Morrissey - World Peace Is None Of Your Business

'World Peace Is None Of Your Business'
Morrissey
Tiger Rating: 5.5 / 10
Singer / Songwriter / Post-Punk

Perennial miserabalist and self acclaimed Prophet of the times Morrissey was once a cheerless, self righteous pub ego maniac preaching his gospel of gloom in Dublin. Though this is his first album in five years, the 55 year old has by no means been silent and remains a cheerless, self righteous ego maniac preaching his unchanged gospel of gloom. "World Peace Is None Of Your Business" is lyrically bitter, sardonic, self-righteous (he's never killed an animal he boasts on "I'm Not A Man" - Noddy badge for Morrissey), but musically there is broad scope, varied flavour and at times near chilling arrangements. Spanish guitars, swooping, soaring electronic solos and pounding drums perfectly compliment Morrissey's honey vocals. His voice is better than ever, even if his ethos is as uncharming as ever.


Controversy sells. It always has. A generation of brainless twenty-somethings have proved on YouTube that anyone can get noticed if you set fire to your genitals or prank your friends with a well timed fart in their face. Meanwhile large parts of the world are either facing indigent poverty, warring, being abducted and sold into slavery, or somehow surviving through often violent persecution. Morrissey and his outspoken condemnation falls somewhere in the middle of these two worlds. He blames the government for all the world's wrongs, asserts his own purity, but never effectively condemns the actual injustices. Nor does he offer any solution to any of the ills he rues. In the end, it's just an old whiny moan.
He also lives up to many cliched adages on this album, such as there has never been any such thing as a silent vegan. Everyone else is always in the wrong, in Morrissey's book. On the title track he discourages voting because it "supports the process". So what do we do then - get our own guitars and sing about how miserable everything is until we die from grief? I've known people living through soul crushing trauma - worse than most outlined in the tracks on this album - who do less moaning than Morrissey.


If it weren't for the tempo and instrumentation (production is better than ever on this album), the whole thing would be utterly intolerable. Some of the sprightlier tracks ("The Bullfighter Dies" / "Kiss Me A Lot"), vary in their absorbed opinions but are redeemed by their crystalline production and near Killers-at-the-top-of-their-game feel.
Tracks about rape, diseased children, suicide and the despicable institution of marriage ("Smiler With Knife" / "Neal Cassidy Drops Dead" / "Kick The Bride Down The Aisle" respectively) lack wit or originality, and are only saved by the musicality supporting them.


If it were possible possible to listen to his music and zone out the lyrics, this would be a strong, bold, adventurous, cohesive album. Unfortunately Morrissey oozes toxic pessimism, described as realism, and it infects everything, much like the plagues he "humorously"  describes on the second track.
His parting shot on the album "we all lose, rich or poor", sounds like a cop out to me. Life is what you make of it, as evidenced by countless game changers - historic and modern.
In days of people being famous for being famous, it is slightly refreshing to hear from an ambiguous, bitter old dinosaur who has never censored himself and can at least form his opinions into songs he has written for himself. Without that, he's just like the rest of the twerking, vile, side-boobed, six televised weddings & one televised divorce brood that has unwittingly invaded our lives.
Herein lies the problem. Negativity breeds more negativity. It's cyclic. And if you can't directly do something to help the cause, you can at least avoid self detonation via bitterness.
Listen if you're not in the mood for shits and giggles. Otherwise avoid like the proverbial plague.
WVS