"Low In High School" released (Nov. 17, 2017)

Low In High School is out now.
41311_low_in_high_school.jpg
 
What a selfish statement. You could always just stop listening and buying his albums and let the rest of us who still enjoy his music, enjoy it.
I have to agree. If Moz released an experimental concept album of recordings of his bowel movements I'd understand the negative reaction but the new album has some good songs and his voice is better than ever. People are so serious these days they don't know how to enjoy themselves. Moz is a singer. He's not the spokesman for the United Nations.
 
Morrissey - Low In High School review: Misjudged and lyrically banal

Daily Express 2*

Morrissey’s shift from the detailed and personal to the global and political has proved disastrous for his songwriting: large swathes of this 11th album (Who Will Protect Us From The Police?, The Girl From Tel Aviv) are so misjudged and lyrically banal as to be embarrassing.

He hits an absolute low point with I Bury The Living, a spiteful, seven-minute anti-military diatribe that makes Paper Lace’s Billy Don’t Be A Hero seem profound.



https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/music/881634/Morrissey-Low-In-High-School-Review
 
Goodness gracious me, Home Is A Question Mark is one of the great Morrissey ballads. That note at the end is spine tingling.
 
Goodness gracious me, Home Is A Question Mark is one of the great Morrissey ballads. That note at the end is spine tingling.
It is indeed. I've noticed he hasn't attempted it live though. Which makes me wonder about him doing other album tracks live. 'I bury the living' for example. I think his voice would have to be in peak condition to attempt that incredible falsetto outro.
 
It is indeed. I've noticed he hasn't attempted it live though. Which makes me wonder about him doing other album tracks live. 'I bury the living' for example. I think his voice would have to be in peak condition to attempt that incredible falsetto outro.

It certainly would have been a real 'moment' in the studio when he closed his eyes and belted that last line out. You can really hear the emotion in it.
 
Morrissey - Low In High School review: Misjudged and lyrically banal

Daily Express 2*

Morrissey’s shift from the detailed and personal to the global and political has proved disastrous for his songwriting: large swathes of this 11th album (Who Will Protect Us From The Police?, The Girl From Tel Aviv) are so misjudged and lyrically banal as to be embarrassing.

He hits an absolute low point with I Bury The Living, a spiteful, seven-minute anti-military diatribe that makes Paper Lace’s Billy Don’t Be A Hero seem profound.



https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/music/881634/Morrissey-Low-In-High-School-Review
You couldn't embolden and enlarge that could you dear, I'm not quite following it. How's that Pot Noodle going down?
 
The Mossirrey Kult are really upset tonight! All i did was post details of the review in the Express and they designate it a troll posting. 3 times...[post #322]

They are not my words, friends, but those of a mainstream media journalist. He's editor of the Sunday Express so quite a media big-shot. Peter Paphides is also an influential big-shot.....

 
You couldn't embolden and enlarge that could you dear, I'm not quite following it. How's that Pot Noodle going down?

Morrissey - Low In High School review: Misjudged and lyrically banal

Daily Express 2*

Morrissey’s shift from the detailed and personal to the global and political has proved disastrous for his songwriting: large swathes of this 11th album (Who Will Protect Us From The Police?, The Girl From Tel Aviv) are so misjudged and lyrically banal as to be embarrassing.

He hits an absolute low point with I Bury The Living, a spiteful, seven-minute anti-military diatribe that makes Paper Lace’s Billy Don’t Be A Hero seem profound.



https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/music/881634/Morrissey-Low-In-High-School-Review
 
The Mossirrey Kult are really upset tonight! All i did was post details of the review in the Express and they designate it a troll posting. 3 times...

That's just because you are a troll. Nobody here is upset; you are just incredibly tiresome. I'm glad you've found your level with the Daily Express. Keep listening to Adele. That is also your level.
 
It is indeed. I've noticed he hasn't attempted it live though. Which makes me wonder about him doing other album tracks live. 'I bury the living' for example. I think his voice would have to be in peak condition to attempt that incredible falsetto outro.

Do you seriously think he actually sang that note? Anyone listening to 'Jacky' at the BBC heard his voice isn't exactly in top form anymore.
 
People saying Mozzer's lyrics aren't up to much on this album. Well this is what the kids these days are listening to....
 
Low In High School is easily better than all those albums.

It's plainly his best album since Vauxhall.
There is one (debatable) missed step on this record in I Bury The Living.
There are also 2 very good tracks in All The Young People and Home Is A Question Mark which have lost something in the mix in comparison to their live debut.
The rest range from excellent to breathtakingly exceptional. The Girl From Tel-Aviv...is an infectious ear worm, whilst Israel and In Your Lap tug at my emotions in the way that Asleep did, irrespective of your perspective on the subject matter. My Love is a bombastic opener and Who Will Protect Us is a strong candidate for a single.

I'm afraid that Morrissey is the victim of this expectation to conform to this 'consensual reality' that BB refers to. But in an 18 month period in which Brexit happenned against all sane expectation (including mine) and "the Donald" entered the Oval office, surely we've seen enough evidence that this single moral filter doesn't exist, whether we like it or not. Morrissey is an observer and commentator and reflects what's happenning. Whether we agree with his statements is up to us. But this album is great art and musicianship, its just that most of the mainstream media are not brave enough to concede it, lest they be trolled by the self-righteous Facebook mob.

SOSB
 
But that’s the point. It has its highs and lows. It’s far better than WP, but the point of opinion is that it quantifies the good, the bad and the ugly. You do it when you might consider Panic a superior work to I Keep Mine Hidden, or Suedehead better than Smiler With Knife, or even Van Gogh a more important cultural icon than Van Morrisson.

If you are suggesting one cannot call out I Bury The Living for being simplistic, nasty tripe then I’m afraid we will have to disagree.

Every normal person wishes to live in a peaceful world. Pete Seeger and John Lennon and others were articulating that decades ago. It’s nothibg new. If you are going to do it today you’d better have something important to say. “Soldiers are bad” isn’t. In fact it is barely an opinion, let alone worthy of being a centrepiece of an album.

Last week I watched a documentary about the retaking of Mosul from ISIS. The men on the ground, not those pressing buttons a thousand miles away while scoffing a sarnie, were heroes. They fought and died inch by inch to clear that city room by room knowing that against ISIS capture was worse even than death. They were doing today what the Allies did in Europe seventy years ago. Cleansing the world from a literal evil.

For them to be summarily dismissed by a multi-millionaire vaudevillian as somehow the same as those they were fighting isn’t just ill-judged. It’s disgusting.

Go to Europe. Visit an Allied war cemetery. It’s a shame Morrissey seemingly never has. That way he’d gain a little perspective. To quote David St. Hubbins “Too much f***ing perspective.”

Nobody asked Morrissey to release this album and share his strong opinions, but to expect him to do so but not receive strong opinions in return is ludicrous.

When I'm listening to a record I am in the moment of it and enjoying it as it unfolds, I usually find I'm not thinking of much else and definitely not comparing what I'm listening to with that artists past work.

'Last week I watched a documentary about the retaking of Mosul from ISIS. The men on the ground, not those pressing buttons a thousand miles away while scoffing a sarnie, were heroes. They fought and died...'

Heroes? I don't know. Would be more correct to say that they are people doing their jobs, doing what they were trained to do, which of course is to kill.

As for 'IBTL'? are there many anti-war songs in 2017? who else is saying these things, and so simply put and strait forward? brave in this climate.

Maybe M did visit an Allied war cemetery which inspired him to write those words after seeing so much pointless death. For surely there must be a better way to solve conflict without the use of war. Maybe in the next world?


'The most shocking fact about war is that its victims and its instruments are individual human beings, and that these individual beings are condemned by the monstrous conventions of politics to murder or be murdered in quarrels not their own.' - Aldous Huxley


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There are highs and lows on Low in High School. Sorry I couldn't resist. After a few listens there is a lot I like about the new album and a few I don't.

1. My Love, I'd Do Anything for You
I love this track more and more. The James Bond-esque ending is great. Nice melody and beautiful big sound.

2. I Wish You Lonely
I didn't like this song at first when I heard it live but now it's one of my favourites. "Romance gone wrong..." is a standout moment.

3. Jacky's Only Happy When She's Up on the Stage
I think this is my favourite track on the album. Beatlesque horns and a great allegory in song.

4. Home Is a Question Mark
Lovely croon and feels a little Vauxhall.

5. Spent the Day in Bed
I don't know how anyone can't like this song.

6. I Bury the Living
There are some less than artful lyrics to be heard here but the orchestration that has this kind of metal wild west type vibe is something I really love. The ominous choral sounds are great too.

7. In Your Lap
I don't like this song much at all. The Arab spring was a complete failure. They replaced one dictator with another. Moz might want to read up on what actually happened after all the celebrations.

8. The Girl from Tel-Aviv Who Wouldn't Kneel
The opening melody is almost note for note exactly the same as In Your Lap. This song does sweet f*** all for me.

9. All the Young People Must Fall in Love
Pretty good song. Not a great song. That's all I have.

10. When You Open Your Legs
I really like this song. The Elvis Presley sixties groove is fantastic. I could've done without yet another Israel reference but what the hell. Great f***ing song!

11. Who Will Protect Us from the Police?
Okay yes he did it more eloquently in Ganglord but I don't get the hate for this song. I love the way it builds and builds towards this blast of noise at the end with more James Bondesque vibes.

12. Israel
meh.... what is the song count now re Israel? Three or four songs? This type of romanticism was done better in I Will See You In Far Off Places and Istanbul. I will be skipping this one. Oh the album is over.

Lose tracks 7, 8 and 12 and the album would be much stronger. It's unfortunate there are no B sides to replace these tracks but I guess there are rumours of some new singles/B sides so all is not lost. Seven highs, three lows and two middles.

This has been a bot review.
 
There are highs and lows on Low in High School. Sorry I couldn't resist. After a few listens there is a lot I like about the new album and a few I don't.

1. My Love, I'd Do Anything for You
I love this track more and more. The James Bond-esque ending is great. Nice melody and beautiful big sound.

2. I Wish You Lonely
I didn't like this song at first when I heard it live but now it's one of my favourites. "Romance gone wrong..." is a standout moment.

3. Jacky's Only Happy When She's Up on the Stage
I think this is my favourite track on the album. Beatlesque horns and a great allegory in song.

4. Home Is a Question Mark
Lovely croon and feels a little Vauxhall.

5. Spent the Day in Bed
I don't know how anyone can't like this song.

6. I Bury the Living
There are some less than artful lyrics to be heard here but the orchestration that has this kind of metal wild west type vibe is something I really love. The ominous choral sounds are great too.

7. In Your Lap
I don't like this song much at all. The Arab spring was a complete failure. They replaced one dictator with another. Moz might want to read up on what actually happened after all the celebrations.

8. The Girl from Tel-Aviv Who Wouldn't Kneel
The opening melody is almost note for note exactly the same as In Your Lap. This song does sweet f*** all for me.

9. All the Young People Must Fall in Love
Pretty good song. Not a great song. That's all I have.

10. When You Open Your Legs
I really like this song. The Elvis Presley sixties groove is fantastic. I could've done without yet another Israel reference but what the hell. Great f***ing song!

11. Who Will Protect Us from the Police?
Okay yes he did it more eloquently in Ganglord but I don't get the hate for this song. I love the way it builds and builds towards this blast of noise at the end with more James Bondesque vibes.

12. Israel
meh.... what is the song count now re Israel? Three or four songs? This type of romanticism was done better in I Will See You In Far Off Places and Istanbul. I will be skipping this one. Oh the album is over.

Lose tracks 7, 8 and 12 and the album would be much stronger. It's unfortunate there are no B sides to replace these tracks but I guess there are rumours of some new singles/B sides so all is not lost. Seven highs, three lows and two middles.

This has been a bot review.

I agree with your breakdown almost 100% apart from Israel, that track is gorgeous (politics aside).
 
I noticed nearing the end of 'I Bury the Living' there was a Smiths tone to the song (just me?) I would love to hear this sound in future releases. Any chance? :D
 

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