"Low In High School" reviews (Pitchfork, God Is In The TV, Daily Californian, Bob Stei)

"Low In High School" review by Sam Sodomsky (5.7 / 10) - Pitchfork. Link posted by BrummieBoy (original post).

"Low In High School" review by Tim Russell - God Is In The TV. Link posted by Billbones80 (original post).

Morrissey capitalizes on political controversy distastefully in new album ‘Low in High School’ by Maisy Menzies (Grade: N/A) - The Daily Californian. Link posted by BrummieBoy (original post).
Editor’s Note: The Daily Californian recognizes that a numerical grading system cannot always account for the problematic history of the artists whose work we are grading. Given the harm caused by this artist, this critic has decided not to give this album a grade.

"Low In High School" review by radio personality Bob Stei. Link from an anonymous person.


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Regardless of reviews and chart positions, IT IS an amazing album, and nothing anyone says can change that fact for all those who hear it.

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Regardless of reviews and chart positions, IT IS an amazing album, and nothing anyone says can change that fact for all those who hear it.

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My CD finally arrived today and the album sounds better than it did on Spotify. Driving home on heated leather seats it suddenly struck me: I just might die with a smile on my face after all.
 
Every time Uncleskinny swears, another copy of LIHS sells! :)

Almost time to watch that film btw!
Wasn't Uncle Skidmarks a winner on 15 to 1? I wish there was some footage of it online. Can just imagine him saying to the host "f*** off I'm right and you're wrong" every time he got an answer incorrect.
 
My CD finally arrived today and the album sounds better than it did on Spotify. Driving home on heated leather seats it suddenly struck me: I just might die with a smile on my face after all.

:guitar::rock:
 
Now if only there were some B sides to keep the story going. Eighteen songs from WPINOYB and only twelve from LIHS seems a travesty.

Couldn't he release an EP and call it Homework?


or he can call it... 'Hooky' or 'Truancy'

:)
 
High on Low Esteem
 
"Israel" is a self-immolating, luciferian laugh riot, drenched in typically foaming at the mouth, deranged camp, a troll diva moment extraordinaire. I still can't get all the way through it. I know it's over
 
Is that all you got? c***. Log in next time. Coward.

Oh my. Been reading Trainspotting? What's next ?
"Meet you outside?"
Would you really talk this way in person?
Also,there are a number of anonymous posters.
We are not all the same person!

Why would anyone want to log in ? Why?
 
Is that all you got? c***. Log in next time. Coward.
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"Israel" is a self-immolating, luciferian laugh riot, drenched in typically foaming at the mouth, deranged camp, a troll diva moment extraordinaire. I still can't get all the way through it. I know it's over

Israel is a beautiful song, especially when you hear it very loudly. The production on it is great and his vocals are simply superb. Regarding the lyrics ... you can almost hear him sing about himself at certain points if you exchange Israel with Morrissey.
 
I love the album. Have been listening to it on my Ipod for the past few days. It's a real grower. It's not like anything else he has done. The best album of 2017 by far. For me then standout tracks are My Love, I'd Do Anything for You, Jacky's Only Happy When She's Up on the Stage, Home Is a Question Mark, Spent the Day in Bed, All the Young People Must Fall in Love, and Israel. The criticism of I Bury the Living is unfair - yes it's bitter and cynical but it's also darkly ironic. The idea that he's laughing at the dead is nonsense:

http://www.nme.com/video/nme-album-club-morrissey-paloma-faith-leonard-cohen-2160435
 
Morrissey's new record is simply an amazing piece of art. I say this not only as a long time Mozzer fan, but as a working musician. I can't remember the last time I have felt so passionately about a record. I'm a huge Johnny Marr and Alain Whyte fan, but his current band, along with the stunning production by Joe Chiccarelli, have delivered something truly adventurous and epic. I have only ever commented on here once before, but I've read so many things lately that seem to get this record so wrong that I feel the need to again. I'm not even sure where to begin.

To make a record that sounds like this isn't easy. In fact, it's rarely done in modern times. This record has the decadent swagger of something out of the 70's, while also being modern enough that it feels fresh and alive and of the now. The dark brass of Lou Reed's Berlin, the synth squelches of Nico's The End, and the dramatic glam rock of Bowie all swirl together. But drums never sounded that big and powerful back then. There are also sounds from various global destinations and modern editing and manipulation at play. The mix is clear and yet warm. Everything sounds gigantic while still having space. Whoever mixed and mastered this record knows what the f*** they are doing. It sounds incredible on headphones. It's f***ing cinematic as hell!

The lyrics are somewhere between the poeticism of Ringleader and the blunt clarity of Quarry. When is the last time that anyone wrote lyrics that seemed to make so many people uncomfortable? That in itself is an achievement. This truly does feel like the work of someone that came up during the punk era, but never felt the need to abandon its confrontational outlook. That being said there is a lot more complexity and humanity than most people are giving him credit for.

The song that seems to give most people pause is Israel. I am against the occupation. However, anyone that thinks Morrissey is giving a blank check to the state of Israel simply hasn't read the lyrics to that song, nor viewed them through the context of the record as a whole. More than any other album Morrissey takes on military, security, and police forces. I'm an American that was against Bush's Iraq invasion. How dearly I wished at the time that others would see that it was our government and those that supported it, and not our people as a whole that created that situation. I voted against Bush twice, but that didn't stop the Iraq War from happening. Morrissey's outlook is actually extremely intelligent. He is not judging the people of an entire country by what their government is doing. That being said, I don't think the song Israel is that simple. The name Israel means roughly, "He who struggles with God." If it weren't for other songs dealing with Tel Aviv, I probably wouldn't think the lyrics of Israel had very little to do with the state of Israel at all. Even now, however, I think that they are more inspired by visiting their and the feelings he had while being there, than actually the state itself. The lyrics have more to do with the repression that comes from religion than any kind of expressly current political situation. Three of the worlds major religions come from that place, and they have helped pave the way to an earth that is an asylum for those that are outsiders in society. Israel and Jerusalem have also been used by poets throughout the ages to tackle big topics. I can't help but feel that Morrissey is using his experience there to talk about the topics that have always been near to his heart.

Also with I Bury the Living, Morrissey seems to be updating Buffy Sainte-Marie's Universal Soldier. You may not agree with the viewpoint of either, but it's a debate worth having. Are those that carry out violent orders culpable or not?

........................

There is so much more to say about this magnificent record, but I'll leave it there. Forget about the headlines, the reviews, and actually listen and think about this record. It's an amazing piece of art that I think will speak to us in the years ahead, every bit as much as it does now. Most people just can't seem to see it outside the narrow political climate of today.

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There are two other things I want to add to the discussions that have been going on in general:

1. As someone that has given interviews, I can say beyond a doubt that reporters almost never quote exactly what you have said. You combine that with a german translation and google translate and one can imagine how different what he actually said might be from what people are reading. Even if he did say exactly what he said in the German interview, I think we should at least view those comments in the context of his art and life as a whole. Morrissey's political views aren't always crystal clear, but I think it is pretty clear that he is disgusted by violence upon the innocent.

2. The Morrissey is a racist thing is so f***ing tired. His album is dedicated to Dick Gregory. His band is half Mexican. The kid on his cover is Mexican. Morrissey paid tribute to Istanbul, albeit in his usual backwards way. (I always took his line about Pittsburg from Ringleaders to be a wink towards his fans there with his usual dark humor.) Morrissey clearly, from his autobiography, loves his fans from all over the world. He has, however, criticized different cultural and religious beliefs. This is not the same thing as race. Race is something you are born with, that you have no decision in. Religion and culture are things one can leave behind, in the same way that Morrissey is a lapsed Catholic. It's fine to disagree with him on this, but don't confuse one with the other.



Thank you for posting and backing up points that other musically minded people have also been posting and saying for some time, albeit also getting a kicking every now-and-again too. Albeit from the usual 'crew members' - not that they are crew nor members.

Hazard
x
 
"Wrap your legs around my face just to greet me," has to be among the worst he's ever penned. The only worse lyrics I can think of are "Everything I know deserts me now, when you open your legs," which are also on this album

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=11946302
Nonsense....

I've had my face dragged in
Fifteen miles of shit
And I do not And I do not
And I do not like it


So how can anybody say
They know how I feel
The only one around here who is me
Is me
 
"Wrap your legs around my face just to greet me," has to be among the worst he's ever penned. The only worse lyrics I can think of are "Everything I know deserts me now, when you open your legs," which are also on this album

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=11946302
I have to say, "If I ever get there, would you meet me? Wrap your legs around my face just to greet me?" are probably some of the best lyrics on the album. Had he sang that in the Smiths days, I would have appreciated them even in the context of that time. However, the so-so retread song that exists before the rather pretty last verse/outro disappoints me. I don't give half a shit about bogus music moguls, or hugging the land and nothing more. I also liked Lost and Yes I am Blind the first time they were written prior to the frankensteining of them for Home is a question mark. (where even the title sounds like an 8th grader's attempt at serious poetry.)
 
However, the so-so retread song that exists before the rather pretty last verse/outro disappoints me. I don't give half a shit about bogus music moguls, or hugging the land and nothing more. I also liked Lost and Yes I am Blind the first time they were written prior to the frankensteining of them for Home is a question mark. (where even the title sounds like an 8th grader's attempt at serious poetry.)

The title is apparently a James Dean quote. I hear a slight similarity to Lost but not to Yes, I Am Blind - which was musically "inspired" by the vastly superior Nothing Rhymed anyway.
 
The title is apparently a James Dean quote. I hear a slight similarity to Lost but not to Yes, I Am Blind - which was musically "inspired" by the vastly superior Nothing Rhymed anyway.
Not even when you think of the "little lamb on a hill" bit? It's strictly in the style of the bassline and vocal melody. As far as James Dean goes, he was just a pretty face and a style. He was pretty bad at acting, the little of it he did. I'm familiar with him, but not overly so.
 
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