I like Southpaw Grammar, it's a decent record. And perhaps I would like to revise my placings of Kill Uncle, I'd probably put it above Years of Refusal personally.

Kill Uncle feels underproduced, and seems very sketchy and unfinished in places, but with the right recording and writing time, he's have probably got it spot on again. Note that he'd split with Stephen Street prior to the recording of that, so was left in limbo for a time before hiring his line up which, as of today, has not been drastically altered over the years.

The prime reason for the dislike towards Years of Refusal is the chug rock that dominates the album sound. For a start, his band is nowhere near the talents of Johnny Marr and co (check Morrissey's live 'Charming Man' - they have the complete inability to play Johnny's riffs and are restricted to just chords) so it just sounds like a lumbering mess when his band tries to 'rock up'. The Smiths rarely 'rocked up' but when they did, the results were amazing (see The Queen is Dead and Sweet and Tender Hooligan) so it's not like a rock sound is incompatible with Morrissey's voice. Very rarely it works - Your Arsenal works very well with the rock sound - it's aggressive, fast paced and relentless, but latter years his band sound tired and plodding and seem to be forcing up a rock sound.

Preferably then, Morrissey's solo work is at its best when Moz himself is at the forefront of the music. Which is perhaps why I like this album a lot - there's plenty of instrumentation no doubt but his voice is not dominated by other noise like on the last one, and melodically he's all the better for it when the tunes are at a slower tempo personally. My favourite album is Vauxhall and I precisely because the production takes a back seat and his wonderful voice is the mainstay of that album, and precisely because songs like Now My Heart Is Full have more feeling and meaning in them than pretty much the entire album of Years of Refusal.

It's fantastic, I really really think this is brilliant. My hopes weren't too high after the disappointment of the last one but this is the first time since I've followed Morrissey that one of his albums has hit me instantly (followed him since I heard Irish Blood, English Heart as a 13 year old - became a hardcore fan when I was 19 - pretty much the time since I joined this forum).

I thought about that as well - "I'm Not A Man" could be viewed as a Morrissey classic in a few years. Fantastic song, good lyrics, great build-up.
I still don't get Neil Cassady Drops Dead at all, apart from that, class album.

I'm finally gonna buy this album, but I'm not too sure if the Deluxe Version or the normal one. Any recommendations?

The extra tunes on the deluxe version are very good, I'd recommend that one.

I really love this album. My favourites are Istanbul, the title track, Mountjoy, and Staircase. What a great range of sounds and they work well together with Morrissey's voice and the songs.

I've not gone through all of Morrissey's solo catalogue yet but this album is in my top 3 with Your Arsenal and Ringleader of the Tormentors.

I can't believe it's taken me so many years to get into Morrissey's discography since falling in love with the Smiths over 10 years ago.

Good album and I'm Not A Man is one of the most important songs in Morrisey's catalog. Even though i think he's a man, just like any of us, just more sincere really.That's why people love him. He's givin' it all away.

Showing your weakness to others is something you want to avoid.

That's why I love Moz.

Sad but true.

I am shocked and saddened at the news Morrissey has cancer - an awful disease that I'm sure many of us here (myslef included) has impacted upon our most loved.

As one of my heroes and in my opinion the greatest frontman of all time, it's not something I expected - you think they are invincible, even a person as vulnerable as Moz. Pray to god he pulls through.

Morrissey himself would chuckle at the irony that the world would be a sadder place without him.

I am deeply shocked and very sad about this sad news.
My better half lost his mother by cancer and I lost my uncle by cancer too.
Cancer doesn't need to mean you're going to dead.

This is Moz' comment about his illness:

They have scraped cancerous tissues four times already, but whatever. If I die, then I die. And if I don’t, then I don’t. Right now I feel good. I am aware that in some of my recent photos I look somewhat unhealthy, but that’s what illness can do. I'm not going to worry about that, I'll rest when I'm dead.

I nearly cried when I read it.
Moz, the very best of the best wishes and we all give a big fat F-word to this disease!

He said in the interview that he's been under the cancer treatment for past 18 months and had to be taken to the hospital several times.