CD Review: Morrisey 'Years of Refusal'

Jim Abbott - Knight Ridder/Tribune

Morrissey "Years of Refusal"
(Attack/Lost Highway)
4 stars

"Years of Refusal" is the third solo studio album in the Morrissey renaissance that began with 2004's triumphant "You Are the Quarry."

These 12 songs were produced by the late Jerry Finn, who also turned the knobs on "You Are the Quarry."

Although some of the songs, such as the Jeff Beck-fueled "Black Cloud," rock with ferocity, the best one-word description is grand.

Of course, reinvention isn't necessary with the natural resource of Morrissey's voice at one's disposal. It's still a soaring, solidly built sound that calls out for the strings and trumpets that occasionally accompany things.

Above chugging, overdriven guitars and frantic drum pounding on the opening "Something Is Squeezing My Skull," Morrissey's dramatic presence is strong enough to keeps the excess from overtaking him.

And these songs are big. Although there are glimpses of open spaces on "Squeezing My Skull," the clamorous finale could hardly be packed with more dense noise.

Typically, Morrissey's words are consumed with love and loneliness, leavened by doubts, but not cynical.

Of course, sweet melodies in "I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris" and other songs certainly take the edge off. That song, one of the more understated ones (a relative term), is flavored by intricate guitar arpeggios, woodwinds and more strings.

"In the absence of your face I travel all over the place," Morrissey confides. He's throwing his arms around Paris because "only stone and steel accept my love."

There's more solitary observation in "Mama Lay Softly on the Riverbed," which sounds vaguely menacing above its martial beat:

"Life is nothing much to lose," he sings. "It's just so lonely here without you."

A song about being worn down to death is despondent, but even when Morrissey is bleak ("I'm gonna lie down beside you and we will be safe and sheltered in our graves") it's with noble defiance.

"I was wasting my time trying to fall in love," he sings on "That's How People Grow Up." "Disappointment came to me ... bruised and hurt me."

So how is it that the song can ultimately sound so joyous? Or that the swaggering good charm of "All You Need Is Me" is wrapped around yet another dysfunctional relationship?

"There is no hope in modern life," Morrissey intones in the early going. In exchange, at least, there's good Morrissey music in the deal.

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