Bit of a disappointing review really (anyone who says they're happy with an average mark/wouldn't prefer 4 or 5 stars is lying!). Ah well, we'll see who puts their two penneth in next! Mojo's review was positive, this week (I think) we'll see the Q and Uncut reviews. But considering the sense of anticipation surrounding the album, that review was a bit of a let down. Never mind!

endowment mortgages? I think the title of the track "The World is Full of Crashing Bores", is saying something about Marsden's life right there. So either he's a militant Smith's fan and hates moz solo or he just did a little bit of homework on The Smiths catalog, to sound smart in his references. He makes no comparision to post-Smiths work...and lines about chorus' geared towards stadium anthems? Huh? Oblviously this reviewer has a bone to pick with moz...so he can take his middle-aged ass and listen to such modern country artist like Toby Keith, if he wants someone to sing to him about paying the bills, mortgages, and keeping the wifey happy or whatever it is that speaks about his life...

Right, these are my review predictions for upcoming articles based on what I've read so far. We'll see how accurate they prove to be.

NME 8 or 9 out of 10 (they've been raving about the album for a bit now)
UNCUT - 4 stars out of 5 - album of the month. (One of their regular contributors is Simon Goddard who likes the album as we know and could well write the review).
Q - 4 stars out of 5. (Maybe 3 if they're tight).
WORD - not sure - possibly negative from their 'preview'.
ALL MUSIC GUIDE - 4 stars out of 5. They gave Maladjusted 3 stars so I'm hedging my bets that this will get one star extra cos I think everyone has said its better than Maladjusted.
BILLBOARD - praised IBEH. Probably a good review.

What does everyone else think?
SUNDAY TIMES - 4 stars - but only based on the comments made re; the song clips.

Now, leave my mate Rhodri alone...I think he was quite spot on, and I laughed a few times at his thoughts, laughing in amusement not disbelief.
He fronts a brilliant band, The Free French...check out his lyrics and see where Morrissey should really be coming from..

There was a very enthusiastic review in Attitude magazine - Thanks to Girl Unafraid for the scan via the message board.

Attitude Review [morrissey-solo.com]

Thankyou very much for the scan of the review in 'Attitude' magazine. At last, a review that dares to put its arse on the line by saying that Quarry stands up to the Smiths' work!! I was a little disappointed with the Observer review, but this is great! Please post this review in the main news section so that other people coming here have some kind of balance to the Observer piece.

Cheers again!

There's usually a second review in the proper newspaper during the week of release.

They don't always sing from the same hymn sheet.

I think people contributing to this site need to gain some sense of perspective (although I suppose their very adherence to Morrissey takes away much capacity for perspective). I read the Observer review (as opposed to looking at the rating- oh for the days when magazines just give a review and did not have to supply a rating so those with short attention spans could get an instant hit) and the review read very positively. I was surprised, after reading the review that it was only given three stars. But, hey-ho, that's what it got. And does it really matter? If you like it, you will like it, if you don't, you probably won't. Don't cry into your diaries whenever you perceive negativity. Sometimes it's not even there.