• Record Label: BMG
  • Release Date: May 24, 2019
Metascore
57

Mixed or average reviews - based on 15 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 15
  2. Negative: 2 out of 15
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  1. Mojo
    May 21, 2019
    60
    Versions of Jon i Mitchell's Don't Interrupt The Sorrow and Bob Dylan's Only A Pawn In Their Game are surprisingly persuasive. Elsewhere, it's like being imprisoned in the teenage Moz bedroom/brain. [Jun 2019, p.89]
  2. May 28, 2019
    59
    When they play it safer, like on their workmanlike strum through Joni Mitchell’s “Don’t Interrupt the Sorrow” or the easy-listening wistfulness of their take on Roy Orbison’s “It’s Over,” the results are less remarkable. And while it’s a relief to be spared Morrissey’s bitterness, sometimes California Son feels too frothy, and he sounds like he doesn’t have any skin in the game at all.
  3. Classic Rock Magazine
    May 30, 2019
    50
    A competently executed, if indulgent. [Jul 2019, p.85]
  4. Q Magazine
    Jun 14, 2019
    40
    There's nothing transformative enough to make this more than a placeholder and plenty that is kitsch. [Summer 2019, p.112]
  5. May 28, 2019
    40
    California Son is uneven at its best, and borderline sacrilegious at its lowest points. This level of steady, maintained mediocrity will only make it harder and harder for all but his staunchest fans to continue caring.
  6. 40
    The arrangements are suitably bombastic: there’s a theremin camping up the pub piano on his cover of Laura Nyro’s ”Wedding Bell Blues”. His version of Bruce Wayne Campbell’s (aka Jobriath) 1973 glam stomp “Morning Starship” really sells the wry/cosmic lyrics about a girl picking a rocket’s lock with her hairpin. ... Morrissey’s take on Joni Mitchell’s “Don’t Interrupt the Sorrow” is leaden jazz karaoke, stripping the original of all its haze and drift. The electro-stomp/harp, fading to reflective piano fade-out of his reworking of Melanie Safka’s ”Some Say I Got Devil”, makes a joke of his lifelong self-pity.
  7. 40
    Some tracks are merely forgettable--‘Days Of Decision’, ‘Lenny’s Tune’ and ‘When You Close Your Eyes’--while others charge headfirst into oddball territory.
User Score
6.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 24 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 24
  2. Negative: 4 out of 24
  1. May 26, 2019
    9
    What an enjoyable insight in to Morrissey’s mind. The song selection is perfect, just the right mix of well known songs verses somewhatWhat an enjoyable insight in to Morrissey’s mind. The song selection is perfect, just the right mix of well known songs verses somewhat obscure. Wedding Bell Blues gets a pretty straightforward rendering that Morrissey keeps light. Loneliness Remembers keeps Dionne Warwick’s version alive within Morrissey’s vocal delivery. The production is at times heavy but it helps the album maintain a 60’s theme through a spin of the entire album. Really it’s what I’ve been hoping for from Morrissey for the last ten years. Nice job Moz. Full Review »
  2. May 27, 2019
    10
    excellent!! N e lo pierdan. merece la pena la revisión de estos clásicos por Morrissey
  3. May 26, 2019
    6
    É um trabalho 'ok'. Instrumentalmente falando é bem bonito, em certos momentos os arranjos são simples e objetivos, em outros momentos sãoÉ um trabalho 'ok'. Instrumentalmente falando é bem bonito, em certos momentos os arranjos são simples e objetivos, em outros momentos são imponentes e dão um ótimo peso às faixas que precisam (Some Say I Got Devil ilustra bem). Mas ainda assim fiquei incomodado com um certo jeito "karaokê" de bar que este álbum traz, pessoalmente não me agradou. Os arranjos levam este álbum "nas costas" por grande parte do tempo. "ok" é uma definição adequada. Full Review »