Years of Refusal

Morrissey | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 17, 2009)
• Original Release Date: 2009
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Lost Highway
• ASIN: B001NPUGX2
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (92 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,604 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

2009 release, the 10th album from the iconic Indie legend. The former Smiths frontman teams up once again with producer Jerry Finn (who passed away shortly after the album's completion), resulting in an album more urgent and intimate than the last. Raw and fresh, Years Of Refusal has a spiky Punk-esque energy running through it, further illustrating Morrissey's formidable talent. Never one to stand still for too long, this album moves forward while embracing the past and still managing to sound like Morrissey.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Deal For A Great Morrissey CD ! March 4, 2009

By Brien Comerford

Format:Audio CD

This is a must purchase for any Morrissey fan. The lyrics are dark and brooding but Morrissey's vocals and melodies are vibrant and in top form. " Something Is Squeezing My Skull," "Mama Lay Softly On The Riverbed," "Black Cloud (featuring Jeff Beck)", "I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris", "That's How People Grow Up" "Sorry Doesn't Help" and "I'm OK By Myself" are vintage Morrissey crooning performances reminiscent of sterling songs from "You Are The Quarry" and even "Southpaw Grammar." Morrissey's lyrics are lovelorn and loveless but let's hope he knows that his fans, vegetarians and animal activists all love him to life. There's bonus videos on the second disc.

18 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Years Of Great Music Listening February 17, 2009

By alainsane

Format:MP3 Music

This album took a while to grow on me, but having listened to it for two solid weeks (since its leak), this album is much more cohesive and more appealing to me as a whole than either of the last two albums. In my opinion, Years of Refusal is Morrissey's best album since Vauxhall & I.

It doesn't hurt that the album includes the stellar "All You Need Is Me," but there are many other standout tracks, including "It's Not Your Birthday Anymore," "..Arms Around Paris," "...Squeezing My Skull," and "...Goodbye Will Be Farewell". The album really rocks and I have it cranked up in the car all the time.

17 of 21 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Still ill... February 17, 2009

By Nse Ette TOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Audio CD

Morrissey's 9th studio album is another standout. It's more of what we've come to expect from him: catchy upbeat rockers with dark and witty lyrics.

Take "Mama lay softly on the riverbed" for instance, marching beats give way to a son's dark and melancholic lament over his mother's death. "Mama, who drove you to it? Was it the pigs in grey suits persecuting you? Uncivil servants unconcerned at how they frightened you".

"Black cloud" with it's quirky catchy tune sounds very much like something by his alma mater, The Smiths. The interesting "When last I spoke to Carol" marries intermittent flamenco guitars and mariachi horns with a Latin-style rhythm.

"Sorry doesn't help" is sunny and bouncy, contrasting the sombre lyrics, "Sorry won't bring back my love" he whines. Similar is "That's how people grow up" with splashes of operatic-sounding vocals. "One day goodbye will be farewell" is upbeat and charming with lyrics alluding to death and urging one to appreciate loved ones while they are still living. It has a brief mariachi horn break.

There are just two ballads and they are both outstanding! The swelling Phil Spector meets U2-sounding "It's not your birthday anymore", and "You were good in your time", the latter a cinematic sounding song with stirring strings, crooned vocals, and an eerie sounding electronic coda.

Morrissey is still ill.

19 of 25 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars His best solo work. February 17, 2009

By southgate

Format:Audio CD

While most of his idols' best work came early in life, here is this charming man on the cusp of 50 doing his best solo work.
This is an album bursting at the seams with rocking guitars, ambitious flourishes, and the most lovelorn lyrics Morrissey has written for years.
From the splendidly ludicrous mariachi frills of "When I Last Spoke To Carol" and "One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell" to the full-throttle power pop stomp that is the opening "Something Is Squeezing My Skull", he has never been more sure of himself.
"That's How People Grow Up" is one of the most honest songs he has written, about the narcissistic arrogant swine that he could be: "I was wasting my life always thinking about myself" he intones over Boz Boorer's driving guitar riff.
Despite approaching the critical middle age line, he still sings with the swooning self-pity of his Smiths days.
"On this ninth solo outing his backing music is at times uncomfortably cosy, but his complaints (about prescription drugs, horrid journalists and, naturally, lovelessness) are yelped, gurgled and growled with the old élan. Long may his adolescence continue". -Michael Deacon
The album was produced by Jerry Finn, responsible for his resurrection on "You Are The Quarry", who died shortly after the record was completed.
My highlights: "That's How People Grow Up", "Something Is Squeezing My Skull' and "One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell"

Greatest Hits (Deluxe Version)

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Best solo album? Perhaps September 7, 2010

By thesmiths

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

In my opinion, this might be Morrissey's best solo album. The band is cohesive and talented, and the finished product is tightly produced. If you are a former Smiths fan, and haven't followed Morrissey's solo career, you've really missed out. His bands have varied in talent, but have been top notch since 2005. Pick this CD up today, and you won't be disappointed.

Here's my rankings of Morrissey's solo career, excluding most greatest hits and singles albums (except "Bona Drag).

1) Viva Hate - maybe just because of my sentimental memories of this record when it came out... Favorite tracks - 1,3,6,7,11 & 12 - 5 Stars
2) Years of Refusal - Just a great album - Favorite tracks 1,3,4,5,6,8,11 & 12 - (worth noting I despise track 7?) - 5 Stars
3) Bona Drag - compiled of singles, but most in record form for the first time. So many great songs! - Favorite tracks 1,3-9,11,13, & 14 - 5 Stars
4) Your Arsenal - Another great album, and unlike Bona Drag, this is a true album - Favorite tracks 1-3 and 7-10 - 5 Stars
5) Ringleader of the Tormentors - Easily could be rated higher if not for a couple of slow duds. Several amazing songs on this record, esp. tracks 1,3,7 & 12 - 4-1/2 Stars
6) You are the Quarry - tied with Vauxhall and I - like "Ringleader", a couple of weak songs prevent this from being a 5 star album. Favorite tacks 2,3,5,7,8 & 12 - 4-1/2 Stars
7) Vauxhall and I -a really good album, might deserve better than # 7. Favorite tracks 1,5,6 & 11 - 4 Stars
8) Kill Uncle - Many consider this to be Morrissey's weakest album... Favorite tracks 1,3,9 & 10 - 3 Stars
9) Southpaw Grammar - An admirable attempt at longer songs... Morrissey's band, however, should never outshine Morrissey, and he sounds out of sorts through much of this album.... Fav tracks # 1 - 3 Stars
10) Maladjusted - Great first song can't save this album, some of Morrissey's weakest lyrics. Fav tracks (US version) #1 & 10 - 2-1/2 Stars

By the way, if you like live music, "Who Put the M in Manchester (DVD) is great. The bonus disc to Swords is excellent (Swords B-Sides is ok), and Live at Earls Court and Beethoven was Deaf are both worth having. His current live band is the best he's had since The Smiths. Live at Dallas, although entertaining to watch, has an inferior band backing Morrissey.

Now Moz fans, feel free to bash my rankings... Read more ›