady Willpower”) is perhaps not the most suitable for reconciling the English musician with the public, but it is also the only possible for a project that celebrates the ideological influences of the young Morrissey, revealing some unusual inconsistencies.
Not surprisingly, the artist has entrusted to a song by Roy Orbison (“It’s Over”) your hard anticipation, and to open “California Son” is an excellent version of a song of Jobriath “Morning Starship”: two points reference to the well-known stylistic musician’s fans.
The most significant surprise is that concerning the presence of many female writers: a choice that seems to contradict the well-known misogyny Moz. A respectful and enjoy reading a piece by Joni Mitchell (“Do not Interrupt The Sorrow”), a powerful version of “Suffer The Little Children” by Buffy Sainte-Marie (the title, of course, many will remember a Smiths song) reconciled the image of the musician with the feminine sensibility. But is the superb rendition of “Some Say I Got Devil” Melanie to amaze, to seem written by Morrissey himself in a state of grace.
Not surprisingly, the artist has entrusted to a song by Roy Orbison (“It’s Over”) your hard anticipation, and to open “California Son” is an excellent version of a song of Jobriath “Morning Starship”: two points reference to the well-known stylistic musician’s fans.
The most significant surprise is that concerning the presence of many female writers: a choice that seems to contradict the well-known misogyny Moz. A respectful and enjoy reading a piece by Joni Mitchell (“Do not Interrupt The Sorrow”), a powerful version of “Suffer The Little Children” by Buffy Sainte-Marie (the title, of course, many will remember a Smiths song) reconciled the image of the musician with the feminine sensibility. But is the superb rendition of “Some Say I Got Devil” Melanie to amaze, to seem written by Morrissey himself in a state of grace.
On the ideological and political side, the album offers more food for thought: a song by Phil Ochs, “Days of Decisions,” made gentle and graceful, and edgy version of “Only A Pawn In Their Game” by Bob Dylan shuffle the cards as if to refute the recent political stances. It is a story in itself the painful “Lenny’s Tune” that Tim Hardin dedicated to Lenny Bruce, proposed here compared with melancholy.
A long list of prominent guests (many ways inaudible) or Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, two members of Grizzly Bear, Ariel Engle of Broken Social Scene, Lp and Petra Haden, in addition to the pop nature of songs like “Wedding Bell Blues “(a song by Laura Nyro brought success to the 5th Dimension) and “When You Close Your Eyes” by Carly Simon.
The chorus of critical dissent that has not raised still leave much hope. Redemption Morrissey is postponed until a later date, but from the musical point of view it can be silenced the wise choice of songs included in the project, emphasizing the taste middle of the road that places “California Son” halfway between “These Foolish Things” by Brian Ferry and “Reload” Tom Jones; but also “Pin Ups” by David Bowie, with all its strengths and weaknesses that ensue.
After all: no one like Morrissey.
Photo Credit: Jake Walters
