Morrissey - Southpaw Grammar
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Music CD Cover
Artist: MorrisseyEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
CD Release Date: 1995-09-12
Music Label: Warner Bros / Wea
Soundtracks:
- Teachers Are Afraid of the Pupils
- Reader Meet Author
- The Boy Racer
- The Operation
- Dagenham Dave
- Do Your Best and Don't Worry
- Best Friend on the Payroll
- Southpaw
Free Music Notes for Southpaw Grammar
Free Music Review: If You're Into Morrissey, There's No Good Reason Not To Love This!
Hit: 5 Stars
This album has been unfairly slagged and I'm not sure why, but I'm glad to see some fans on this forum are sticking up for it. SOUTHPAW GRAMMAR is one of Morrissey's most rockin' albums and it's musically ambitious with two songs breaking the 10-minute mark. "The Operation," my favorite one here, is nearly 7 minutes long. I noticed that everyone has different favorites and least favs, so that right there should tell you that the objections people have to this album are really just a matter of taste. The music itself is great and Morrissey retains his title as the master of mope, encompassing both bleak despair and biting humor.
VAUXHALL & I probably deserves its reputation as Morrisey's best solo record, but overall, SOUTHPAW GRAMMAR is probably my favorite; I like it even more than that other rockin fan fav YOUR ARSENAL. Of course, anyone just getting into Moz needs to start with the band that launched his career, the legendary Smiths (any album of theirs will do nicely).
Here are some personal impressions of SOUTHPAW GRAMMAR from an actual southpaw:
"The Teachers Are Afraid of the Pupils" - orchestrated with sweeping strings and brooding atmospherics including a squalling guitar in the background, the opener clocks in at 11:15. All-out rocking ensues midway through. This song is about the misery a typical school teacher must endure these days. "Say the wrong words to our children/ We'll have you arrested." *****
"Reader Meet Author" - a rather average Morrissey pop song, made all the more average for following "Teachers," but it's agreeable enough and it does rock along nicely. Also has some nice orchestral flourishes. ****
"The Boy Racer" - fun rocker - Moz is jealous of the Boy Racer and wants to "kill this pretty thing" who "has too many girlfriends" and "always speeds but never gets pulled over." ****
"The Operation" - this track launches off straight into a "gutsy" drum solo (I recall that's how Rolling Stone put it - "gutsy" has become an overused term in music journalism, but that's the first time I read it. Incidentally, the magazine rated this album 4 out of 5 stars). The drum solo is really long and it's super-cool too, with strange background mob noises and passing horses with sleigh bells added on. The song itself is a Morrissey classic about a friend that undergoes a personality change after an operation and ends up getting on peoples' nerves even though the change is apparently an improvement. Towards the end, the song takes off into orbit, reaching a head-spinning climax. Totally rocks! *****
"Dagenham Dave" - another decent rocker that suffers a bit coming after a killer song. Moz sings the words "Dagenham Dave" a bit too much though, and sometimes I find the song rather annoying unless I'm really in the mood for it. ***
"Do Your Best and Don't Worry" - I love this one - it's very upbeat and finds Morrissey handing out genuine advice and encouragement, no tongue in cheek. A great song! *****
"Best Friend on the Payroll" - for some reason, I find this one hilarious. I guess it's similar to that certain tendency to laugh at uncomfortable situations because I can relate to this song (unfortunately). "I turn the music down and I don't know why - This is MY house!" Another great, rockin' tune. *****
"Southpaw" - the 10-minute closer is a brutal, cutting indictment against the life of a loser and another song I can sadly relate to. The guitars are spine-tingling and other-worldly. Stunning. *****
Some of these songs are indeed good if average Morrissey fare, but the great songs are great enough to elevate my rating to 5 stars. Blender magazine stupidly called this album difficult and ugly. If you only looked at the cover and didn't bother giving the music a chance, then I could understand that comment.
Southpaw Grammar Poster
Originally released in 1995, Southpaw Grammar was Morrissey s fifth solo album, charted at No.4 in the UK charts on release, and featured the fans favourite singles Dagenham Dave and Boy Racer . This re-issue has become a very personal project to Morrissey, who wanted to re-sequence the tracklisting, adding in four previously unreleased tracks, and give it completely new artwork. The album features new design by Anthony Lui, and previously unseen photographs by Linder Sterling.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
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