WPINOYB: Is the album growing on you?

On my third listen of the album now, ready to give up. It's just dreary, lacking in melody...dare I say it, boring. Mountjoy? Smiler with Knife? Julie in the Weeds? Neal Cassady? What the hell was he thinking? These are experiments, rants, bad poetry, they're not songs.

I'm baffled by the 5-star reviews and the breathless enthusiasm on here. Is it because he's been away so long? You've missed him and decided any old tuneless meandering will do? This album makes Refusal look like a masterpiece.
 
On my third listen of the album now, ready to give up. It's just dreary, lacking in melody...dare I say it, boring. Mountjoy? Smiler with Knife? Julie in the Weeds? Neal Cassady? What the hell was he thinking? These are experiments, rants, bad poetry, they're not songs.

I'm baffled by the 5-star reviews and the breathless enthusiasm on here. Is it because he's been away so long? You've missed him and decided any old tuneless meandering will do? This album makes Refusal look like a masterpiece.

i agree, struggling to find any positives without clutching at straws but truth is, it's poor. Gutted after years of waiting, i know he's not 27 anymore but what happened to the guy that wrote, "In a river the colour of lead, immerse the baby's head, wrap her up in the News Of The World, dump her on a doorstep, girl",

"I've never had a job because I've never wanted one, I've seen you smile but I've never really heard you laugh, so who is rich and who is poor? i cannot say"

something simplistic like "but she doesnt even like me and i know because she said so" or what about "This is the last night of the fair and the grease in the hair, of a speedway operator, is all a tremulous heart requires, a schoolgirl is denied, She said : "How quickly would I die..If I jumped from the top of the parachutes?"

This is how i'll remember morrissey, (sounds like an obituary) and in a way i suppose it is, will we ever hear anything like his best ever again? How can anyone say with a straight face, that, "Morrissey is back to his best and this album is a masterpiece".

See these lines......
 
I am sorry for your loss. Might I suggest grief counseling. It's always difficult when you lose an imaginary friend such as the one you had. It is difficult when you can find nothing relevant in your life today and long for bygone times, hoping and praying they will come back. Sitting there like a lost child at an amusement park, don't be scared, we will search and search for him.
 
Art-Hounds is about critics, not over zealous Morrissey fans. As in those who can't do, but teach. Am I wrong here people?

I thought the same thing re: the song being about the critics. Great lyrics, really.
 
On my third listen of the album now, ready to give up. It's just dreary, lacking in melody...dare I say it, boring. Mountjoy? Smiler with Knife? Julie in the Weeds? Neal Cassady? What the hell was he thinking? These are experiments, rants, bad poetry, they're not songs.

I'm baffled by the 5-star reviews and the breathless enthusiasm on here. Is it because he's been away so long? You've missed him and decided any old tuneless meandering will do? This album makes Refusal look like a masterpiece.

I think we all knew who wasn't going to like this album. Not a huge surprise you don't like it. You only have to have read some of your past posts to know this. Oso Blanco is another one I guessed wouldn't like it. There are a few here who like it that surprised me but on the whole I guessed correctly. I think these people had themselves convinced they were going to hate it anyway no matter what.
 
i agree, struggling to find any positives without clutching at straws but truth is, it's poor. Gutted after years of waiting, i know he's not 27 anymore but what happened to the guy that wrote, "In a river the colour of lead, immerse the baby's head, wrap her up in the News Of The World, dump her on a doorstep, girl",

"I've never had a job because I've never wanted one, I've seen you smile but I've never really heard you laugh, so who is rich and who is poor? i cannot say"

something simplistic like "but she doesnt even like me and i know because she said so" or what about "This is the last night of the fair and the grease in the hair, of a speedway operator, is all a tremulous heart requires, a schoolgirl is denied, She said : "How quickly would I die..If I jumped from the top of the parachutes?"

This is how i'll remember morrissey, (sounds like an obituary) and in a way i suppose it is, will we ever hear anything like his best ever again? How can anyone say with a straight face, that, "Morrissey is back to his best and this album is a masterpiece".

See these lines......

Sounds like you should lock away your Morrissey records and just listen to the smiths. That's my suggestion, not that you asked for it. I don't think anyone here has used the word masterpiece. I agree there are some choppy lyrics in there but if you can't at least find a melody or a splash of music in this album to get buzzed about you're a hard task master. Nothing wrong with that at all but come on, there has to be something in there that warms your cockles.

I mean who else is going to warm them for you? Coldplay, the killers, or whoever else is being touted as the best thing around.
 
"Ahhhh swagger..." is driving me bonkers. :horny:
 
I liked the album at first listen. I was all in for the first 8 tracks. I did not like Smiler With Knife and Mountjoy - but now I don't skip them, so yes it's growing.
 
Today I started listening to it on vinyl. Flip, flip, flip, flip...it's a whole new world. The songs take new shape when they're grouped together in threes, with a pause to flip in between. The sound is so rich and and warm! Mountjoy in particular is really blowing me away on vinyl.

Interesting to be listening to it without the bonus tracks now, too. As much as I like all six, I do wish they'd been released separately from the album proper.
 
Today I started listening to it on vinyl. Flip, flip, flip, flip...it's a whole new world. The songs take new shape when they're grouped together in threes, with a pause to flip in between. The sound is so rich and and warm! Mountjoy in particular is really blowing me away on vinyl.

Interesting to be listening to it without the bonus tracks now, too. As much as I like all six, I do wish they'd been released separately from the album proper.


I think this is very rational. The bonus songs, for flow, could have been its own EP, mini album.
 
^^^^^^
In fact, if you take the tracks he basically gave away to BBC and/or Studio In Sessions, (yes, I am aware of the 2013 re-issue of The Last Of The Famous International Playboys and 25 Live [I was there]) add them to a "deluxe" version along with the 4 songs we never heard before - we had heard Scandinavia & Art-Hounds - ...I think that...basically a double album of sorts...would have been fab. Oh and throw I'm Playing Easy to Get on there too...or not.
 
I think we all knew who wasn't going to like this album. Not a huge surprise you don't like it. You only have to have read some of your past posts to know this. Oso Blanco is another one I guessed wouldn't like it. There are a few here who like it that surprised me but on the whole I guessed correctly. I think these people had themselves convinced they were going to hate it anyway no matter what.

I didn't "decide" not to like it, or else I would never have wasted money on buying it. Believing that everybody who dislikes this album must have some sort of agenda is just ridiculous. WPINOYB is a poor album with lazy lyrics, no hooks or memorable vocal melodies, and that's the only reason I dislike it.
 
Oso Blanco is another one I guessed wouldn't like it. [...] I think these people had themselves convinced they were going to hate it anyway no matter what.

I don't know why you're counting me in the haters category, I really wanted to like the album!

To tell you the truth, I haven't decided yet if I like it or not. It's definitely not love at first sight, and I still haven't been able to listen to the whole album in one sitting because a) the loudness level and b) the noisy parts, which are just throwing me off.

I was disappointed after the preview singles, because they lack everything that Morrissey once stood for. It's hard to explain, but the lyrics seem so convulted and the melodies seem so uninspired ... but I'm desperately trying to give this album a chance!

Anyway, I think that Morrissey's best days are behind him ... and I do not like saying that!
 
I never said either of you two had decided you weren't going to like it. I just said I wasn't surprised to hear you didn't like it. That's all. I could be surprised in a week or two hearing that it's grown on you. Anything can happen. Not that my opinion matters. I also never said anything about an agenda. Taking a stab at who wouldn't like the album is hardly proclaiming you have an agenda. It was just an observation.

I'm fine with admitting his best days are behind him. Even if you don't want to admit and I can it still doesn't mean it's actually true.

I haven't really been ranking his days so to speak like others do here. I'm not waiting for another V&I or viva hate. Those albums have already been released. I don't even mind that these aren't his best lyrics either. I'm just very happy he got an album deal and is still releasing good songs. There is enough in this 18 song track list to satisfy me.

Did either of you like anything from YOR, ROTT or YATQ?
 
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Sounds like you should lock away your Morrissey records and just listen to the smiths. That's my suggestion, not that you asked for it. I don't think anyone here has used the word masterpiece. I agree there are some choppy lyrics in there but if you can't at least find a melody or a splash of music in this album to get buzzed about you're a hard task master. Nothing wrong with that at all but come on, there has to be something in there that warms your cockles.

I mean who else is going to warm them for you? Coldplay, the killers, or whoever else is being touted as the best thing around.

I'll keep trying it, like any hardend fan would. I'm glad you like it so much, good for you. I'll stick with viva hate, bona drag, Vauxhall, beethoven was deaf, kill uncle (yes I like it), maladjusted (yes, I like it), your arsenal & quarry from time to time, don't mind parts of ringleader & refusal. So you see if I locked my morrissey records away I'd have nothing to listen to, the mans a genius the greatest lyricist ever, in my opinion, you may disagree like with everything else I say? Or do u only disagree with the negatives. What a pathetic excuse for a fan.
 
Did either of you like anything from YOR, ROTT or YATQ?

I liked YATQ a lot, and I still do. The production is a little strange in some places, but this album (including the b-sides) was the huge comeback that I had been hoping for after seven years of nothing and the rather disappointing albums that preceeded the wilderness years. Just look at the two lead singles, IBEH and FOTGTD ... that was EXACTLY how it should be done! Now compare this to the rather dull WPINOYB ... apart from the lack of a physical release, it's just not first-single-after-five-years-of-abscense material. Istanbul was better, and it even got regular airplay here in Berlin. But there are songs on the new album that are far better suited as a comeback single. Why didn't he release Kiss Me A Lot? That would have been an instant hit on the radio!

ROTT is a worthy continuation of YATQ, and YOR is probably Morrissey's most underrated album. I know that a lot people don't like the more rocking style on YOR, but I found it quite refreshing ... not to mention that it was the next logical step after YATQ and ROTT. I'm glad he didn't stick with this style, though ... that's one thing he did right about the new album, changing the musical direction into a more relaxed sound.

And yes, I am one of those few people who really liked Action Is My Middle Name ... with the other two songs a b-sides, it would have made a brilliant non-album single!
 
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I'll keep trying it, like any hardend fan would. I'm glad you like it so much, good for you. I'll stick with viva hate, bona drag, Vauxhall, beethoven was deaf, kill uncle (yes I like it), maladjusted (yes, I like it), your arsenal & quarry from time to time, don't mind parts of ringleader & refusal. So you see if I locked my morrissey records away I'd have nothing to listen to, the mans a genius the greatest lyricist ever, in my opinion, you may disagree like with everything else I say? Or do u only disagree with the negatives. What a pathetic excuse for a fan.

I'm a pathetic excuse for a fan? I have to admit, I didn't see that coming.
 
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I liked YATQ a lot, and I still do. The production is a little strange in some places, but this album (including the b-sides) was the huge comeback that I had been hoping for after seven years of nothing and the rather disappointing albums that preceeded the wilderness years. Just look at the two lead singles, IBEH and FOTGTD ... that was EXACTLY how it should be done! Now compare this to the rather dull WPINOYB ... apart from the lack of a physical release, it's just not first-single-after-five-years-of-abscense material. Istanbul was better, and it even got regular airplay here in Berlin. But there are songs on the new album that are far better suited as a comeback single. Why didn't he release Kiss Me A Lot? That would have been an instant hit on the radio!

ROTT is a worthy continuation of YATQ, and YOR is probably Morrissey's most underrated album. I know that a lot people don't like the more rocking style on YOR, but I found it quite refreshing ... not to mention that it was the next logical step after YATQ and ROTT. I'm glad he didn't stick with this style, though ... that's one thing he did right about the new album, changing the musical direction into a more relaxed sound.

And yes, I am one of those few people who really liked Action Is My Middle Name ... with the other two songs a b-sides, it would have made a brilliant non-album single!

I agree wholeheartedly with everything you just said, including Action is... and I still like the new album :)

Although I should add my affection for the Quarry was made up mostly of relief any album surfaced but I'm not in love with it like most are.
 
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