The Martlet

Years of Refusal

Morrissey

Lost Highway/Attack Records

Morrissey lives to ruffle feathers. Whether he’s calling out members of British Parliament or advocating for vegetarianism, Morrissey succeeds greatest when he delivers a lyrical zinger with equal parts vitriol and wit. Though his lyrics teeter on the edge of melodrama and cliché, you can always sense the undercurrent of a well-humoured man laughing at life’s troubles.

Morrissey’s latest album Years of Refusal is his ninth solo album, following 2006’s Ringleader of the Tormentors. On Years of Refusal, his lyrical dexterity spirals from the literary to the lousy, as seen the lyrics “And you will never see the one you love again/And the smiling children tell you that you smell” from “One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell.”

In his middle-age, Morrissey’s shown the ability to offer mediocre writing — something which greatly affects the album’s capacity to touch on his usual themes of depression and despair. Sure, Morrissey has built a career out of this stuff, but his musical slip-outs reveal an artist incapable of channeling the well-worn terrain of past successes.

Fortunately for Morrissey faithfuls, Years of Refusal does offer a few nice additions to a career that has spanned nearly three decades. On “Mama Lay Softly on the Riverbed” he flaunts the bravado of a voice growing fuller with age. “I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris,” begins with the familiar pastoral jangle of vintage Moz.

Late in the album Morrissey sings: “You were good in your time/And we thank you.” Although his decay as a relevant lyricist stymies a few tracks, Morrissey’s latest offering provides enough positive tunes that his farewell will be delayed, at least until his impending senility sets in.

• Matt Lundy

The Ballad of Stompin’ Tom

Stompin’ Tom Connors

EMI Music Canada

Like maple syrup, loonies and toonies, poutine and Hockey Night in Canada, the legendary Stompin’ Tom Connors is an iconic symbol of the Great White North.

Perhaps, as Canada’s only Maritime cowboy, the chain-smoking, beer-swilling Connors is the embodiment of a true good ole’ boy. A native son of Saint John, New Brunswick, the crisscrossing country rambler has been toe-tappin’ and stompin’ his way from coast to coast since the 1960s. He’s seen and sung about virtually every aspect of blue-collar life, true patriot love and the cultural landscape.

Four decades later, his love of all-things-Canadian and his humorous signature (a witty speak-easy storytelling style, sprinkled with mirthful bouts of yodeling) still resonates throughout his latest CD, The Ballad of Stompin’ Tom. Connors turns 73 this month, so this could well be his last release.

The Ballad of Stompin’ Tom is a light-listening disk that’s fun all around. It is easily enjoyed by all ages — but especially those of drinking age.

The album is split between fresh material and greatest hits, some featuring a few lyrical revisions. It opens with one such version of 1976’s “The Olympic Song,” catchy enough to expect some heavy rotation play next year.

Several of Connors’ new tunes like “Chickee Pooh” and “Chase Me Charley” are instantly infectious, but it is the album’s title track which may be destined to become another classic.

Rest assured, the life-long drifter included several of his crowd-pleasing ditties like “My Hockey Mom,” “My British Columbian Home,” a live version of “Take Me Back to Old Alberta” and, of course, Canada’s secondary national anthem: “The Hockey Song.”

• Jordan C. Hanford

Lonely Road

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

EMI

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus enjoyed plenty of success when their debut album Don’t Fake It soared into the Billboard’s top-200 list two years ago. The screaming lyrics of lead vocalist Ronnie Winter grabbed everyone’s attention. The album sold over a million copies in the U.S. and their single “Face Down” spent 52 weeks on the top-20 Modern Rock Chart.

Unfortunately, the kids from Middleburg, Florida were unable to continue their original style in their second and latest album, Lonely Road. Here, Winter abandons his scream-style vocals and replaces it with a soft, sentimental, emo approach, which emphasizes his weak, nasally voice. In an attempt to add power to Winter’s voice, producer Howard Benson is constantly stacking guitar rifts and adding string sections to tracks.

Lonely Road’s first single “You Better Pray” stands out as the album’s only rock song. The 80s’ style guitar rifts and distorted soloing in the background set this song apart from the pop-punk style of the rest of the record.

The album does, however, have a very easy to listen to sound, with lyrics and melodies that will inspire most junior high teens. The very catchy “Pen and Paper” tells the story of a male teen who’s angry with his girlfriend, and “Senioritis” describes the emotions of graduating from high school. These cliché adolescent storylines guide young teens through related problems that they face in their ever-so-dramatic young lives.

Lonely Road will not send shivers down your spine with beautiful melodies, nor will it inspire you with imaginative lyrics. However, it can make for a easy listen while doing the dishes, or maybe even make a great birthday present for your 14-year-old brother.

• Kevan Ramsden

Common Existence

Thursday

Epitaph Records

Thursday’s 2001 album Full Collapse sent reverential waves through the hardcore community and has been credited with redefining the genre.

Since then, Thursday has released two albums to lesser critical acclaim and their rising star has been threatening to fall off the radar completely. 

In 2008, all signs pointed to a return of the raw passion that garnered the band attention in the first place. The band slated a release on punk label Epitaph Records following their brief flirtation with major labels and a split EP with influential Japanese band Envy was in the works.

Thursday entered the studio with badminton racquets and Twitter applications in hand, determined to distract themselves and document the process for the teeming internet-ing masses. The band posted photos of their ridiculously complicated kick drum mic setup and of their complex badminton tournament schedules on the micro blogging website.

The age of digital recording may have afforded bands freedom when rendering an album, but it seems to have a homogenizing effect.

The first track of Thursday’s new album, Common Existence, seems to indicate that they’ve fallen into this trap. “Resuscitation of a Dead Man” is overly reminiscent of The Offspring and AFI, and it seems to take the album a few tracks to shake off these comparisons. 

The production on the album showcases an almost infinitely hollow kick drum sound that allows the buzzing trebles of Geoff Rickly’s vocals and Tom Keeley’s and Steve Pedulla’s jangly guitars to resonate. The album starts to gain momentum near the end, with standout tracks “Subway Funeral” and “You Are the Cancer,” but it’s not enough to allow Thursday to reclaim their status as pioneers.  

• Jodie Thomson