so, another day of release adventure. to be sure. yes, look you see, this all did happen, as it were, on the actual day of release - i am just a trifle late on reporting on it, i suppose. which is kind of fitting, as it was somewhere north of 36 hours after purchase before i got to actually hear it.
what, or if it is right to say it as such which, record was the object of my attention to purchase on its day of release, via HMV? the new album off of Morrissey, entitled Low In High School. despite England, nor the wider UK, not having "high school" as such, but rather comprehensive or these new fangled "academy" things.
something, perhaps, of an unexpected new album off of Morrissey. why? well, from what i can remember he's had a bit of a health scare in recent times. also, of course, a bit of a battle with his previous record label, Harvest, who released his last album, World Peace Is None Of Your Business back in 2014. i say "battle"; from what i remember Morrissey took to wearing t-shirts and such telling the record label to f*** off. even by his confrontational standards that didn't quite bode well for him securing a new deal. but, Morrissey is Morrissey, there is an audience, someone will invest to sell his records.
if at this stage you are in a bit of a rush and just want to know whether or not the record is any good, the answer is yes, very. probably the best off of Morrissey since the much vaunted and heralded "comeback" album, the superb You Are The Quarry.
for those not in a rush, or just who for some reason quite like reading my musings on subjects such as this, let us have a look at some more about it then. or, at the least, the experience of buying and listening. to start with here we go with the confusion of where one may find the record for purchase within the realm of HMV.
no, indeed yes, music seems to have become that little but more marginalised by HMV. whereas once you walked in an the new music releases confronted you straight away, now they are shoved in a corner, with the previous "trending", "hot" and "chart" sections all consolidated into one. the net effect of this confusion for me was to think perhaps i had got it wrong, that Morrissey put his new album out the friday before and it was now in the top ten. no, it's there, sort of in the middle, suspiciously wedged between Roy Orbison and ELO, presumably because that was where HMV thought it best to place it. or assumed that it would be just fine there.
actually there was some debate as to whether HMV would stock this record. yes, in this day and age a record shop contemplated not stocking an album which had a market. why had they considered this? a concern that the cover, featuring a child holding a placard saying "axe the monarchy", whilst clutching an axe outside what would seem to be Buckingham Palace, "might cause offence".
echoes of the infamous Journal For Plague Lovers off of the Manic Street Preachers, then, where apparently there was a concern that some people might view the record cover as something that it was clearly not. in the case of the Manics it was sold in a slip case to cover the "offending" art; Morrissey as you can see is just sold as-is.
this is not the debated part i speak of in the title, though. no. more of a monetary, fiscal and committent one. let me not bore you with my plight or the sorry state of my life, but a reality is that december, which dawns soon, for me represents a need of expenditure on such things as birthdays and that whole Christmas business. my dedication to Morrissey would surely test all of this, and put a dent in it. but i did it anyway, hence the fact that this post exists.
when the tracklisting was announced it was declared, by such luminaries as those who dispense the benefits of their wisdom via that twitter business, to be "the most Morrissey set of song names ever". does it follow up on that, if we for the sake of a quiet life accept that to be the case, by being "the most Morrissey sounding record ever"? partially, yes.
the first two tracks, which i first heard when i first heard the album as late as the sunday afternoon coming after the friday day of release, are superb. My Love, I'd Do Anything For You and I Wish You Lonely are belting, full on glam rock sound loving Moz. the quality, of not the overt glam influenced sound as such, carry on all the way to and through Spent The Day In Bed, which was the first "single" off the record, or should i say song available for a digital download thing.
one review i saw suggested it's a case of "first half great, second half not so much". i am not entirely sure i agree. yes, the better songs are within the first half of this recording, but that does not mean what follows towards the end is bad. they are just not as immediately genius or as strikingly brilliant.
if i were pushed and requested to highlight the low point of the album then it probably would be When You Open Your Legs. just dull, really. but even then, i suspect that this might well have been the entire point of it.
quite a nice chat with the lady in HMV who accepted my coins of money in exchange for me being able to take ownership of the record. in this day and age of "streaming" and various less than legal downloads she asked if i had heard the record. i said no, bar the single / "digital download" what i bought earlier in the year. further, i explained that i had pretty much been purchasing any and all Morrissey releases, including his disastrous debut novel, on autopilot since days before she was born. in turn she advised me that she was looking forward to hearing it (as with all stores at present HMV is a bastion to the sounds of Christmas music), and was off to see the man himself in concert with her dad next year.
a partially amusing thought here would be the notion of taking my dad to a Morrissey concert. other than it being wonderful to see my dad, i suspect the evening would be a lot of hearing "what the bloody hell is he on about", "why is it so loud" and "why is everyone just stood chanting his name". my mum, however, as i recall, considered Morrissey, as do many others, to be rather handsome, and would no doubt enjoy the experience.
beyond that, it is splendid to know that there is a generation - not just one that came after The Smiths but also realistically after the halcyon, celebrated (i would say right up to about 94, 95) early stages of his solo career that are "in" to Morrissey and excited to be seeing him still on the go.
will this record please the locked in, existing Morrissey audience? yes, i would think so. could this record win him any new fans? maybe, i am not sure where them kids of today get to hear "new" music. any chance of this record making a high chart position, as HMV seem to have already given it? unlikely. excellent if it makes it into the top ten, but right now the sales push seems to be for an assortment of younger pop stars with records out, as well as the inevitable Christmas theme releases or albums, looking at the Roy Orbison dubbed over an orchestra shenanigans, that immediately suggest they are ideal "this will do" Christmas gifts for the elders of assorted families.
having a new Morrissey album in the world is a most splendid thing. from my side i am not inclined to take it off the stereo, having listened to it somewhere north of half a dozen times in the last two or so days. which is a shame, as i suppose i should be listening to something for the next edition of my unusually popular random bowie series, but no matter.
unless at the last minute The Stone Roses take my advice (from the last 2 or 3 years) and release Christmas With The Stone Roses, just one more day of release ahead for me this year, then - U2 on the very first day of December. i am giving Noel Gallagher a miss, then. other than the first two songs to emerge from it not being all that inspiring, i note with interest that he has taken to telling fans to "f*** off and not buy it", so i won't.
it would be decidedly pleasant if for some reason all of this was of interest to someone somewhere out there reading this.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment