Waiting to be served in a swanky new Sydney gay bar one recent Sunday afternoon, I was shocked (and thrilled) to hear the opening bars of The Queen Is Dead by The Smiths come blasting from the retro jukebox. Within an instant I was thrown back to being my moody 16 year old self, playing that hallowed album in my bedroom at full volume, encouraging my poor dear mother to bring out the broom and bang on the downstairs ceiling – imploring me to “turn that rubbish down!”

Spring forward some 23 years and the solo Morrissey is still serving sweet human angst by the sackful. He seemed to get a little happy not too long ago – maybe even found love, but that sharp sardonic tongue always seems to get the better of him, either on record or on the record.

Years Of Refusal is the sound of Morrissey saying goodbye – “You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone” he wails in the soaring way that only he can – although many have tried to emulate him. “One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell” on another. God forbid. He is freaking angry this time around. But it is those Morrissey words that still have the power to hit you where it hurts. His band is playing so well here – and for once the Morrissey lyric is matched by some equally dramatic playing, equalling if not even surpassing the best moments of The Smiths. The listener is asked to Play Loud. Do so, and rejoice in its full glory.

Seeing Morrissey live is all about hero worship. Male, female, gay, straight, bi-curious, all fall at his feet. I have a tiny collection of threads from one of the shirts that he obligingly flings out to his audience at the end of a typical gig. People quite literally tear him apart.

This year he is fifty, and on his birthday returns to his birthplace of Manchester, Northern England, for a special gig at the Apollo. My good friend Jane, an ardent fan who would quite willingly leave her gorgeous husband for the man, is going. And I am jealous as hell.

Morrissey – Years Of Refusal is out now through Polydor Records.