TTY: Morrissey first-try demo tracks posted (from 2008 "Years Of Refusal" sessions)

Morrissey first-try demo tracks - true-to-you.net
6 August 2015

Excerpt (see link to listen to tracks):

Here are three previously unheard initial run-throughs of 'Something Is Squeezing My Skull', 'One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell' and 'Mama Lay Softly On The Riverbed' from the 2008 Years Of Refusal sessions...

 

[Anonymous]

These songs are so cool. My headband and hat say: "Something is Squeezing My Skull."

what IN THE HELL is going on? i mean, i love the daily tidbits but tty lies dormant for months at a time, and now all this?

anyway, i find moz's imperfect vocals endearing. the rarity, i suppose.

 

[Anonymous]

I think he's saying that it's okay to sing off-key on a demo....

Maybe his ill health has provoked some housekeeping with an eye to what he'll be leaving behind. His ability to repackage and sell certainly indicates Morrissey Inc. will continue to make money long after Moz has croaked his last note. Perhaps he's getting the proverbial house in order to assess these matters.

 

[MozIsGod]

Good catch, that's right. I stand corrected!

No worries! An even interesting amount of speculation is when My Dearest Love and Children in Pieces were recorded. I believe That's How People Grow Up was recorded in Houston during summer '07, so I guess that MDL and CIP were recorded sometime pre-Greatest Hits tour in early 2007, or during the tour's break in late summer 07. Mikey Farrell was still in the band when those tracks were recorded. Someone's gotta play detective work!

 

[Layne]

Well, I always liked YOR--especially Something Is Squeezing My Skull. However, minus the fact that the vocals are too low in the mix I think I may like the demo version better than the album one...

Anyone else share these sentiments?

Even in the demos though, do you also find that his voice sounds a bit off somehow? I don't mean how he is singing, but how it's been edited, an extreme pitch change or something that is very prevalent in Skull. Also his vibrato in the album version of "It's Not Your Birthday Anymore" gets all unnaturally wobbly and gurgly at parts.

I guess it was a record where he was trying to push limits though so I give him credit for that.

 

[Anonymous]

If you don't visit the download section...
All 3 tracks from TTY.
Regards,
FWD https://www.sendspace.com/file/nope

Why would you do this? I post original music myself and I'll explain something. All you get when you give away music is statistics and comments. You're robbing him of those statistics. Maybe he would like to know how many people downloaded from TTY. Maybe he's thinking of finally setting up some direct sales platform. Maybe he's going to show how many people downloaded demos of a previous album as part of some negotiation. But the point is that he has made these available for free. If at some time they are no longer available then posting them would be a kindness. As it is it's kind of rude. This isn't a personal attack. I just think you might not have considered why taking these downloads and making them available elsewhere is not a nice thing to do.

 

[Luke Action McClure]

Why would you do this? I post original music myself and I'll explain something. All you get when you give away music is statistics and comments. You're robbing him of those statistics. Maybe he would like to know how many people downloaded from TTY. Maybe he's thinking of finally setting up some direct sales platform. Maybe he's going to show how many people downloaded demos of a previous album as part of some negotiation. But the point is that he has made these available for free. If at some time they are no longer available then posting them would be a kindness. As it is it's kind of rude. This isn't a personal attack. I just think you might not have considered why taking these downloads and making them available elsewhere is not a nice thing to do.

Shut up you total bore

 

[Anonymous]

YOR is so underrated....such a great great record.

 

[Anonymous]

Cool. Can you post the full version of 'Kit' next, Moz? Thanks. x

 

[Anonymous]

Even in the demos though, do you also find that his voice sounds a bit off somehow? I don't mean how he is singing, but how it's been edited, an extreme pitch change or something that is very prevalent in Skull. Also his vibrato in the album version of "It's Not Your Birthday Anymore" gets all unnaturally wobbly and gurgly at parts.

I guess it was a record where he was trying to push limits though so I give him credit for that.

He used autotune very heavily on YOR, especially Birthday, which is why he only played it live once during that tour.

 

[Mozanthropy]

Wow sounds amazing!.

Years Of Refusal It's a great record, from the name of this until the last song, I love the name of this album Years Of Refusal very Morrissey style.

 

[Anonymous]

He used autotune very heavily on YOR, especially Birthday, which is why he only played it live once during that tour.

i dont hear auto tune. i hear some spots where another would have put auto tune in meaning i mostly hear straining

 

[northernleech]

Even in the demos though, do you also find that his voice sounds a bit off somehow? I don't mean how he is singing, but how it's been edited, an extreme pitch change or something that is very prevalent in Skull. Also his vibrato in the album version of "It's Not Your Birthday Anymore" gets all unnaturally wobbly and gurgly at parts.

I guess it was a record where he was trying to push limits though so I give him credit for that.

I love the little gulp of air noise he makes after the ect hrt bit ... shudda kept that in if it was deliberate ... funny

 

[Anaesthesine]

Always wonderful to hear rough tracks. "SISMS" has been going round my head for days: liked it then, still like it now.

Mama is an incredibly underrated track.

I rate Mama pretty highly...

I do too. Yet another dark tale of despair and suicide, sadly socially relevant. It was a highlight when I saw him live a few weeks ago.

The lyrics and the swooping vocals are wonderfully matched, but the bridge is a real problem. It sounds like they couldn't think of anything to put there in this demo, and they just kept the noisy mess in place for the final release.

It's a shame: a strong melody or riff in the break could have made the song a classic (to my ears at least).

 

[Bluebirds]

Love the version of Something Is Squeezing My Skull. The demo adds to my belief that it is a bona fide modern Morrissey classic.

As for Years of Refusal it starts off really well but meanders into nothingness and Morrissey by numbers by the end of the record - though I do like You Were Good In Your Time. Perhaps I'll give it another listen.

 

[Hod]

Love the version of Something Is Squeezing My Skull. The demo adds to my belief that it is a bona fide modern Morrissey classic.

As for Years of Refusal it starts off really well but meanders into nothingness and Morrissey by numbers by the end of the record - though I do like You Were Good In Your Time. Perhaps I'll give it another listen.

What do you think of I'm OK by myself? I think it's one of the best of four Refusal songs, alongside Skull, Mama and Good in your time. The yodelling at the end, the strength of his voice as he says "this might make you throw-up in your bed, I'm ok by myself", and what I think is a great tune by Jesse (and one which helps you forget the awful Sorry doesn't help) make it a fantastic closer in my eyes.