Still Pining After All These Years: Morrissey's New Album

It's official. This man's voice never changes.

I became obsessed with The Smiths during my first year of college, and I've never fully recovered. It's like having a syringe full of delicious melancholy delivered straight to the veins. And while solo-Morrissey has never been able to fully capture the magic of The Smiths, he has come pretty damn close in the past with Bona Drag and Vauxhall and I, his last album, Ringleader of the Tormentors, was a bit underwhelming (though still pretty good...of course I'm judging on a scale that pertains to Morrissey's music, not all music.)

Years of Refusal marks a return to form for Morrissey, as far as I'm concerned. I actually heard "Throwing My Arms Around Paris" for the first time in an H&M dressing room, and immediately got that special tingly feeling in my brain that I associate with good Morrissey music. I immediately went and bought the album, and I'm pleased that I did.

The album start with "Something is Squeezing My Skull," one of the more rockin' tunes on the album, despite its somber lyrics. It's basically a lament over the loss of real love and friendship in modern life, complete with references to different anti-depressants.

The second and third tracks are so very "Morrissey," that you'll swear they are old favorites upon first listening. "Black Cloud," especially, gets to the root of that feeling of wanting something that you can never have - something that is more an ideal than reality - a theme that Morrissey has often sung about in the past.

"All You Need," is good fun musically - though the lyrics don't really live up to Moz' standards in my opinion. The awesome guitar on this track more than makes up for it though. "When Last I Spoke to Carol" starts off with Latin sounding guitar riffs and just gets better and better as it goes. It is quite possibly my favorite track on the album - and I wonder if the Latin sound is a nod to his large Hispanic fanbase. It's really a great song, with a ton of energy. It makes you want to dance. LOVE IT.

Honestly, there is not a bad song on this album. There are songs I love more than others, but overall, this is just a great album. I just listened to it while cleaning my apartment, and it made the job a LOT more fun.