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"&lt;p&gt;Morrissey is feeling miserable. That shouldn&amp;apos;t surprise anyone. But what may surprise some is that Morrissey&amp;apos;s new album, &lt;em&gt;Southpaw Grammar&lt;/em&gt;, is his most powerful solo outing to date. Actually, solo album is a bit of a misnomer because, like Morrissey&amp;apos;s best work with the Smiths, &lt;em&gt;Southpaw Grammar&lt;/em&gt; is actually a collaboration, his second record with producer Steve Lillywhite and guitarists and co-writers Boz Boorer and Alain Whyte. Together they have constructed an aural landscape of raucous, barreling guitars that makes Morrissey&amp;apos;s oh-so-familiar themes sound almost fresh.&lt;/p&gt;\r\n&lt;wm:embed type=\"related\"&gt;&lt;/wm:embed&gt;&lt;p&gt;While some may gripe that Morrissey could expand his worldview a bit, a Morrissey album that didn&amp;apos;t wallow in misery would be like Kafka without paranoia, Jagger without satyrmania or Seurat without dots. There&amp;apos;s something reassuring about the usual suspects being trotted out in brand-new suits. Sure, we&amp;apos;ve heard Morrissey insult the tiresome ex-lover before (&amp;quot;The Operation&amp;quot;) but not backed by such an exhilarating rave-up &amp;#x2014; one that begins with a gutsy two-minute drum solo. &amp;quot;The Boy Racer&amp;quot; fits squarely in the I-hate-you-because-you&amp;apos;re-beautiful subcategory of Morrissey&amp;apos;s &lt;em&gt;oeuvre&lt;/em&gt;, and &amp;quot;Best Friend on the Payroll&amp;quot; can be filed under &amp;quot;I hate you because you take advantage of me,&amp;quot; but both songs have such irresistible hooks and relentless, jangly guitars that you hardly notice you&amp;apos;ve heard it before. &amp;quot;Dagenham Dave&amp;quot; is almost a love song &amp;#x2014; albeit about someone who is afraid of human (or at least homosexual) contact &amp;#x2014; but you&amp;apos;ll probably find yourself singing along nevertheless.&lt;/p&gt;\r\n&lt;p&gt;The most audacious cuts are two 10 plus-minute prog-rock epics. &amp;quot;The Teachers Are Afraid of the Pupils&amp;quot; is an eerie work that rewrites &amp;quot;Another Brick in the Wall&amp;quot; from the teacher&amp;apos;s point of view. Reminiscent of the Bowie-Eno &amp;apos;70s collaborations, it starts out with a maddeningly repetitious orchestral riff that suddenly explodes into a blistering wall of grungy guitar noise. &amp;quot;Southpaw&amp;quot; is a bittersweet reminiscence of that moment when carefree childhood turns into adolescent alienation &amp;#x2014; set in a nostalgic swathe of freewheeling psychedelic riffing that evokes the era when rock itself was on the cusp between idealism and cynicism. Morrissey may be self-pitying, but at least he doesn&amp;apos;t sound pitiful.&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/southpaw-grammar-19951005>