Morrissey - Everyday Is Like Sunday (EMI)

Jim Pusey | Tuesday, 26 October 2010

Perhaps the most surprising thing about 'Everyday Is Like Sunday' is that 22 years after its original release Morrissey's second solo single still sounds relevant as social commentary. The interwoven themes of nostalgia and decay resonate in recession hit Britain in much the same way that they did during Thatcher's 1980's.

Musically this re-mastered cut from the anniversary edition of Bona Drag finds Morrissey at the top of his game, mixing Smiths era guitars with swelling strings to create an angry state of the nation address.

Lyrically the layers of the track reveal themselves slowly as childhood visions of "trudging slowly over wet sand, back to the bench where your clothes were stolen" give way to a more depressing seaside landscape: "this is the coastal town they forgot to close down."

A post-apocalyptic world inspired by Nevil Shute's novel On The Beach, then comes into sharp focus as "a strange dust lands on your hands." The parallels that Morrissey draws between a forgotten war torn town and an economically starved former tourist hot-spot work well here, his scorn and despair are masked only by an illusion of boredom.

It is refreshing to think that where many of his contemporaries have failed to maintain relevance, material this strong places 'Everyday Is Like Sunday' in that rare category of timeless pop. It may highlight some of the more dated tracks on Bona Drag, but it is well worth revisiting Morrissey's "seaside town that they forgot to bomb."

Rating: 5/5