by
Morrissey
- Record Label: Virgin EMI
- Release Date: Jul 15, 2014
Buy Now
| Buy on |
|
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
Jul 15, 2014Just as Moz's stance as a one-man outsider army and ringleader of the tormentors is restated, so is his standing as the godfather of indie disaffection and despair.
-
Jul 15, 2014World Peace is None of Your Business may not pack the same jangly punch as Bona Drag, Your Arsenal or even You are the Quarry on first listen but its slight idiosyncrasies within the Morrissey catalog end up being very rewarding on repeated listens.
-
Aug 12, 2014By and large, the more substantial the lyric the more layered and complex the musical arrangement.
-
Jul 15, 2014It’s a reminder that no matter how badly you might think he behaves, Morrissey still does not mince words. And his music is vital because of it.
-
Jul 14, 2014The very best moments of World Peace... allow a rare slip of a perpetually teenage mask. It's the revenge of Morrissey the artist over Morrissey the cartoon character, and he's caught me completely off guard, the bastard.
-
Jul 14, 2014It’s a far cry from the usual meat’n’spuds rock that has characterised most Morrissey albums; and a welcome change, suggesting perhaps that this most British of pop bards is renegotiating his own boundaries.
-
Jul 14, 2014There are points where you sorely wish Morrissey had a few more apercus to impart.... But for every step back, Morrissey's paso doble takes two steps forwards. His years of refusal seem to be turning into years of renewal.
-
Jul 10, 2014Not as great as you might have hoped, but far better than you might have feared.
-
Jul 9, 2014In its stompy art song streaked with slick noise and nuevo-flamenco guitar, its clumsy lyrics, its condemnation of so much human endeavor, all its stolid idiosyncrasy, World Peace (Harvest/Capitol) constitutes its own weird kind of pedantic success.
-
UncutJul 7, 2014The album has its fair share of filler.... But, at its best, World Peace feels like a perfect penultimate episode in the last season of a beloved TV series. [Aug 2014, p.66]
-
MojoJul 7, 2014World Peace is unquestionably the most subtle and decorous Morrissey album for many years, possibly since the hallowed Vauxhall And I. [Aug 2014, p.84]
-
Q MagazineJul 7, 2014The record's strongest, strangest moments come, however, when he lets himself go. [Aug 2014, p.100]
-
Jul 8, 2014It’s essential listening not so much for its quality--uneven, if generally high--but for the strange place it occupies in Morrissey’s discography. Not since 1991’s “Kill Uncle” has he given us anything quite so puzzling.
-
Jul 15, 2014In reality, his strategy was in place from the beginning: to embody the qualities of a villain--self-pity, megalomania, a flair for exaggeration — while presenting himself as a hero.... And it's the same calculated theatricality that powers his latest lashings on World Peace Is None of Your Business.
-
Jul 14, 2014This is not Morrissey's finest solo work by a long shot, but as the singer enters his 55th year, its moments of vulnerability feel earned.
-
Jul 16, 2014Once you wade through the lesser songs, there are prime Morrissey cuts here.
-
Jul 16, 2014Although critics of Morrissey's solo career have justifiably argued that his post-Bona Drag ensembles haven't met the Smiths' lofty bar, World Peace Is None of Your Business is the first Morrissey album that's often stronger musically than it is lyrically.
-
Jul 15, 2014Moz doesn't fare as well protesting Beefaroni (rhymes with "Ah, but lonely") or mean professors. But he saves two stunners for last.
-
Jul 14, 2014Morrissey isn't living up to what he should do, he's doing whatever he wants to, whether it makes sense or not. That fearlessness may be reckless but it's also welcome.
-
Jul 11, 2014It is nothing more, and nothing less than a decent Morrissey album, and for some that is all the recommendation needed.
-
Jul 11, 2014At almost 55 minutes, some of the 12 tracks could have done with a bit of trimming, while some songs work better than others. But overall World Peace Is None Of Your Business is a distinctive contribution to Morrissey’s oeuvre.
-
Jul 17, 2014Rather than refining any creative molds, World Peace stays the course, which could just be creative enough on its own.
-
MagnetAug 6, 2014The good (and bad) news for people who love bad (and good) news: Both groups will be delighted and appalled by this record. [No. 112, p.51]
-
Jul 23, 2014Given the great work apparent on the album’s first half, it’s a pity to see the album slide to a close so disappointingly.
-
Jul 18, 2014Inevitably, the singer’s less appealing views do invade the material.
-
Jul 16, 2014So the bleakly beautiful is still there, but the flashes are sporadic.
-
Jul 14, 2014World Peace is an album that rewards patience, and the deeper one goes into it, the more fun there is to be had.
-
Jul 14, 2014Part of Morrissey’s charm is his resistance to change. Another part is the sick wit that lies behind his vitriol. The titles of his songs alone draw perverse smiles. He may be a pill and a scold, but you can’t deny the guy’s got style.
-
Jul 9, 2014There’s a decidedly different tone to proceedings. World Peace is None of Your Business feels infinitely more concise, and musically more defined.
-
Jul 7, 2014World Peace is a frustrating experience, moving too quickly between temperaments and overstaying its welcome by a good 20 minutes.
-
Jul 14, 2014At times the intricate arrangements come across as a means of covering up unmemorable songwriting.
-
Jul 14, 2014Predictably, it’s the riskiest choices that pay the fewest dividends.... Fortunately, the album on the whole has enough of Morrissey’s strengths--the ones he established with Marr and co., first causing NME journos to wet their trousers 30 years ago--to be a mostly serviceable Morrissey album.
-
Jul 15, 2014As Morrissey's ability to deploy his wit and worldliness fades, it's nice to hear him wax romantic, but for the first time on record, he seems more obsessed with others than himself. Sadly, it doesn't suit him well.
-
Jul 15, 2014His social and political views have long been front and center, but never have they been delivered as tritely or in as simplistically sloganeering a manner as they are here.
-
Jul 15, 2014The album’s 12 bloated, mostly mid-tempo tracks drone on and on, and even when they aren’t technically long they sometimes feel like they might never end because most of them fail to find a hook.
-
Jul 15, 2014The future is here; love has not brought us together, nor has the bomb. Morrissey, having left himself no other options, makes do with a shrug.
-
Jul 24, 2014The biggest problem is Morrissey himself, who sounds like he’s trying to be clever rather than actually demonstrating that infamously razor-sharp wit.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
-
Positive: 38 out of 57
-
Mixed: 10 out of 57
-
Negative: 9 out of 57
-
Jul 19, 2014
-
Jul 17, 2014
-
Jul 28, 2014