2020 will no doubt become one of the strangest years of Morrissey's time. His gigs over the past weekend in the UK saw what could end up being the last major social gatherings for some before we all succumb to Covid-19's isolation.
The music press lapped up it's favourite outspoken uncle being unable to sell out seats, they sniggered that he's still spouting mad things like it's 1985 and daring to say "Meat is Murder" whilst blind zealots like myself wait for table scraps like eager dogs at the dinner table.
Segue out of the way, Morrissey's thirteenth album is I Am Not a Dog on a Chain, an album which sees Morrissey's most radical changes in sound for quite some time or possibly forever.
You can imagine the shock of hear nineties' style synthesizers immediately greeting opener Jim Jim Falls, Morrissey name checks the Australian waterfall whilst, in spiteful fashion, goads someone suicidal to perhaps get on with it, less everyone think less of them for daring not to.
The minor albeit noticeable electronic influence sprinkles throughout the record. I noticed a lot of people despised Love Is On It's Way Out although I personally really liked it, a more musically more expansive and interesting retread of I Wish You Lonely which itself was pretty good.
Lead single Bobby, Don't You Think They Know? evokes the controlled jazzy calamity of Blackstar era David Bowie with Thelma Houston's powerful performance serving as a wonderful lively contrast to Morrissey's own stereotypical tortured croon.
The title-track lyrically covers Morrissey's explanation as to why he has his opinions and offers again that not reading newspapers might explain his radical views (a radical stance taken all the way back in 2014!). It builds and crescendos towards the end, continuing the welcome change of pace on the album.
The album continues this throughout until towards the end, each track offering a different perspective on Morrissey's own opinions or detailing something others might never look at. Knockabout World is an earworm; musically catchy with a hook for a chorus as Morrissey talks about a subject turning into a public debate of ridicule whilst the The Truth About Ruth sees Morrissey tackle trans issues which, whilst simplified will possibly end up being a future controversy.
All sounds good right? Well, something had to give.
The only low point on the album, the literal one problem with the album is The Secret of Music. I have tried far, far too many times to try and understand this track, whether there is a literal secret I'm missing and I simply can't work it out. It's another seven-plus track which plods along as Morrissey lists what noise instruments make whilst the music itself drones along in response.
It is such a buzzkill from the nine tracks prior and why, oh why did no one dare suggest Brow of My Beloved, I Thought You Was Dead, both or something entirely new instead escapes me. Easily the worst album cut for quite some time and with an artist who readily cuts songs on re-releases, surely this will eventually become another, although that would be the correct choice.
The album ends with My Hurling Days Are Done which does it's best to recover and does, somehow.
It's a shame that given Morrissey's current beleaguered public persona which shows no signs of relenting (nor he with some of his more questionable opinions which goes beyond controversy creating cash) as I Am Not a Dog on a Chain is an expansive, interesting and above all, enjoyable album.
The more radically different tracks like Jim Jim Falls, Darling, I Hug a Pillow and Once I Saw the River Clean are all excellent and showcase an artist who, nearly forty years passed his debut is still evolving, crafting something that no one could accuse him of being a literal dog on a chain.
8/10
H
@Retcon_Nation
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