Olly Murs - 'You Are The Quarry' blew my mind (Nov. 2016 article)

The biggest surprise of the Albert Hall concert was surely X-Factor sensation Olly Murs tweeting from the venue with his parents. A little research reveals he's something of a fan...

The X-Factor star Olly Murs: My six best albums - Express.co.uk
OLLY MURS, 32, was runner-up on The X Factor in 2009 and had a string of No1 singles including Please Don’t Let Me Go and Heart Skips A Beat. His new album 24 HRS is out today and he starts a tour next March.

By CAROLINE REES
PUBLISHED: 00:01, Fri, Nov 11, 2016

Excerpt:

"MORRISSEY: You Are The Quarry (Decca) My mum and dad are fans and for years I asked them to stop playing him. But when I got to about 17, I was more adventurous and this album blew my mind. At family parties, we play a few Morrissey songs and it brings us together. A great songwriter, a great voice – and I love his quiff."

---

Link posted by an anonymous person in the Royal Albert Hall post-show thread (original post):

 

[Anonymous]

Come Back To Camden is his unheralded masterpiece in my opinion. The lyric, the performance, the music. It’s perfect. “And me and my heart, we knew, we just knew, forever more...”

Still makes me a little emotional just hearing it. I spent a lot of time there in the eighties and nineties, lots of friends and a couple of girlfriends you lose touch with as the years go by, yet I hear that and I’m there on that chair on the pavement.

“Come back to Camden /
and I’ll be good.”

If I could click my fingers now and go back I wouldn’t hesitate.

I couldn't agree with you more JB; Quarry was the record that transformed me from normal fan to totally obsessed mozaphile and Come Back to Camden was one of the primary reasons. It's one of those songs that makes you feel like you've been punched in the throat when you hear it, and yet you love the feeling and want to play it again immediately.

It was the first song I heard the day my husband died. I had to run to the store and Quarry was in the CD player. You can imagine how those first lines hit home. It will always be at the top of my all time favorites list.

lynnda

 

[gordyboy9]

don't have a problem with olly murs being a fan,he obviously knows the back catalogue through his family.
judging by the videos that looked like a very good show,voice is on top form.

 

[Johnny Barleycorn]

Good on Olly Murs I say. X factor is the antithesis of Morrissey but Murs comes across okay on The Voice. I mean Tom Jones is a judge so it can't be that bad surely????

Haven’t they arrested Tom yet? He’s a lucky chap. Allegedly.

I couldn't agree with you more JB; Quarry was the record that transformed me from normal fan to totally obsessed mozaphile and Come Back to Camden was one of the primary reasons. It's one of those songs that makes you feel like you've been punched in the throat when you hear it, and yet you love the feeling and want to play it again immediately.

It was the first song I heard the day my husband died. I had to run to the store and Quarry was in the CD player. You can imagine how those first lines hit home. It will always be at the top of my all time favorites list.

lynnda

What a lovely post, lynnda. Thank you. That opening line reminds me of someone special too, but in my instance not someone ripped from me as in your case, but someone I let slip through my hands. Odd too that you should mention feeling as if you’d been punched in the throat as in my original post I was going to write how it gives me a lump in my throat too. I played it a few times this afternoon and I don’t know, I think I must have had something in my eye...

Of all his songs it is the most evocative to me. I hear it and I’m there jumping from a cab outside the British Boot Company then after heading towards the station then round and along towards the market. As someone mentioned earlier the area had a sort diminished grandeur about it back then and Morrissey captures the essence of it so beautifully.

I would like to think Morrissey himself still loves Quarry. It was the record that brought him back from the wilderness and it’s a brave and beautiful album. I know he always has something to say, but he’s rarely said it so movingly. It’s an album long overdue a re-evaluation and should be put alongside his very best work.

 

[Charlie Cheswick]

My favourite Morrissey album is probably close to everyone else's bottom one, Years of Refusal, but that's because it's the one which resonated most with where I was at at that time and sends me back there whenever I put it on. That said Quarry's better, it's near perfect imo, the only Morrissey album that's free of a clunker or two.

 

[notawoman]

Unfortunately my kids still keep asking me to stop playing Morrissey. So I am hoping for them to become also more adventurous one day.
And of course they like Olli M... But anyway, they are not yet 17.

 

[evennow]

Not only one of the great Morrissey albums, one of the great albums of the century so far.

Very well put. You can really feel the effort and energy that went in to making it just right in so many ways. such a powerful musical return, and the IBEH video brought him back into the public consciousness. How handsome he was in the crisp white shirt, white sport coat and jeans. It was like, YEAH! here he is again. Thank God!

Even though I am an American the first track didn't bother me so much as mostly it was a true statement of the times. Factual more than opinionated. For me his new music leans much too far to the latter.

 

[evennow]

It's a shame Camden wasn't played live, perhaps it was but I don't recall hearing it during the quarry era. Lots of happy memories from a slightly down at heel Camden in the nineties. No doubt it's been yuppified now.

I would assume it wasn't played live due to the falsetto ending. Difficult to repeat live perhaps, but it brought the song to such an emotional climax that it is difficult not to shed a tear, or get a chill listening to it. I posted this song on the What are you listening to thread a few weeks ago as my favorite Morrissey solo song.

I also consider it his masterpiece as he used all of the tools he honed throughout his years of story telling, eliciting emotion, and expressing thoughts that are universal in one song that captured the best of everything I love so much about him and the music is rapturous.

In case there is any interest in seeing and hearing him at his best:

https://www.morrissey-solo.com/thre...-to-right-now.58790/page-1719#post-1987065457

 

[Anonymous]

Why would anybody have a grudge about someone saying that they like Morrissey's music...I couldnt care less who he is ...a fan is a fan ....just because they dont align with the typical Moz stereoptype who give s a crap

 

[Johnny]

How people can get angry because someone likes the same artist they do is something I grew out when I was 14.

 

[Peppermint]

My favourite Morrissey album is probably close to everyone else's bottom one, Years of Refusal, but that's because it's the one which resonated most with where I was at at that time and sends me back there whenever I put it on. That said Quarry's better, it's near perfect imo, the only Morrissey album that's free of a clunker or two.

Interesting choice, Charles, and yes, it definitely wouldn't be mine either (although I do really like the cover, and thank God we didn't end up with the Humasexual Mariachi). Interestingly, I always thought Quarry had a few clunkers of its own (America, How can anybody possibly know, You know I couldn't last) but having just listened to them again they don't score anywhere near as highly on the Clunkometer as some more recent efforts. Joni Mitchell was right, you don't know what you've got till it's gone.

 

[Peppermint]

I would assume it wasn't played live due to the falsetto ending. Difficult to repeat live perhaps, but it brought the song to such an emotional climax that it is difficult not to shed a tear, or get a chill listening to it. I posted this song on the What are you listening to thread a few weeks ago as my favorite Morrissey solo song.

I also consider it his masterpiece as he used all of the tools he honed throughout his years of story telling, eliciting emotion, and expressing thoughts that are universal in one song that captured the best of everything I love so much about him and the music is rapturous.

In case there is any interest in seeing and hearing him at his best:

https://www.morrissey-solo.com/thre...-to-right-now.58790/page-1719#post-1987065457

I always imagined it wasn't played live because of the raw emotional content, and the fact that it's clearly about somebody he misses - or missed - desperately. I have songs I cannot bear to listen to for the same reason, so I can only guess what it's like when it's your own words and music. The chronology of that song always puzzled me, though. I always assumed it was about Jake, because they lived together in Camden, but by the time that song came out I thought that was all ancient history.

 

[evennow]

I always imagined it wasn't played live because of the raw emotional content, and the fact that it's clearly about somebody he misses - or missed - desperately. I have songs I cannot bear to listen to for the same reason, so I can only guess what it's like when it's your own words and music. The chronology of that song always puzzled me, though. I always assumed it was about Jake, because they lived together in Camden, but by the time that song came out I thought that was all ancient history.

Yes, this must play a role as the song lays bare his heart in a way that few others if any have ever done. I was thinking this while writing my original post especially when considering the "your leg came to rest against mine" stanza of the song. Nothing like the feeling you get from the confirmation of newly found love.

Is true love ever ancient history? Unfortunately, not. In fact, lost love is always there if not at the surface just waiting for the opportunity to show its ugly face especially when you least expect or want it to. The deeper the love the longer the regret. I have made some incredibly poor choices in the love department as probably many here have done. And the memories of those times when I could have been a better person are as clear today as then. So all that can be done is to try and bury them deeper, but of course this never works.

What I enjoy most about this part of the song in particular is that of course you can clearly see that he is speaking about another man, but the lyrics really do allow one to picture whomever they choose in the other role. "Leaving things open for interpretation" is, I believe, one of his greatest gifts, and what I most enjoy about his lyrics. Unfortunately, it also the lack of this that bothers me the most about his recent songs.

I watched the video where he was singing about someone wrapping their legs around his face, and I thought oh dear, how did we get from your leg came to rest against mine to here? Explosive kegs is about as far as I am willing to go. He needs to stop fracking and dig another well.

 

[Surface]

I would assume it wasn't played live due to the falsetto ending. Difficult to repeat live perhaps, but it brought the song to such an emotional climax that it is difficult not to shed a tear, or get a chill listening to it. I posted this song on the What are you listening to thread a few weeks ago as my favorite Morrissey solo song.

I also consider it his masterpiece as he used all of the tools he honed throughout his years of story telling, eliciting emotion, and expressing thoughts that are universal in one song that captured the best of everything I love so much about him and the music is rapturous.

In case there is any interest in seeing and hearing him at his best:

https://www.morrissey-solo.com/thre...-to-right-now.58790/page-1719#post-1987065457

He played it live in London 2011

 

[I_Am_A_Disco_Dancer]

Only twice IIRC, but not Quarry (2011).

---

Regards,
FWD.

Wow - that's quite the performance. And apparently he followed it with I Know It's Over! Is the full concert footage available for this somewhere? I bet if he sang that in concert today all would be forgiven - by those inclined at least....

 

[Peppermint]

Yes, this must play a role as the song lays bare his heart in a way that few others if any have ever done. I was thinking this while writing my original post especially when considering the "your leg came to rest against mine" stanza of the song. Nothing like the feeling you get from the confirmation of newly found love.

Is true love ever ancient history? Unfortunately, not. In fact, lost love is always there if not at the surface just waiting for the opportunity to show its ugly face especially when you least expect or want it to. The deeper the love the longer the regret. I have made some incredibly poor choices in the love department as probably many here have done. And the memories of those times when I could have been a better person are as clear today as then. So all that can be done is to try and bury them deeper, but of course this never works.

What I enjoy most about this part of the song in particular is that of course you can clearly see that he is speaking about another man, but the lyrics really do allow one to picture whomever they choose in the other role. "Leaving things open for interpretation" is, I believe, one of his greatest gifts, and what I most enjoy about his lyrics. Unfortunately, it also the lack of this that bothers me the most about his recent songs.

I watched the video where he was singing about someone wrapping their legs around his face, and I thought oh dear, how did we get from your leg came to rest against mine to here? Explosive kegs is about as far as I am willing to go. He needs to stop fracking and dig another well.

Yes, very astute, I hadn't thought of that: he's writing about an old (or just below the surface) feeling. There are so many things I love about this song, but in particular the very British imagery which I do miss from his lyrics, which I always thought was one of his most distinctive traits and, it could be argued, features in his best work. The thing that finishes me off, though, is the 'I'll be good' at the end, which is the point when you know it's doomed. Such a vivid picture from those few words. And yes, you're not wrong, we have lost a large degree of subtlety!

 

[Surface]

Wow - that's quite the performance. And apparently he followed it with I Know It's Over! Is the full concert footage available for this somewhere? I bet if he sang that in concert today all would be forgiven - by those inclined at least....

By coincidence the footage is from London Palladium, where he plays tonight.

 

[evennow]

He played it live in London 2011

Thank you very much for this Surface. A great rendition. Clearly he can carry off the falsetto live so maybe it is what Peppermint said in that it would be interesting to know what he was thinking when he put his head in his arm during the song. Maybe something happened after 2011 that led to its demise from the set list. I hope its not because he discounts in any way the quality of the song.

 

[evennow]

Yes, very astute, I hadn't thought of that: he's writing about an old (or just below the surface) feeling. There are so many things I love about this song, but in particular the very British imagery which I do miss from his lyrics, which I always thought was one of his most distinctive traits and, it could be argued, features in his best work. The thing that finishes me off, though, is the 'I'll be good' at the end, which is the point when you know it's doomed. Such a vivid picture from those few words. And yes, you're not wrong, we have lost a large degree of subtlety!

"Under slate grey Victorian sky". RIGHT! I have never been to England, but he transported me there in a second. An impossible feat...or is it:

 

[Stanley the 2nd]

Hmm.... perhaps one of the best London themed songs? Waterloo Sunset is the obvious one but Camden could be up there. I assume it's possibly about his lodger Jake Walters who I think was around during the Camden years.... though that's probably another can of worms. Couldn't imagine Moz living there now but somehow the down at heel Camden of the nineties suited him. Along with Alan Bennett of course.

 

[Anonymous]

Am I the only one who thinks Come back to Camden is actually a bit rubbish?
Dull plodding tune, crap synth strings.
And lyrics which are either Morrissey song cliches (I am alone for evermore, oh woe is me!) or just general cliches (taxi drivers who never stop talking - there's a thing!).
Really, the love for this song is just baffling.