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By Shannon Long
Published: Friday, April 15, 2005

Let me begin this review by saying that live albums are generally made for the fans of an artist. That being said, I am a fan of the work of Morrissey (moreso for his work with the Smiths than his solo work, but a fan nonetheless). Live at Earl's Court is a documentation of a concert Morrissey played in London to a crowd of 17,183 people on December 18, 2004. This concert is important because it came soon after the release of his first album in seven years, You Are the Quarry; and the strength of this album is demonstrated here by the fact that its tracks stand up next to Morrissey classics.
The concert starts off with "How Soon Is Now" one of the Smith's most popular singles, and then one of the best tracks off of You Are the Quarry and what I consider to be one of his best singles in many, many years, "First of the Gang to Die" after which he says to his audience, "Thank you for coming here. Thank you for being you." He then follows with a Morrissey classic, "November Spawned a Monster." He continues performing the old and the new, closing with "Last Night I Dreamt Somebody Loved Me," in what amounts to quite an enjoyable live performance.

The renditions of the Smiths songs "Big Mouth Strikes Again," "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out," "Shoplifters of the World Unite," and the already mentioned "How Soon is Now" and "Last Night I Dreamt Somebody Loved Me," are, of course, not the same without Johnny Marr, but they end up being quite good. He cleverly replaces 'Walkman' in "Bigmouth Strikes Again" with "iPod."
He covers Patti Smith's "Redondo Beach," which is a good cover indeed and deserves its status as a single for the album. The performance of "I Have Forgiven Jesus" here is particularly good as well, and should be noted.

The issue should be addressed that many people just don't like Morrissey. Every artist has his/her detractors I'm sure. Morrissey certainly has his; critics were often brutal during the late nineties. Besides professional critics, many people can't get over Morrissey, the man.

The fact is that Morrissey is rather melodramatic, and it may seem that he seldom writes a joyous song. While there are several Morrissey songs that seem to be cheerful and rather witty to me, Morrissey is more well known for songs with titles such as "Never Had No One Ever" and "Miserable Lie." He is often portrayed as overly glum and a poster boy for "sensitive" types. There may be much truth to these portrayals, but I think the music of Morrissey is enjoyed by many types of people.

Despite the many who are critical of Morrissey's talents, he has been quite successful. He can hardly be seen as a mere figure of an underground subculture, and he's well known. While some people may not like the idea of Morrissey being a "mainstream" figure, he certainly has achieved that status in his native country and is certainly not too terribly far from it here.