Southpaw Grammar

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Pop stars who last more than a decade often survive but change: U2 goes from righteous to cartoonish, Sting from new wave to adult contemporary, Prince from purple to nameless. Morrissey, though, survives by staying the same, by pushing the flashing-red alienation buttons of each new year's crop of outsider adolescents. So while fans tend to grow out of the great Moz sometime after they lose their virginity, there's always a new, larger batch of pubescent mopers to take their place. For older listeners, it may seem Morrissey hasn't written a consistently incisive or catchy album since his first solo effort, 1988's Viva Hate, which itself pales next to his classic work with the Smiths. Since going solo, he's completely abandoned evocative poetry, opting instead for funny titles (remember the empty tease of "Hairdresser On Fire"?). Southpaw Grammar, Morrissey's fifth studio record, has a number of stellar song names--"Best Friend on the Payroll," for instance--but musically, adds up to just another indistinguishable mush of groaned haiku ready to be heaped onto the pile of other cleverly titled but otherwise forgettable releases. To be fair, Southpaw Grammar is not all bad. A moody epic like the 11-minute orchestrated opener "The Teachers Are Afraid of the Pupils," a classic Morrissey modern-day crucifixion tale, at least balances the recycled MTV-fare of "The Boy Racer" and "Dagenham Dave." There's even a hint of career development: Long instrumental sections, such as in the 10-minute finale "Southpaw," plus an overall heavier rock sound, indicate more creative input from the band. But would anyone put on a Morrissey record to hear a two-and-a-half minute drum solo like the one that starts Southpaw's "The Operation"? Then again, perhaps we should just be thankful Morrissey didn't use the moment to berate us with more shameful triteness like Southpaw's "Do Your Best and Don't Worry."

Tracks:

The Teachers Are Afraid Of The Pupils
Reader Meet Author
The Boy Racer
The Operation
Dagenham Drive
Do Your Best And Don`t Worry
Best Friend On The Payroll
Southpaw

Amazon.com

Pop stars who last more than a decade often survive but change: U2 goes from righteous to cartoonish, Sting from new wave to adult contemporary, Prince from purple to nameless. Morrissey, though, survives by staying the same, by pushing the flashing-red alienation buttons of each new year's crop of outsider adolescents. So while fans tend to grow out of the great Moz sometime after they lose their virginity, there's always a new, larger batch of pubescent mopers to take their place. For older listeners, it may seem Morrissey hasn't written a consistently incisive or catchy album since his first solo effort, 1988's Viva Hate, which itself pales next to his classic work with the Smiths. Since going solo, he's completely abandoned evocative poetry, opting instead for funny titles (remember the empty tease of "Hairdresser On Fire"?). Southpaw Grammar, Morrissey's fifth studio record, has a number of stellar song names--"Best Friend on the Payroll," for instance--but musically, adds up to just another indistinguishable mush of groaned haiku ready to be heaped onto the pile of other cleverly titled but otherwise forgettable releases. To be fair, Southpaw Grammar is not all bad. A moody epic like the 11-minute orchestrated opener "The Teachers Are Afraid of the Pupils," a classic Morrissey modern-day crucifixion tale, at least balances the recycled MTV-fare of "The Boy Racer" and "Dagenham Dave." There's even a hint of career development: Long instrumental sections, such as in the 10-minute finale "Southpaw," plus an overall heavier rock sound, indicate more creative input from the band. But would anyone put on a Morrissey record to hear a two-and-a-half minute drum solo like the one that starts Southpaw's "The Operation"? Then again, perhaps we should just be thankful Morrissey didn't use the moment to berate us with more shameful triteness like Southpaw's "Do Your Best and Don't Worry."

And yet, the man's popularity steadily grows. For grown-up, former fans, it seems the more we ignore him, the closer he gets to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. --Roni Sarig

Customer Reviews:

Your Arsenal pt II - Southpaw Grammar is Great!.......2007-06-03

Some people call this album prog, which I really don't understand. So he has some string arrangements and a drum solo...as I recall, Zep did as well! This album could not be any further from Genesis, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Yes, or any of those other prog acts that Moz constantly reminds us he hates so much. This is a straight-ahead Rock album.

The whole band is ace as well, with a recording mix to match. Just listen to the drums smash down your apartment walls during "Do Your Best and Don't Worry."

Morrissey goes prog, and it works..........2007-04-23

This, along with Viva Hate, are my favorite Morrissey solo albums. Being a prog rock fan, I really liked the fact that this contains 2 epic tracks, The Teachers are Afraid of the Pupils (clocking in at 11:15), and Southpaw, clocking in at 10 minutes. It rocks a lot harder than other Morrissey albums, but I like the new sounds. I think the opener, The Teachers..., is a great epic song that seems short. The Operation opens with one of the most audacious conceits I ever heard: a drum solo opening the song. It offers a great, 2 1/2 minute solo before going into a great, tuneful song, then the last 2 minutes are almost on the level of Husker Du in terms of melodic noise. Morrissey was being ambitious here, and many didn't like it. I did. This is a great Morrissey album.

Rock !.......2007-01-29

this is by far Morrissey's hardest rocking album. while most of his namby pamby fans hate this album, I think its great, even with that goofy drum solo !

I'm a fickle fan!.......2006-12-09

I have a bad habit of unintentionally giving up on an artist I really like since I'm a fickle music fan. I guess it's really more because I'm always looking for new & different music and sounds. I loved The Smiths and Morrissey's solo work up till "Kill Uncle" which I enjoyed, but then got diverted by other artists putting out more interesting music since "Kill Uncle" was just more of the same to me. I finally picked up "Your Arsenal" 4 or 5 years ago.

Well, I was listening to Pandora(the internet radio site)earlier this week and they played "The Boy Racer" and I thought 'my god this is good'. I listened to samples of the entire cd and decided I needed to have it in my collection. I'm listening to it now as I write this review and am loving it. I also had read some of these reviews on Amazon as well. When I realized "Southpaw Grammar" was a major diversion from usual Morrissey fare, I had to check it out myself. I sure am glad I gave it a chance!

This is Morrissey at his most inventive and creative. Some have called this prog rock, which it might be to some extent but I think there's definitely some glam rock influences and even some psychedelia like on "The Teachers Are Afraid Of The Pupils" and "Southpaw" with the amazing guitar and bass work and the atmospheric noises in the background. Some reviewers have stated that they dislike both of these songs because they are overlong and overwrought but I find them fascinating because they're so different from anything Moz has done before. I enjoy more offbeat unusual songs and artists anyway so this is right down my alley.

"Reader Meet Author", "Dagenham Dave" & "Best Friend On The Payroll" are more succinct pop songs and catchy but with a bit more rock in their sound. "The Operation" is another unusually long song for the Moz that starts out w/a long drum solo that is hypnotizing at the beginning but it rocks as well once the melody starts. Of course "The Boy Racer" is what drew me to this cd in the first place and is a great song as is "Do Your Best & Don't Worry".

If you like more experimental/progressive music then you will enjoy this cd. I think perhaps if this cd were released now it might be better recieved initially due to the rise of prog rock groups like Coheed & Cambria, et al. But then again, as long as some of us secretly long for The Smiths to reunite(me included), there will be that expectation that Morrissey has to make up for the gap in the universe where The Smiths once were. Now that "Southpaw Grammar" has won me back over I think I've finally accepted Moz on his own terms. It's about f'n time eh?

A Tired Album From Morrissey.......2006-11-02

One has to admit that Morrissey oscillates between genius and utter dullness. For the most part, his albums stay more on the right side of genius, however, on this album, Morrissey just sounds tired.

When I listen to songs from this album, something about Morrissey just sounds wrong. Almost as if he is just going through the motions, not too concerned aobut making this album worth the money.

And it isn't worth the money.

First off, the cover art is dreadful. This was in the period where Morrissey pulled away from the cover art aspects of his album, and this one is second in badness only to Maladjusted. The color schemes are terrible, and the typeface is bad, and it is an affront to graphic design that the peach motif actually went through. Then there is the fact that they fail to credit sampling from Shostakovich's 5th Symphony.

The truly great songs is limited to "Boy Racer" and "The Teachers Are Afraid of the Pupils" (which sampled from Shostakovich's 5th Symphony without any credit being given, a point I feel actually does hurt the album - give credit where it is due). Only on those two songs does Morrissey seem to have something to sing about, only there is the passion.

The biggest problem with most of the songs is that they run on too long. Take "Do Your Best and Don't Worry", despite never rising above cliche lyrically, it's biggest failing is that it spends 2 of it's four minutes ending the song with a boring guitar part.

And that leads to the biggest problem with the album - too often the music is meant to carry a great deal of the weight of the song and keep the listener interested, and it fails to meet that need. So, where a good chunk of the songs could be cut in half and nothing lost are instead forcing us to dredge through another boring musical interlude.

With every Morrissey album, there is at least one song that gets into constant rotation. Here, it is not so. Morrissey never hits that high that he usually gets.

Overall, you'd best ignore this Morrissey album. He has done much better and none of these songs are really missed.

Average customer rating:

Your Arsenal pt II - Southpaw Grammar is Great!
Morrissey goes prog, and it works...
Rock !
I'm a fickle fan!
A Tired Album From Morrissey

Southpaw Grammar
Morrissey
Manufacturer: RCA
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Kill Uncle
Vauxhall and I
Your Arsenal
My Early Burglary Years
Maladjusted

ASIN: B000025ZW6

Customer Reviews:

Your Arsenal pt II - Southpaw Grammar is Great!.......2007-06-03

Morrissey goes prog, and it works..........2007-04-23

Rock !.......2007-01-29

this is by far Morrissey's hardest rocking album. while most of his namby pamby fans hate this album, I think its great, even with that goofy drum solo !

I'm a fickle fan!.......2006-12-09

A Tired Album From Morrissey.......2006-11-02

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