MORRISSEY - YOUR ARSENAL

Parlophone Records has released the Definitive Master of Morrissey’s seminal third album, YOUR ARSENAL. Originally released in 1992, on the HMV label, YOUR ARSENAL was the album that sent Morrissey’s career stratospheric in the US (record-setting Hollywood Bowl ticket sales, Grammy® nomination), and saw him consolidate his position as an outstanding solo artist. The album includes four chart singles, one of which, “Glamorous Glue,”’ was released 20 years later.

YOUR ARSENAL is very much a traditional two-sided album, with five songs per side. Recorded after six months on the road with his new touring band, side one has a live urgency: the swagger of a gang with killer, muscular riffs and chops, enthralled to the grit of rock ’n’ roll and, with legendary and hugely influential Spiders From Mars guitarist and arranger Mick Ronson at the helm in the producer’s chair, glam rock. Ronson helped craft an album that was, all at once, sonically tough and tender.

With often misinterpreted vignettes exploring the ‘70s of Morrissey’s youth, an age of football hooliganism (“We’ll Let You Know”), glue sniffers (“Glamorous Glue”), and the far right (“The National Front Disco”), YOUR ARSENAL shows an artist at the peak of his powers, unafraid to explore the darker aspects of the human condition, with his sharp intellect and lyrical wit. The album also gives a nod to two musical icons of the era, Marc Bolan (“Certain People I Know”) and David Bowie (“I Know It’s Gonna Happen Someday”).

Contrasting with the tougher songs of side one, the second side features classic, clever pop moments (“We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful” and “You’re The One For Me, Fatty”) and more gentle, reflective and heartfelt touches (“Seasick, Yet Still Docked” - with Ronson on guitar; “I Know It’s Gonna Happen Someday” – later covered by Bowie; and “Tomorrow”) on an album that caresses as much as it confronts the listener.