So, it has come to this.

A theme album, if ever there was one. Unrequited love. Scorned love. Morrissey scorned? Really, who knows? It may all be fiction, but I've seldom heard more easy-to-read words from this Salford lyricist. I remember reading a fantastic omnibus containing interviews with Morrissey, where he in one early interview explains that he aimed to use an easy language to relay his thoughts. This time, I feel as if he's perfected the formula, while having constructed a complex body of work. There are few metaphors here: a line like "I don't need you - I never have, I never have" is probably quite hard to misinterpret. Mature, grown-up, feet on solid ground, Morrissey feels more settled than ever. The words on the album are salty, loving, longing, very funny, whipping out and explaining that yes, even though he might be scorned, it's alright. He'll do fine for now.

This album has more in common with "Southpaw Grammar" than "You Are The Quarry", even though the late Jerry Finn produced the latter album as well as "Years Of Refusal"; this one is laden with riffs, Morrissey really crooning and yet not flexing his voce as much as on "Quarry". It's as if this band has rehearsed a lot and decided to not move towards tracks like "Come Back To Camden"; I think I'm trying to say that if "Quarry" was built using lego, "Years Of Refusal" is moulded without technology such as Pro Tools, spearheaded by Morrissey, slightly reinventing himself like a modern-day English Serge Gainsbourg, or, rather, Elvis, but first and foremost - himself, for I can find no other person quite like the man in the annals of pop.

As far as consistency apart from the general theme of the album as a whole, Morrissey abides by the three-minute-rule, making no tracks other than the next-to-last ones quite long; "It's Not Your Birthday Anymore" is the "Southpaw" of the album, if you will, airy and one of the absolutely best tracks on the album. Also, I must add that I generally love the tracks penned by Morrissey/Whyte the most; Alain has even written music for most of the songs on this album ((Boorer second, Tobias third.)).

The lyrics are, as previously stated, stripped bare. Some lines are as poetic as ever, e.g. "are you aware, where ever you are/you've just died" and "I don't need you or your benevolence/to make sense", while others are plainly straightforward:

I play the game of favorites now I can I must I will I do I can please you or, I can freeze you out but there is nothing I can do to make you mine (("Black Cloud".))

...and his humor cannot be ignored:

I have been thinking ("What with?") my final brain-cell how time grips you slyly in its spell and, before you know, goodbye will be farewell and you will never see the one you love again and the smiling children tell you that you smell well, just look at me - a savage beast - I've got nothing to sell and when I die I want to go to hell and that's when goodbye should be farewell (("One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell".))

...or the most loving lines, e.g. "the heart has a heart of its own" (("It's Not Your Birthday Anymore".)), yet in the end, despite all of Morrissey's desires and needs splayed for the world to see, there are lines like "This might make you throw up in your bed:/I'm OK by myself!" which make you feel that wherever Moz is, he'll be alright.

The music is interesting, and very straight-forward; there are the occasional bizarre happenings, such as a whistled solo and mariachi guitars on "When Last I Spoke To Carol", but then you have the contrast of modern, incredibly well-sung tracks like "It's Not Your Birthday Anymore" - that carries a brilliantly arranged arsenal of instruments, most notably the beautiful clarinet in the middle - or the ham-fisted, angry and funny "All You Need Is Me", one of the best pop singles in ages if you ask me. The album is quite varied although you won't find the sound of "Now My Heart Is Full" ((From "Vauxhall And I".)) or basically anything from "Your Arsenal". In the track "You Were Good In Your Time", I love the atmosphere of the blippy synths, the plucky guitar yet first and foremost the vocals that make the entire song come alive before it turns John Carpenter.

All in all, so far, I find this a highly welcome addition to any music-lover's library and I will buy it the instant it's released on 2009-02-16. And oh, there are b-sides to look forward to...