Your Arsenal

iskreno, jako dobro i ugodno iznenađenje. nisam slušao dosad solo morrisseya, mislio sam da će biti ko neki slabiji smithsi, dok je ovo glazbeno malo drugačije i dobro samo po sebi. nisam očekivao da će biti pomalo (najviše prva stvar) rokabili? sve u svemu dosta dobro. ipak, ako ćemo već uspoređivat sa smithsima, malo mi fali doprinos njihovog najboljeg člana, andyja rourkea

As a teenager who loved this album, I assumed songs like National Front Disco were Morrissey exploring different characters and not voicing his own opinions. Unfortunately, it seems I was wrong about that, but I wasn’t entirely wrong about the album - shout out to producer Mick Ronson because I still love the beefed up, glam sound on some of these songs.

Sad and depressing, unsurprisingly

I was looking for some songs and then I found some songs, and heaven knows I'm miserable now

Eh, it doesn't hold up that well, I think.

Meh..

2/5. To quote Jpegmafia “I cannot fucking wait until Morrissey dies.” Even divorced from him as a person I just get basically nothing from his solo career. I do like some of the Smiths albums, but solo Morrissey just puts me to sleep.

I’ll start with this: I like this album, I like the music, I like Morrissey’s voice, I like his humorous and sardonic lyrics. That’s just true, and I can’t help it. Yet, I agonized over how to rate this album—3 stars or 4 stars—and it all comes down to Morrissey the person when weighed against Morrissey the lyricist.

See, I can more easily separate the Art from the Artist for his work with the Smiths. After all, there were three other members of the band, and Morrissey’s opinions slowly devolved over time. On “Your Arsenal,” he gets political, but his politics were also starting to wither.

There’s a strange tension between the ideas Morrissey satirizes and the inflammatory things he has later expressed. “We’ll Let You Know” seems to be an ironic critique of the people who would say “we are the last truly British people you've ever known,” but then, he has espoused the “dangers” of islam and immigration into London. And his song “The National Front Disco” similarly seems to make fun of National Front members, but he would endorse a far right political party only a few years later.

What made this situation more confounding was the discourse I’d see when searching about these songs. Some people would say, “He clearly is being critical of those ideas!” While others would say, “It’s not racist to want immigrants out of England” (sidebar: it is). So… I don’t know.

I guess I’ll settle on this. Morrissey is a great artist, but a complicated man. We knew this. And while I like “Your Arsenal,” I can be at peace with giving it 3 stars, because it made me work to hard to figure out how to rate it.

I'm not sure whether any of the songs stand out on their own, but the album overall felt fresh and well composed. I would actually say that it's a great listen, and I would recommend it. On the upper border of a three star album for me, might give it a four anyways.

I wish I could insert a video here because I'd use the one of the old woman saying "you're joking? Not another one?!"

I will say I did enjoy the instrumentals of the rockier songs. But jesus christ what is with his pretentious lyrics!

"You're the one for me fatty" - ????

This guy is so far up his own arse its unbelievable

1 ⭐️

Morrisey tries to rock here, and mostly succeeds. As far as pop music goes, this has some weightiness. "We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful" and "You're the One For Me, Fatty" are strange and entertaining. Your Arsenal didn't leave a lasting impression, though. It's not as ambitious as the Smiths which is both good - The Smiths wereobnoxious at times - and bad, these songs mostly lack the drama and intimacy of The Smiths, making them less impactful.

Too much Morrisey on the list.

Jangle & Glam. Cool surf sounds but sadly just on the opener. A mix of sounds that synthesizes the wave of bands that followed the Smiths in twee indie pop (c86), artsy college rock (REM), and his classic touchstones - 60s girl group and 70s glam - into a blend that anticipates some of the more literate Britpop that would come shortly (pulp, suede). The production sounds good and his voice is in good shape, still some life to his performance. Lots of drama and self pity and dodgy (especially in retrospect) nostalgic nationalist declinism.

The Good: We get to talk about football!
The Bad: We aren’t fans of Arsenal…
The Ugly: Realizing that we still have 1 Morrissey album to go on the list…

A quick moment to reflect on this journey we are one… this album marks number 564 that has been generated for me… this means that for the past 1 year, 6 months, 3 weeks and so many days, I have been conditioned to react to the presentation of an album with either:
Excitement
Horror
Curiosity
Hatred

I can’t recall exactly, however, there has been a period of almost 9 days when the rating on an album did not exceed 2*… this is enough to make a person ready to kill someone, most of the time the thought goes to strangling Mr Dimery.

If I look back to the last 10 albums that have been generated for me, the count of 1* albums is 5, three times I rated albums 3* (2 times upgrading), one album is a 2* upgraded (so that should be 1*) and only one is 5* (and what a beauty of an album that is… which, by the by, I have played daily since it was generated in order to wash away the foul taste in my mouth).

When the album cover presented itself, and I realized that I had to sit through another Morrissey album (either solo, or with The Smiths) my heart sank so deep that sonar is still trying to track it…

And yet, even if I don’t like Morrissey’s voice—actually, hate it, would be correct—this album is going to get a near top rating, because I found myself tapping my toes, bobbing my head, and wondering why his other albums (barring 1 of the The Smits which I did appreciate) were not able to generate the sense of fun like this album did?

Lesson learned? Well, sometimes Mr Dimery can surprise us by having us listen to an album we think we are going to hate, to only find that it isn’t that bad at all… but that doesn’t excuse the other absolute turds that I have been exposed to these past 2 weeks….

4*

I have no problem with Morrissey.
I don't care if he whinges all the time or whether he is a vegan or not.
At least he has something to say.
And the music was ok too.

Morrisey might be a crap person, but this album is pretty good, despite the cringe-inducing cover. Lots of variety, great melodies, and it's a good length.

3.5/5.0: Very Good

a few really great songs with some mediocre songs mixed in, not a bad way to spend 40 minutes

minha falha de caráter eh gostar das coisas dele....
achei esse bão e menos tosco que o último dele que passou por aqui. the smiths tem um espaço no meu coração e boa parte disso eh por conta da voz/das letras desse véio filho da puta.

fiquei até surpreso, tem umas que escalam pruma barulheira bem bacana!!-

I can understand the Smiths being on this list a couple times but FOUR Morrissey albums?? Goodness

First time listening to this. The first song, You're Gonna Need Someone on Your Side, has a kinda cool surf rock vibe. It really wasn't what I was expecting. The second song, Glamorous Glue, has a fun, almost bluesy beat. So far, this is going better than I thought it would. I had some preconceived notions about Morrissey and it's a pleasant surprise to have that challenged. I even found myself unconsciously tapping my fingers along to a few songs. In the end, it gets 3 stars because I know who he is, I suspect he kinda hates women, I know he hates sex and all this while serving up his body on the cover of the album.

Es zeigt Morrissey rockiger und bissiger denn je. Mit Glam-Rock-Einflüssen und scharfzüngigen Texten liefert er ein energiegeladenes Album voller Haltung. Ein starker Soloauftritt.