Low In High School is underrated

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I really like this album. Opening song is killer, great energy and great lyrics. Home Is A Question Mark and I Bury The Living are fantastic songs, some of my favorites in a while. I love the melody and tone of Israel.

It seems like a lot of people here are just kind of “meh” about it which I don’t understand because to me it’s a better album than I Am Not A Dog On A Chain.
 
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I like World Peace too. Title track, Neal Cassady, Oboe, Kick The Bride and the bonus disc had Art Hounds which is a phenomenal song along with Drag The River, just all around I like it.

I think World Peace and Low In High School are both better than Dog, not that I dislike it but all the electronic stuff isn’t what I look for in a Morrissey record really.
 
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By logic he went from playing 8 songs a night from when the LIHS tour was in full swing late 2017/early 2018, to playing just 3 by the end of November 2018, would suggest M is not that proud of it as he initially made out.
Not really a fan of this, though it’s not his worse; IMO.
 
By logic he went from playing 8 songs a night from when the LIHS tour was in full swing late 2017/early 2018, to playing just 3 by the end of November 2018, would suggest M is not that proud of it as he initially made out.
Not really a fan of this, though it’s not his worse; IMO.
I was at one of those shows where he played 7/8 songs from LIHS and it wasn't even out yet... totally lost the crowd except for Spent the Day in Bed.
 
By logic he went from playing 8 songs a night from when the LIHS tour was in full swing late 2017/early 2018, to playing just 3 by the end of November 2018, would suggest M is not that proud of it as he initially made out.
Not really a fan of this, though it’s not his worse; IMO.

He did that on the Maladjusted tour, too. I think he played like 3 songs from that album by the end of 1997. I know he isn't high on that one.
 
World Peace and Low In High School are Morrissey's best albums.

One day, the world will catch on...
 
Lox in High School (naff title already) is crap: production , quality of the songs and lyrics, cover….Crap. A disgrace.
 
I enjoyed "Home is a Question Mark", "Israel" and "Jacky..", but beyond that it's a jumbled, mixed-up album with some of Morrissey's worst lyrics. Most songs have really poor vocal melodies, which is where Moz usually excels.
 
I agree with you on this - “Bury”, “Home”, “Israel”, “IWYL” and “STDIB” are all great songs. The production is a bit harsher to reflect the themes, and, as I’ve made the case for in the respective A-Z threads, I don’t believe “Bury” and “Israel” are actually mean spirited tracks at all: in fact, in my opinion, they’re some of his most outward looking solo tracks to date. The second side flags and dips quite a bit, and the cover is truly terrible, but I think this LP deserves a second look by some of its critics.
 
For me, it's his worst LP by a long shot. I'd rate the songs as:

GOOD
  • My Love, I'd Do Anything For You
  • I Wish You Lonely
  • Home is Question, Mark.
MEDIOCRE
  • Jackie's Only Happy When She's Up on Stage
  • I Bury the Living (I admire what this song is trying to do, but it doesn't make it a good listen)
  • In Your Lap
  • The Girl From Tel-Aviv Who Wouldn't, Neil
  • When You Open Your Legs
DIRE
  • Spent the Day in Bed
  • All the Young People Must Fall in Love
  • Who Will Protect Us From the Police (possibly a career low, it's a toss up between this and 'The Kid's a Looker')
  • Israel (nice vocal performance, but the pro-Israeli lyrics render it unlistenable)
 
its a few songs short of being good,israel vocal is stunning,not as good as woof woof or world peace but it does have its moments.
 
The deluxe edition bonus songs, specifically - "Never Again Will I Be a Twin" and "This Song Doesn't End When It's Over" are better than the majority of the original album. Not a good sign.
 
For me, it's his worst LP by a long shot. I'd rate the songs as:

GOOD
  • My Love, I'd Do Anything For You
  • I Wish You Lonely
  • Home is Question, Mark.
MEDIOCRE
  • Jackie's Only Happy When She's Up on Stage
  • I Bury the Living (I admire what this song is trying to do, but it doesn't make it a good listen)
  • In Your Lap
  • The Girl From Tel-Aviv Who Wouldn't, Neil
  • When You Open Your Legs
DIRE
  • Spent the Day in Bed
  • All the Young People Must Fall in Love
  • Who Will Protect Us From the Police (possibly a career low, it's a toss up between this and 'The Kid's a Looker')
  • Israel (nice vocal performance, but the pro-Israeli lyrics render it unlistenable)
Wot?? :rolleyes:
 
LIHS is undoubtedly the oddest album Morrissey has ever done. The album has plenty of variety. It might be appreciated for the risks it takes, and for it’s uneasy coupling of sort-of-hits with polemical deep cuts.

A song like ‘Jacky’ stands out as a classic Morrissey track, with some pretty solid writing and one of those over-inflated, impossible to enunciate hooks that shouldn’t work but still ends up landing. ‘I Wish You Lonely’ is over cooked, yet somehow sonically captures the feelings of unease and unrest that the song is concerned with.

It’s a political album, but the politics are all over the place. The final track is intriguing and clearly has a lot on its mind. I find the mixing of the personal and the political here to be pretty bold. However, skewering a serious international matter in this way is either a bit glib or somewhat offensive, depending on how generous you feel. ‘I Bury the Living’ is another risk taking song. Both tracks are atmospheric, provocative and probably in need of a redraft.

There’s a lot that could be written about this LP. I prefer it to World Peace, as I think it is more spiky and musically dynamic. Morrissey is never boring - this is a consequence of his going against the grain, whether this in melody, politics or in musical accompaniment.

Let’s hope Bonfire is out soon, so that we can keep coming together to discuss the consistently strange and consistently compelling work that continues to arrive - we hope - in this later period in Morrissey’s artistic output.
 
Don't know if you guys are ready for this one but Kill Uncle is actually underrated and perhaps even the secret best Morrissey album. (not counting bona drag)

I think the claim that low in high school is underrated is murky... like its bad compared to the rest of his discography but yeah its still Morrissey. It's gonna be better than the majority of the shit out there... A few good points in this thread, just as there are a few good songs on the album. Israel amazing vocals as pointed out... Most songs have a line or two that are clever and stand out... Thats the appeal of Morrissey. I think the Israel songs are less controversal when the lyrics are read into rather than just chorus... but thats a common pattern with national front etc. Taking complicated issues and boiling them down into a pop song is morrissey to a tee - and a lot of the appeal of him as an artist. Most artists wouldn't touch that with a ten foot pole, unless it was an extremely safe opinion...
Israel (song) is often misunderstood. (by fans surprisingly) theres intentionally provocative lyrics in the song, of course...

But at the end of the day

'We're all bones and flesh and shell'

'I can't answer for what armies do
They are not you'

The actions of a countries military do not reflect the civilian population. There are Israelis who are very critical of their government.
 
Don't know if you guys are ready for this one but Kill Uncle is actually underrated and perhaps even the secret best Morrissey album. (not counting bona drag)

I think the claim that low in high school is underrated is murky... like its bad compared to the rest of his discography but yeah its still Morrissey. It's gonna be better than the majority of the shit out there... A few good points in this thread, just as there are a few good songs on the album. Israel amazing vocals as pointed out... Most songs have a line or two that are clever and stand out... Thats the appeal of Morrissey. I think the Israel songs are less controversal when the lyrics are read into rather than just chorus... but thats a common pattern with national front etc. Taking complicated issues and boiling them down into a pop song is morrissey to a tee - and a lot of the appeal of him as an artist. Most artists wouldn't touch that with a ten foot pole, unless it was an extremely safe opinion...
Israel (song) is often misunderstood. (by fans surprisingly) theres intentionally provocative lyrics in the song, of course...

But at the end of the day

'We're all bones and flesh and shell'

'I can't answer for what armies do
They are not you'

The actions of a countries military do not reflect the civilian population. There are Israelis who are very critical of their government.
Kill Uncle is underrated, I’ll agree with that.
Its up there with my own personal faves but, it’s also probably the LP I play the most. 🤎👴🏻
 
'I can't answer for what armies do
They are not you'
I always felt this line rubbed somewhat uncomfortably against the lyrics of 'I Bury the Living', where he holds an individual soldier to account for the actions of the politicians who send armies into action, and effectively sneers at his death. Either individual citizens are resposible for the actions of the governments they vote into power, and what their countries get up to, or they are not - which is it? And, of course, on the same album Morrissey berates people for even voting in the first place, and tells them not to, so it's very difficult to grasp any kind of coherent political message on this album at all.
 
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