What does everyone think of the new songs?

[Anonymous]

I still haven't listened to the performance. Work and age gets in the way.
Would like to know what you think of the songs, albeit in a live setting?

I've heard. I've listened. I love my bed too.

I think they are FANTASTIC !

Hazard
x

 

[John Green]

yes, the songs are all sprouting, growing and blooming in their own tempo. at the moment home is a ? is taking up lots of interior space and is unfolding there, so i cannot focus on the other songs with the same attention. during the first listen on monday, jackie struck me as being melodically chequered and i immediately related to the "scene 2-6" lines though at the moment i cant say what they are all about. "open you legs" left me a bit puzzled, especially the matador sound accompanying it and furthermore in connection to the title, so i wondered whether i was among its potential target group. but we'll see.
i cant say much about his alleged repetitive style, as i havent followed morrissey for decades as many others might have. i dont know what that style exactly is all about. where do you see it?

matador sound = that's called flamenco and I knew it was coming. What do you expect, he is surrounded by Spaniards. Time to change the lawnmower parts.

i cant say much about his alleged repetitive style...i dont know what that style exactly is all about. where do you see it?... exit, exit, exit, exit... do I need to say more?

 

[Anonymous]

matador sound = that's called flamenco and I knew it was coming. What do you expect, he is surrounded by Spaniards. Time to change the lawnmower parts.

i cant say much about his alleged repetitive style...i dont know what that style exactly is all about. where do you see it?... exit, exit, exit, exit... do I need to say more?

Surrounded by Spaniards??????

 

[Anonymous]

I had the BBC show on repeat today so here's my rating-of-the-moment of the new material:

Jacky - I haven't a clue what the song is about, but I'm quite sure it's not Brexit. Anyway I guess it's one of these songs that you have to let sink in for a while until some underlying topic emerges, and all of a sudden you see it in a context that makes perfect sense.

So to sum it up, I can't wait to hear the rest of the album, I already loved World Peace almost as much as Vauxhall, and I think I might love Low In High School even more than both. As excitement builds up, these weeks prior to album release, with a smoothly running campaign and with both singer and band obviously being on the top of their game, are a truly glorious experience for a Morrissey fan, I'm thoroughly enjoying every minute of it.

Ref Jackie: It's NOT about Brexit. It's about a singer.....

 

[Harsh Truth]

I had the BBC show on repeat today so here's my rating-of-the-moment of the new material:

Top spot is still I Wish You Lonely, it's so good in that live version that I'm almost scared it'll disappoint me when I hear the studio version. He sings it so fiercely, and the oh-oh-oh part is in my top 3 of special highlight moments in a Morrissey song (others being the last verse of Boxers, and the dropped lines from Ripper).

I think it sounds like a street cat in pain. Hoping that bit sounds better on the album! Otherwise, the song is growing on me.

 

[g23]

Thanks. I'm not fond of this song, but it does make me think of...Kristeen Young.

I know I ran for the exit, exit.

 

[gordyboy9]

I thought all albums came out on a Monday but nov 17th falls on a Friday,bit weird.im ordering from amazon because they have a tendency to deliver a day or two early sometimes,dont hold me to that though.

 

[Tbevie]

I think it sounds like a street cat in pain. Hoping that bit sounds better on the album! Otherwise, the song is growing on me.

I agree. I find it a bit distracting. I hope it blends in a bit better on the studio version.

 

[Maurice E Maher]

I had the BBC show on repeat today so here's my rating-of-the-moment of the new material:

Top spot is still I Wish You Lonely, it's so good in that live version that I'm almost scared it'll disappoint me when I hear the studio version. He sings it so fiercely, and the oh-oh-oh part is in my top 3 of special highlight moments in a Morrissey song (others being the last verse of Boxers, and the dropped lines from Ripper).

Home Is A Question Mark has a similar hymn-like feeling as Now My Heart Is Full, I don't think I could ever get tired of it, and "wrap your legs around my face just to greet me" is such a classic Morrissey line, it makes me chuckle every time. I was wondering if the lyrics are actually "wrap your legs around my head" the first time and that it changes to "face" the second time, like in Staircase "breaks your heart/breaks your legs", but I can't say what makes me think so, just an idea.

Spent The Day In Bed - when I heard the intro, I pulled a bit of a strange face because it sounded so NOT like a Morrissey song, but I already loved it after the first listen, I can identify with almost every single line.

Jacky - I haven't a clue what the song is about, but I'm quite sure it's not Brexit. Anyway I guess it's one of these songs that you have to let sink in for a while until some underlying topic emerges, and all of a sudden you see it in a context that makes perfect sense.

When You Open Your Legs is equally cryptic but it might be a metaphor for a typical TMI moment, when someone tells you stuff that you really never wanted to know?

All The Young People Must Fall In Love (With Morrissey ) - I don't really share the enthusiasm about it (yet?) but I like the lyrics a lot and it's certainly not a song I'd skip, this one just needs more listens.

So to sum it up, I can't wait to hear the rest of the album, I already loved World Peace almost as much as Vauxhall, and I think I might love Low In High School even more than both. As excitement builds up, these weeks prior to album release, with a smoothly running campaign and with both singer and band obviously being on the top of their game, are a truly glorious experience for a Morrissey fan, I'm thoroughly enjoying every minute of it.

Nice review - thanks. I've only really listened to the single (and All the Young People a couple of times) but I share your optimism.
I thought the music to World Peace was excellent - easily the best on a Morrissey album since the 90s, possibly the best since the Stephen Street era. With an extra songwriter thrown in, I'm hoping the new one will be as good if not better. It is indeed a great experience for a fan, the run-up to a new album, especially when the signs are as positive as they are for this one. If the album is commercially successful, hopefully this will mark a new era with a new album every couple of years (instead of every three to five). It's a little unfair to dismiss the whole 1995-2013 period as chug rock (as many journalists did in the WP reviews) as there were some musical gems along the way but they were padded out with way too much mid-pace blandness and bluster. The only downside is concern about the lyrics (which ruined a few World Peace songs for me including the title track and Not a Man), and it's just a bit of a shame about the cover i.e. the photo and the unimaginative slogan which, so far, doesn't seem to have much relevance to the album. Otherwise though it's all looking pretty positive. First proper reviews of the full album should be along within the next couple of weeks.

 

[Anonymous]

Spent The Day In Bed isn't that bad, I suppose, but that's as much as can be said for it. The tune's okay, but the lyrics are shite. Like somebody said in another thread, it's as though he's cobbled together a verse on one subject and then tacked it onto a chorus about something completely unrelated.

The All the Young People... song is truly awful. It amounts to just two notes being repeated endlessly and is so bad that I can't believe the musicians ever actually intended it to be a song. It sounds like Boz Boorer began absent-mindedly strumming a couple of chords spontaneously for a moment's amusement and the others just joined in for a jam, and then Morrissey decided to sing any old gibberish over the top. The tune goes nowhere and the lyrics are beyond awful.

The one with "lonely" in the title sounds like the band were trying so hard to compose a tune, but weren't quite up to it. Seriously, try humming this shit; it's impossible. Try to whistle it. It sounds like under-rehearsed teenagers who've tried really hard to make up their first song, but need probably dozens more attempts before they come up with anything catchy. Lyrically, it's 21st Century Morrissey-by-numbers with the usual clichés about being lonely, followed by (inexplicable) references to government and then some animal-rights stuff shoehorned in.

And they all look so serious(!) when they're performing. Just look at the concentration on their little faces. Bless.

Morrissey no longer seems to know any better, but Jools Holland should've had them turfed out of the studio after witnessing the first soundcheck.

I never want to hear these attempts at songs ever again, and I'm pretty sure I won't.

Piss-poor, overall. Get off the f***ing stage, Steven.

 

[URBANUS]

Spent The Day In Bed isn't that bad, I suppose, but that's as much as can be said for it. The tune's okay, but the lyrics are shite. Like somebody said in another thread, it's as though he's cobbled together a verse on one subject and then tacked it onto a chorus about something completely unrelated.

The All the Young People... song is truly awful. It amounts to just two notes being repeated endlessly and is so bad that I can't believe the musicians ever actually intended it to be a song. It sounds like Boz Boorer began absent-mindedly strumming a couple of chords spontaneously for a moment's amusement and the others just joined in for a jam, and then Morrissey decided to sing any old gibberish over the top. The tune goes nowhere and the lyrics are beyond awful.

The one with "lonely" in the title sounds like the band were trying so hard to compose a tune, but weren't quite up to it. Seriously, try humming this shit; it's impossible. Try to whistle it. It sounds like under-rehearsed teenagers who've tried really hard to make up their first song, but need probably dozens more attempts before they come up with anything catchy. Lyrically, it's 21st Century Morrissey-by-numbers with the usual clichés about being lonely, followed by (inexplicable) references to government and then some animal-rights stuff shoehorned in.

And they all look so serious(!) when they're performing. Just look at the concentration on their little faces. Bless.

Morrissey no longer seems to know any better, but Jools Holland should've had them turfed out of the studio after witnessing the first soundcheck.

I never want to hear these attempts at songs ever again, and I'm pretty sure I won't.

Piss-poor, overall. Get off the f***ing stage, Steven.

That made me LOL and I totally agree.

 

[Quando quando quando]

This whole song is about Brexit and UKIP

Initially I thought the same for that small part of the lyrics you pointed at.
And the "everybody is running for the exit, exit, exit, while he is not actually singing brexit it crops up and you almost start hearing it while he's not actually singing it.
Sneaky bastard.
But maybe they are some kind of false leads like in a detective novel.
Putting you on the wrong leg as to the who dunnit aspect.

 

[hectorisdead]

Morrissey Singles - Where does Spent the Day In Bed fit in?

The Classics: best of the best.

Suedehead
Everyday Is Like Sunday
The Last Of The Famous International Playboys
Now My Heart Is Full
First of the Gang to Die

The Greats: Top-Notch quality singles that would not be out of place on a "Best ever" retrospective.

November Spawned A Monster
We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful
The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get
Tomorrow
The Boy Racer
Alma Matters
Irish Blood, English Heart
You Have Killed Me

The Good Ones: Quality singles but just a cut below his best work.

Interesting Drug
Sing Your Life
My Love Life
You're the One For Me, Fatty
Sunny
Let Me Kiss You
I Have Forgiven Jesus
All You Need Is Me
I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris
Glamorous Glue
Spent The Day In Bed

OK singles - but don't really stand out for me:

Ouija Board, Ouija Board
Certain People I Know
Interlude
Boxers
The Youngest Was The Most Loved
In The Future When All's Well
Something Is Squeezing My Skull
Redondo Beach
Satellite of Love
Istanbul
Kiss Me A Lot

I like it a bit, but probably wouldn't have chosen it as a single:

Our Frank
Hold On to Your Friends
Dagenham Dave
Satan Rejected My Soul
That's How People Grow Up
World Peace Is None Of Your Business
The Bullfighter Dies

The low points of the Morrissey Canon:

Piccadilly Palare
Pregnant For The Last Time
Roy's Keen
I Just Want To See The Boy Happy
Earth Is The Loneliest Planet

 

[hectorisdead]

Really enjoying "All The Young People...." - it's one of the most hopeful sounding tunes I've heard in a long while - and very ironically coming from Morrissey. Presidents come, presidents go, it all really doesn't matter - just fall in love! It has a very impromptu, jam session type sound about it, kind of takes me back to the KROQ version of "There is a Place in Hell For Me and My Friends". Some may find it trite, but I do think it's a very profound statement in this time of high anxiety.

 

[hectorisdead]

This whole song is about Brexit and UKIP

Interesting theory...Jacky = Union Jack?

 

[URBANUS]

Really enjoying "All The Young People...." - it's one of the most hopeful sounding tunes I've heard in a long while - and very ironically coming from Morrissey. Presidents come, presidents go, it all really doesn't matter - just fall in love! It has a very impromptu, jam session type sound about it, kind of takes me back to the KROQ version of "There is a Place in Hell For Me and My Friends". Some may find it trite, but I do think it's a very profound statement in this time of high anxiety.

That song is not about hope and him enjoying seeing young people fall in love. It is about him hating the fact that young people are stupid and care too much about who to shag next when they should do something about the problems we are facing in this world.

It might even be his darkest song yet as he admits that he has indeed given up and knows that the game is over. Romantics will see romance in everything cause romance gets in the way of their brain just like in your case.

 

[Irregular Regular]

Really enjoying "All The Young People...." - it's one of the most hopeful sounding tunes I've heard in a long while - and very ironically coming from Morrissey. Presidents come, presidents go, it all really doesn't matter - just fall in love! It has a very impromptu, jam session type sound about it, kind of takes me back to the KROQ version of "There is a Place in Hell For Me and My Friends". Some may find it trite, but I do think it's a very profound statement in this time of high anxiety.

Shite, not trite.

 

[ZOOM FROM GLOOM]

the National dedicating a song to M on Jools ! I'm sure he was touched.

 

[ZOOM FROM GLOOM]

Interesting theory...Jacky = Union Jack?

yeah, i mentioned the Jacky as 'Union- Jacky' the other day, Uncleskinny must have taken my post to heart, but I was only joking.

 

[ZOOM FROM GLOOM]

Really enjoying "All The Young People...." - it's one of the most hopeful sounding tunes I've heard in a long while - and very ironically coming from Morrissey. Presidents come, presidents go, it all really doesn't matter - just fall in love! It has a very impromptu, jam session type sound about it, kind of takes me back to the KROQ version of "There is a Place in Hell For Me and My Friends". Some may find it trite, but I do think it's a very profound statement in this time of high anxiety.

'Some may find it trite, but I do think it's a very profound statement in this time of high anxiety.'




M has honed his lyrics to the bare essentials and what we are left with is what is only important. Who else dares in modern music? to simply look and see and say.. and yes.. profound... to the point and with that voice... it all tumbles out... truth, poetry, like no other.