Morrissey
Southpaw Grammar
»
Morrissey
Southpaw Grammar
Reprise, 1995
RiYL: Suede’s Dog Man Star, Gene’s Olympian, David Bowie’s Outside |
I tend to disagree. For better or for worse (I'll leave the task of passing judgement to Internet bulletin boards), Southpaw rocks about as hard as Morrissey has since leaving The Smiths, and bottles a higher potency of lyrical venom than ever before.
Morrissey's renewed partnership with guitarists Boz Boorer and Alain Whyte, both so influential in the success of Your Arsenal, has opened the door for some very cool instrumental passages. Opening track "The Teachers Are Afraid Of The Pupils," following similar subject matter as the Smiths' "The Headmaster Ritual," clocks in at well over 11 minutes behind a background of quirky, almost Mediterranean melodies.
Boorer and Whyte unleash a bevy of killer riffs, be it in the entrancing middle of "Reader Meets Author" or the outright jam at the end of "The Operation." Bassist Johnny Bridgewood also makes his own presence felt with a retro intro riff on "Do Your Best And Don't Worry."
On Southpaw, Morrissey is in the mood to lash out. He lambasts a pompous playboy in "The Boy Racer" with lines like "he thinks he owns this city/he overspeeds and he never gets pulled over," while in the quizzical "The Operation," preceded by a two-and-a-half minute Spencer Cobrin drum solo, Morrissey announces, "ever since, you're just not the same/everyone here is sick to the death of you."
Still, compassion can be found on the track "Do Your Best And Don't Worry," in both Morrissey's lyrics and soothing hooks by Boorer and Whyte. "Dagenham Dave" and "Best Friend On The Payroll" are equally nice, with Morrissey examining a local socialite in the former and workplace favoritism in the latter, with lines like "more breakfast in bed / and I'll bring the paper in later."
More and more, Morrissey's recorded output began to lose all semblance of commercial viability during this period -- the artist loudly expressed his displeasure at the poor chart rankings of "Dagenham Dave" and embarked on a disastrous Japanese tour with David Bowie that ended in his being whisked back to England under heavy secrecy. And although it probably lost him some fans on the way, Southpaw at least proved that Morrissey can still make valid musical statements when he really puts his mind to it.
JONATHAN COHEN | Jonathan Cohen co-created Nude As The News with his Indiana University mates Troy Carpenter and Ben French. When not traversing the globe for business and pleasure, he holds down the fort as a senior editor for Billboard in New York. Stop him and he just may ask, "what for lunch?"