Low in High School - which songs are the most over or under-rated?

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Ah, you can't beat an overrated/underrated song thread on a music forum! Don't think we've done this yet for LIHS.
To get the ball rolling...
Overrated - surely Home is a Question Mark. Was expecting this to be a genius song from the reviews round here but it's flipping rubbish. Sure, the music ain't bad but it's a bit like two Morrissey songs (Blind and Lost) spliced together with all the good bits taken out, and some truly dismal lyrics.
Underrated - my vote goes to Protect us from the Police. Expected this to be awful from the reviews but it's actually pretty flipping not. Really catchy music, full of drama, great arrangement, words are pretty good (and 'pretty good' is, sadly, about the best we can expect from modern day Morrissey) - one of his best protest type songs. The Venezuela ending is a bit rubbish but, otherwise, a great song.
 
I think jacky is kinda overrated. The counting bit is the only part I really enjoy. As for underrated I’d say in your lap or when you open your legs. Love both. Imo protect us is the worst song on that album
 
I don’t know.
But, I personally do not like All the young people. I wish you lonely is a personal favourite.
 
Ah, you can't beat an overrated/underrated song thread on a music forum! Don't think we've done this yet for LIHS.
To get the ball rolling...
Overrated - surely Home is a Question Mark. Was expecting this to be a genius song from the reviews round here but it's flipping rubbish. Sure, the music ain't bad but it's a bit like two Morrissey songs (Blind and Lost) spliced together with all the good bits taken out, and some truly dismal lyrics.
Underrated - my vote goes to Protect us from the Police. Expected this to be awful from the reviews but it's actually pretty flipping not. Really catchy music, full of drama, great arrangement, words are pretty good (and 'pretty good' is, sadly, about the best we can expect from modern day Morrissey) - one of his best protest type songs. The Venezuela ending is a bit rubbish but, otherwise, a great song.

Agree about ‘Police’, whilst its a bit on the nose, I really like it. On the ‘baby god will’ where Moz’s voice goes up and down it reminds of his classic vocal style and the stompy instruments and really vocally strong cry of ‘Venusula!’ is impressive too.

Id say for my pick underrated I think it would probably have to be ‘Isreal’.
Really fell into that tune recently, i know it stirs the pot as the topic of Isreal in pop music currently is somewhat polarising, but the piano playing and Morrissey’s voice are great and I love the lyrics about enjoying your life, your body, your freedom and how people can become entrapped and judged upon from association by their government, by their location, by their religion.

Most overrated song would have to be for me I Wish You Lonely. I don’t think its that highly rated to be honest, but it has no chorus really, the lyrics are just so and the music is unremarkable
 
I don’t know.
But, I personally do not like All the young people. I wish you lonely is a personal favourite.

All the young people was so much better live but that’s been said many times.
Wish you lonely has really grown on me as it’s a strange song to take in at first with the no chorus but that’s not really a flaw imo. The more the lyrics sat with me the more I liked them but I think the recording is a bit thin. I’d say that’s a flaw for the whole album honestly. I really liked the world peace and the way it sounded but lihs is a bit thin and trebly for me and as a result they no songs like w Eh you lonely and even home is are lacking some low end
 
It is all underrated, every song is a gem to my delicate ears.
 
In Your Lap needed to become the 2 different songs it appears to be comprised of.
The piano in it, unfortunately, is too similar to the tone of The Girl that it ruins the pacing. Both tracks would have benefited from a song in between them to increase their drama and impact.
The Girl From... sounds a bit like 2 Sting songs welded together when he went through his 'Eastern' phase also.
I don't dislike them particularly, but those type of thoughts enter my head upon hearing them.
Regards,
FWD.
 
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I seriously think it’s all underrated. There was a lot of great publicity with the Morrissey Day event but after the German interview, everything seemed to get overshadowed by that.
I was actually very disappointed to not seee it make even one (that I could find) of the top 100 albums of 2017 from the various music mags and blogs I follow.
 
I seriously think it’s all underrated. There was a lot of great publicity with the Morrissey Day event but after the German interview, everything seemed to get overshadowed by that.
I was actually very disappointed to not seee it make even one (that I could find) of the top 100 albums of 2017 from the various music mags and blogs I follow.
Agree.
There was a visible reduction in November of social media posts by 'official'/BMG during and after Der Spiegel.
If All The Young People... was shelved in November '17 (as the copyright date on the record is alleged to indicate),
then the fallout of that furore was probably more than first thought
(possibly supported by the fact that Bob Clearmountain was mixing this track in November '17).
Especially in the light of a new and different single being released with just record shops advertising it.
My Love... is out officially in 2 days and there's zero noise coming from BMG.
I think it was lucky the album was well sold by BMG before the interview.
Regards,
FWD.
 
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The tracks I like do benefit from live presentation. (This is not meant as a compliment) I did think I Bury The Living at the London Palladium was amazing, I still think it's awful on record. I was surprised how visceral and powerful the Police song is live but again it just plods slong on record.

Therefore I will go for Open Your Legs and Spent the Day in Bed as underrated, My Love as overrated and as Home Is A Question and I Wish You Lonely are actually quite good imho then I cannot rate them either way. If that makes sense.

It's still a pretty poor album, as g23 points out it could have been a great EP.
 
Most overrated: Home is a Q. I cannot fathom the appeal of this, the lyrics are tiresome Morrissey paint-by-numbers and the creeping dirge of a chorus, in particular, is so lacking in any apparent effort made to fashion a tune that I don't know how he had the brass cheek to put it out there. I tend to lump this with I Wish You Lonely as it seems to tread the same ground lyrically and if anything is even more tuneless.

Most underrated: In Your Lap. There's a delicately-balanced tension about this which comes from the piano dynamics and Morrissey's exposed voice, plus some of the better lyrics which are intriguing and nuanced (I know, who'd have thought): "I rescued you in so many ways/You're good for a laugh — that's all you can say/Summer is winter and winter prevails/And I'm so tired of counting the days" - real poetry, and a story within a story. I also love 'I'm dreaming of touching your arm' and the way this line just falls away and leaves us thinking about it. I wondered if this was a reference to the Arab countries where homosexuality is still severely punished (there was a British man jailed in Dubai recently for accidentally touching another man's hip in a bar).

There's so much I like about this that I can even forgive such lyrical clunkers as: 'The security force is always the worst... they live to kill and they just love to harm'. And the piano is also very pretty. But I agree with FWD and others that it shouldn't have been next to Tel Aviv in the running order as the piano is too similar. The fact that it's in the same key doesn't help.
 
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'The security force is always the worst... they live to kill and they just love to harm'.
i just wonder why the security force should be described with "real poetry"? why should "real poetry" be wasted on them? they dont deserve it. what is "real poetry" for you?
 
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i just wonder why the security guard should be described with "real poetry"? why should "real poetry" be wasted on them? they dont deserve it. what is "real poetry" for you?
Well, I wouldn't have minded the lack of poetry, but to me the way he words this is lazy and clunky (like a lot of his political statements). But it's an interesting question you ask. To me, poetry is where the words take on a life of their own - either through interesting rhythms, or a collision of unexpected statements or ideas, or clever little insights, or vividly painted pictures, or a combination of any or all of these things. But that's the thinking answer; the emotional answer is something that makes you sit up and go, 'Oooh, that's lovely.' And the best examples make me think, 'Damn, I wish I'd written that.' What about you?
 
Well, I wouldn't have minded the lack of poetry, but to me the way he words this is lazy and clunky (like a lot of his political statements). But it's an interesting question you ask. To me, poetry is where the words take on a life of their own - either through interesting rhythms, or a collision of unexpected statements or ideas, or clever little insights, or vividly painted pictures, or a combination of any or all of these things. But that's the thinking answer; the emotional answer is something that makes you sit up and go, 'Oooh, that's lovely.' And the best examples make me think, 'Damn, I wish I'd written that.' What about you?
interesting, and thanks for answering. i would agree with all you write about "poetry", and i even would say that your stringing together of criteria reads like poetry, but i wouldnt say there is something like "real poetry". this is, in my eyes, just a - sorry for saying this - lazy way of artificially construing a dichotomy which does not exist and which serves to conjure up an untenable assessment standard in a, sorry again, clunky way with, i guess, "real" being the good thing and "unreal" the bad one. but i am not here to assess your personal receptive demands on quality with regard to poetry. i'm just not a fan of allegedly "self-evident" valuation standards.
when listening to the "security force" line above, i firstly detect an interesting sort of imperfect assonance rhyme (dont know whether this is the correct term) "force - worst", followed by two more assonances "live -kill" and "just love - harm", three assonances that respectively encompass substantial contrasts. an interesting rhythm, an unexpected statement (i would say). i agree that people who mainly focus on the content of the words might probably consider this line a cliché supported by an all to perfect rhyme scheme, when listening to the complete verse. and i would even say that this "shallow perfection" supports the condescending way of how the forces are presented here. as i said above, these people do not deserve a more diligently "poetic" or intimate description, according to the narrator.
to cut it short, i would say that poetry according to my taste is something that is open and ample enough for me to detect something in it. it can be lazy and clunky, and i dont need it to arouse "lovely feelings" inside me. thus most things in life are actually poetic, it's just a question of how much time and energy we as receivers are willing and able to invest in it. i often lack the time and energy. with morrissey lyrics i experienced that, having time and energy available, i just have to push my hand under the surface into the water and find something that i can pull up to look at more closely. might not sound very interesting to most people, but thats how i like it. i dont need to be hugged and kissed by lyrics.
not sure, whether i was able to make my point. probably a bit blabbery as it was a long day and i am ready for beddy-bye.
 
interesting, and thanks for answering. i would agree with all you write about "poetry", and i even would say that your stringing together of criteria reads like poetry, but i wouldnt say there is something like "real poetry". this is, in my eyes, just a - sorry for saying this - lazy way of artificially construing a dichotomy which does not exist and which serves to conjure up an untenable assessment standard in a, sorry again, clunky way with, i guess, "real" being the good thing and "unreal" the bad one. but i am not here to assess your personal receptive demands on quality with regard to poetry. i'm just not a fan of allegedly "self-evident" valuation standards.
when listening to the "security force" line above, i firstly detect an interesting sort of imperfect assonance rhyme (dont know whether this is the correct term) "force - worst", followed by two more assonances "live -kill" and "just love - harm", three assonances that respectively encompass substantial contrasts. an interesting rhythm, an unexpected statement (i would say). i agree that people who mainly focus on the content of the words might probably consider this line a cliché supported by an all to perfect rhyme scheme, when listening to the complete verse. and i would even say that this "shallow perfection" supports the condescending way of how the forces are presented here. as i said above, these people do not deserve a more diligently "poetic" or intimate description, according to the narrator.
to cut it short, i would say that poetry according to my taste is something that is open and ample enough for me to detect something in it. it can be lazy and clunky, and i dont need it to arouse "lovely feelings" inside me. thus most things in life are actually poetic, it's just a question of how much time and energy we as receivers are willing and able to invest in it. i often lack the time and energy. with morrissey lyrics i experienced that, having time and energy available, i just have to push my hand under the surface into the water and find something that i can pull up to look at more closely. might not sound very interesting to most people, but thats how i like it. i dont need to be hugged and kissed by lyrics.
not sure, whether i was able to make my point. probably a bit blabbery as it was a long day and i am ready for beddy-bye.
That's a very impressive dissection, even if I don't agree with all of it. But I should probably clarify: when I said 'real poetry', I wasn't intending a dichotomy with 'unreal' poetry; I just meant it as in, 'wow, that's the real deal', ie, that's good. Just a colloquialism - though perhaps, as you point out, a lazy one :) I'm afraid we're going to have to disagree on the security force lyric, as I really do think it's quite poor writing, but you put up a pretty good defence of it. Anyway, you've made me think a bit more about the definition and it's occurred to me that poetry is sometimes just in the way we choose to look at something.
 
Can't decide whether or not "I Wish You Lonely" is underrated. I love it. I thought it sounded amazing on the US tour. I guess I don't know if it gets credit for being as strong as it is. The last verse with "last tracked humpback whale" and all is really something to me. That being said, "The Girl from Tel-Aviv" is one of my favorite songs on the record. I've seen a lot of mixed opinions on it, which shocks me. Absolutely love it.

"In Your Lap" would go on a Worst of Morrissey comp for me. Just terrible. By far the most overrated song on LIHS.
 
Best songs on the album IM humble O are
1. I wish you lonely
2. My love I'd do anything for you
Worst songs are
1.In your lap
2.Home is a question mark
 
The whole thing is a lazy, boring effort for me.
In my opinion it's crap on lyrics, composition and artwork altogether.
I know my onions when it comes to all things Steven, trust me. The last two offerings have been total Shit-Central, bags of shite IMHO. There was never any need to get excited about it in the build up was there ? All that shit "ITS ON" lol ! The cheap publicity stunt with the motorbike cop was the biggest giveaway for me that we had another sack of shite on the horizon of platform 3 Shit-Central.

Give em the sack Steve ffs, how many times ?
Let me know when you want some proper management Steve, I can guarantee you that coveted global takeover you so crave but we do it my way or it's the 4kin highway. It's up to you Steve.

"I'll get me coat"

Benny-the-British-Butcher :greatbritain::knife:
 
I love the album...still. I would say on this wretched forum and various rags that didn't "review the album properly" all the songs are underrated
 
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