Southpaw Grammar
Teaming up with guitarists Alain Whyte and Boz Boorer, Morrissey toughened up his sound with *Vauxhall and I* and then continued the streak with *Southpaw Grammar*, another piece of unusual aggression from this pop-loving singer. “The Teachers Are Afraid of the Pupils” opens things with an eleven-minute opus where Morrissey sides not with youth but age as the kids spiral out of control. “Southpaw,” another ten minute cut, concludes things with the sound of a ponderous apocalypse. The album is considered in some circles to be Morrissey’s “prog-rock” album thanks to an abundance of orchestration. Compared with previous works this might be somewhat true if not completely accurate. The album also delivers convincing hard rock (“The Boy Racer”) and several classic three-minute pop gems (“Reader Meet Author,” “Dagenham Dave”). While it does seem a bit incongruous that a man of letters like Morrissey would find a cathartic pull in boxing (Morrissey as Norman Mailer?), it just goes to show how eclectic and unpredictable the man can be.