And yet, for such a gifted poet, it’s the music rather than the words that does a lot of Morrissey’s heavy lifting here. Opener You’re Right, It’s Time, with its declaration that “I wanna speak up and not be trapped by censorship” slides on a Smiths-ish groove and wistful guitar. There’s a sleazy, dangerous, electro-touched rhythm to the title track, which is actually the best thing on offer. What he’s done with Roxy Music’s Amazona is a curio, but at least interesting. Zoom Zoom the Little Boy, meanwhile, takes some of the album’s more interesting music – slinking indie-pop with a side of 1960s psych – and tops it with lazy nursery rhyme-type couplets.
The most devoted of devotees will get a kick out of this album, but even they will struggle to ignore its flaws, or how genuinely fed up – rather than his usual showboating – Morrissey sounds at times. He isn’t going soft, but he isn’t as much of a charming man as he can be, either.
Make-Up Is a Lie is out now