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Music Compilations Morrissey: Greatest Hits (Polydor/Decca) 
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| Morrissey: Greatest Hits (Polydor/Decca) |
| By Jonathan Waterlow | |
|
Monday, 11 February 2008
The grumpy omni-loathing tosspot returns with a Greatest Hits album plus two new songs, as seems to be the general practice these days. (Is he flinging those dead flowers on his chest again? – Ed) Which means? In practice this translates as almost the entire tracklist of 2004’s comeback album You Are the Quarry, a couple from 2006’s Ringleader of the Tormentors and a tiny sprinkle of other less than memorable songs. Which, from a 20-year solo career doesn’t say much about the early stages of those two decades. Is it much cop? Not really, no. It’s OK, but there’s so little point in its existence beyond the completist’s desire for the two new tracks (and the single ‘That’s How People Grow Up’ is actually pretty good) that there’s little to redeem the cynical money-spinning here. How many good tracks? Yes, actually. They’re all pretty decent if you like the heavily English-accented yodelling of Mr Morrissey lamenting how he doesn’t like anything much, least of all himself, over the top of catchy riffs annoyingly relayed through dully orchestrated guitars. And the worst? A tricky question, because all these tracks are pretty much the same. Simply put, rather like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, you either like Morrissey’s sound or you don’t. And if you don’t, every song sounds exactly the same; if you do… well, almost the same is true, but you just happen to like that sound, and can pick out the slightly modulated differences between songs. Biggest disappointment? This isn’t really a Greatest Hits at all. The biggest disappointment is that while there’s some good stuff on this record, there’s absolutely bugger all point in buying it. Buy You Are the Quarry and you have the vast majority of the tracks already, in their original and rather effective context. A cynical mind (yours truly) might go so far as to suggest that this is the record label’s answer to You Are the Quarry selling from the bargain bins: why not reissue it with a few randomly selected other songs, call it Greatest Hits, and sell it again at full whack? Verdict: Doesn’t do what it says on the tin, and consequently is apt to make anyone begrudge forking out money for it. It’s certainly not going to convince newcomers that Morrissey is anything but what they’ve suspected all along: a self-indulgent, self-loathing ponce, who nevertheless sings rather well but always in the same way. NME may have decided that they love him after all, but, as ever, that’s a pretty sure-fire indicator that he’s not really worth paying attention to these days, if you enjoy creativity and relevance, rather than leaping naked and screaming onto the next retro-post-ironic-self-referential-bandwagon to pass your way. (2½/5) |
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