New Song | Art-Hounds

Don't get too excited. Morrissey will surely find someone who will ruin the finished product with poor production and mixing.

Well I prefer to be optimistic about it and happy now, rather than down about it before the production has even happened. I know that's not the way of most on here...

I think the live versions of these songs can only be made better by anyone half decent on the production side of things. Especially for my 3 favourites - Action, Scandinavia and Art Hounds.
 
Undecided... musically it is above average. However... he lost me at "fat Aunt Mabel."

Words that rhyme with 'table':
Abel, Mabel, fable, gable, sable, label, able, unable, cable, enable,
 
Undecided... musically it is above average. However... he lost me at "fat Aunt Mabel."

Words that rhyme with 'table':
Abel, Mabel, fable, gable, sable, label, able, unable, cable, enable,

Heh, I quite like it. Very 'kitchen sink'.
 
this song is great - saw it last night and loved it, his voice was grand, the vocal melody soared and the words made me chuckle.

"Action is my middle name" has a catchy chorus and "people are the same" is lot of fun too - I am starting to have high hopes for this new album
 
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I really like the falsetto part and the overall structure of the song. I have reservations about the repeated lines and think it may have been more powerful with added lyrics, but I understand why he has done this.
 
7 August 2011, the day the word "art-hounds" entered every Morrissey fans lexicon.

I like it! Morrissey is best when he sings about other people and not always himself. What with "Peter Grimes" by Benjamin Britten on the intro to "Boxers" and a mention that a life is like a opera, the new high brow Morrissey is wonderful.

"Art-hounds" slowed down a fraction and with some decent production will be a song to get Morrissey back on track. It is so damn catchy out of the five new songs he's aired. In the good old days there was enough material there for an ep.
 
I've listened three times and it's still awful. To the people talking about the great chord progression etc - where? I can't hear a memorable melody in the whole song, and the lyrics are dire.
 
I think the live versions of these songs can only be made better by anyone half decent on the production side of things. Especially for my 3 favourites - Action, Scandinavia and Art Hounds.

Don't forget about a decent mastering engineer too. You know, for like listening to the music and stuff.
 
I really love this song. I've had it on repeat for the past 20 minutes. The falsetto and the power in his voice.. the drums.. Matt Walker always makes me smile.
 
I've listened three times and it's still awful. To the people talking about the great chord progression etc - where? I can't hear a memorable melody in the whole song, and the lyrics are dire.

I'd agree it's not revolutionary musically but I like the tempo. The progressions (if the chords posted earlier are accurate) are at least a deviation from the old I,IV,V that shows up all over the music world. Still.. the song has great drive to it musically. I tend to like the heavier stuff so this one suits me much more than the others.

I think the aunt mabel line is a bit out of place but I like the rest of the lyrics.
 
Well, this was unexpected.

Reading the lyrics as other listeners decoded them before I got a chance to listen myself I've got to admit I wasn't expecting much - especially as musically it was being compared to Black Cloud, I'm Okay By Myself and ODGWBF - but wow, his vocal delivery has knocked my socks off with this one.

I don't think it's a classic Morrissey song by any means in that it's hard to see a new generation of fans singing along to this en masse but good god, this song has lodged in my head, refused to pay rent and has flung my furniture out into the garden.

The ryhming of "European Musuems", the delivery of "Will I see yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?", the cheeky bawdiness of a "fat aunt mabel" are all excellent and that's before I even get to the best bit.

"Mmmmyyy liiifffee iisssss OOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPEEEEERRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

So great to hear the falsetto back and in tune and so POWERFUL. I could sing this aloud right now if I wasn't working. If we do get this laid down in a studio then it needs to be mastered so that this line is as powerful as it is here. It's amazing. I'm honestly struggling to remember a recent line that he's sold as well as this one. Truly a magical delivery.

The musical break in the middle is nice for a change of pace and you can hear it catch a lot of people out on the night but it's not as accomplished as the breaks on WLISTC or MLSOTR.

I'd say the song is musically a kissing cousin to the YOR tracks - whether or not that's a bad or good thing bepends on your feelings of those songs I suppose. :)

It also suffers, as I find more and more "new" Morrissey songs do, from having no real ending. When the "When you cannot stand the real world, take my hand" refrain ends it feels like the song is ending but it crashes on for a bit longer, we get the "pills" lines then we go further and end after the "What does it mean?" bit.

It's not the lyrics here I have an issue with but rather the musicians all just kind of wind down and stop. It feels incomplete - especially if you compare it to "Scandinavia" which ends perfectly.

But! Enough negativity! It's new, it's BOLD and it's still in my head. Something must have gone right.
 
I'm with GlasgowChivas: fantastic, classic Morrissey vocals, powerfully delivered. The Man still wields a wicked falsetto.

As for the lyrics: they're ambitious (if not genius). If I'm hearing it correctly, he's expressing something rather complex and interesting. As a museum aficionado, this speaks volumes to me about the kind of people who coldly gaze upon beauty and regurgitate someone else's opinion. To be dead to beauty is to be dead, period. A handful of pills and some atrophy below the belt may be overstating the case somewhat; dark music for dark times.

"Art Hounds, see the Greek Ideal, gaze on what they'll never feel." That's a great, great line.

Since Morrissey has decided to spend his later years basically ranting about things he doesn't like/disapproves of/condemns, it's nice that he includes at least one moment of warmth with the lines "When you cannot stand the real world, take my hand." Lovely sentiment.

I'd love to hear it properly recorded.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=230zxV5ji2Q
 
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Musically it's definitely typical of the current crop of songs but energy-wise, thematically and vocally it has some nice throwback aspects that go all the way back to early solo and Da Smiths.
Not sure if it's an album track but would make a stomping b-side a la Daddy's Voice (another track that seriously divided people).
 
"Art Hounds, see the Greek Ideal, gaze on what they'll never feel."

That is quite an interesting line, with a fairly strong homoerotic undercurrent. The general appeal of the song still baffles me though.
 
That is quite an interesting line, with a fairly strong homoerotic undercurrent. The general appeal of the song still baffles me though.

I think most people like it because he sings in falsetto. Which is good enough for some, I guess...
 
f***ing hell, this sounds ace, the lyrics, the pace, it's like a nice big slap in the face.

Love it.

Art Hounds, f***ing great song title.
 
Here it is folks ART HOUNDS artwork right off the press!

Ready?


2zrexd4.jpg
 
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