Your Arsenal

by Stephen Thomas Erlewine Morrissey bounced back from the lackluster Kill Uncle with the terrific Your Arsenal. A dynamic, invigorating fusion of glam rock and rockabilly, Your Arsenal rocks harder than any other record Morrissey ever made. Guitarist Alain Whyte's riffs swagger with a self-absorbed arrogance, and producer Mick Ronson gives the music a tough, stylish sheen -- it may be a break from Morrissey's jangle pop, but the music is sharper than at has been since the Smiths, and so is Morrissey's pen. Running through his trademark litany of emotional, social, and personal observations, Morrissey is viciously clever and occasionally moving. And the songs -- whether it's the rush of "You're Gonna Need Someone on Your Side," the menacing "We'll Let You Know," the spare rockabilly bop of "Certain People I Know," the gospel-tinged "I Know It's Gonna Happen Someday," or "Tomorrow" -- are uniformly excellent, forming the core of Morrissey's finest solo record and his best work since The Queen Is Dead.