Low In High School: What do you think of it?

Now that it's leaked, some of us have our pre-orders in hand, it will be on Spotify tonight, and the official release date is in less than 24 hours, here's the official thread to discuss Morrissey's new album.
 
Mostly great, I reckon if the album had lost TGFTAWWK or I Bury The Living, the whole thing would have been received far better. Probably on par with World Peace, just happy that it's a far riskier album and a far better one lyrically despite some of the views which I don't personally agree with.
 
...As for me, I'm still digesting it, but I must say I really enjoy it overall. There are a few caveats I've got, mainly related to production and complaints about the band.

I don't know what it is; most of the music isn't anything special, and some of the lyrics are kind of clumsy, but I like his sense of urgency on it. His singing is great. And some of his vocal melodies this time around are among his best.

I didn't love the new songs when they were played live during those few performances that aired; but the studio versions definitely cover a lot of those holes. The only single I loved right off the bat was Jacky but I have warmed up significantly to the other two, which initially didn't do much for me.

So, yeah...could just be excitement about the first new album in almost four years but I enjoy it as of right now.
 
Listened to it in full.

Agree with what alot of reviews say.

First five tracks sound great and are really promising - but it absolutely loses the plot after that.

I Bury The Living is bad - and it never really recovers after that.

Israel is a decent finish at least.
 
Still on my first listen.
Had goosebumps when Home is a Question Mark started.
The sound on this album is exceptional. Morrissey sounds better than ever.
f***! "Honour-mad cannon fodder" chant is powerful! I Bury the Living is brilliant. Some critics just didn't get it!
 
I've only had a couple of listens, but this seems like a headphones album. It's less immediate then World Peace; there's a lot to digest here... but I think the 12 songs of High School are superior to the 12 songs of WP. It has a bruised epic feel with all the piano ballads and neo-show tunes. I Bury The Living reminds me of those very early Bowie songs and is far more anti-war than anti-soldier in a Sassoon kind of way. In Your Lap was a surprise highlight - a fantastic vocal there - and Who Will Protect Us... was much better than I expected. All The Young People was the only disappointment as the scat piano doesn't really register in the mix; I prefer the live version. That aside, for some reason I am enjoying the second half more than the first...
 
Powerful, diverse, strong is how I would describe it. Certainly his best since Quarry for me.
Ironically the best 3 songs on the album are the ones we already knew but were not releases as singles... My Love, Home and Legs!
 
I've had the album for five weeks now, so the novelty has worn off and my opinion has settled. Mostly I feel the same about it as in the beginning: it really is an album of two halves. The first five tracks are like a contuation of the early 2000's albums but with a more nuanced production. Spent The Day In Bed is his best single since First Of The Gang To Die and Home Is A Question Mark is a true Morrissey gem.

The second half begins with In Your Lap and has refreshingly little to do with rock. It has a sort of pre-rock'n'roll feel with all those Spanish, French and oriental flavours. Sadly the lyrics on the second half are among the worst of his career, although Israel is so gloriously beautiful and his voice on that so great that to my surprise I find that the lyrics don't matter. In Your Lap is tuneless and plodding though, and Who Will Protect is embarrassingly bad in every way.

Those two halves are bridged by I Bury The Living, musically interesting but lyrically downright insulting. It really takes the biscuit that someone who has never had to fight for anything or anybody else than himself blames the soldiers for the fact that we have wars. The "honor mad" soldier who has "a hatred for all humanity" could be Morrissey himself, if he lived in some other country. The sentiment of the song echoes the "tombs are full of fools" line in I Wish You Lonely and I can't help but take the thing personally, since being a Finn my grandfathers have fought and been injured in the war against Russia. They certainly didn't have a choice of spending the day in bed. "Without me there wouldn't be war", for f***'s sake.

So, overall: A very divisive collection, which has higher peaks and lower troughs than World Peace. But unless we'll get some extra tracks to balance against the World Peace bonus tracks, some of which were among my faves of that period and all of them better than the worst tracks on WP, that album wins as a whole.

I was just listening to Rusholme Ruffians -- never one of my favourites -- and stopped to marvel how brilliant and multi-layered the lyrics were. Compared to that, most of LIHS sounds like written by a different person. It's strange and sad that nowadays the best thing about Morrissey's albums is his voice, which is better than ever, and that the music actually lifts many tracks instead of keeping the whole enterprise on the ground.
 
I'm really enjoying it. As I said in another thread, his best since ROTT for me. He sounds better than ever and I feel the band wrote some really good tunes on here. It's one of the most unusual sounding Moz records in a while as well. I'd give it a 8/10 after first listen.
 
His trolling has imploded and has become self-annihilating. The first track, the winner, is just a dirty trick. "Israel" is a masterpiece of epic c*ntery, full of declarative passion and total ideological b.s.
It's sort of laughable, but not really, because I'm over it. Steven's nihilism couldn't be more boldfaced, bilious yet...BORING!
It's baroque hate-camp, anti-human junk. I guess after he's dead, we'll learn exactly what...happened...to "Monstrosity" post-fame. It takes guts to be gentle and kind!
 
I was really surprised to hear Morrissey try rapping and beat boxing on so many tracks. Hip hop is not his forte. And what's with the yodeling? And finally a banjo has no place on a Moz song.
 
Based on first listen...

My Love, I’d Do Anything For You
- I like this a lot, strong opener, society’s hell indeed.
I Wish You Lonely - My second favourite.
Jack’s Only Happy When She’s Up On The Stage - Like.
Home Is A Question Mark - The standout track, without a doubt.
Spent The Day In Bed - I hated it upon first listen and I still do, simply awful.
I Bury The Living - Strange, and not in a good way. It gets worse as it goes on too, strong contender for the worst song in the album (or possibly his entire career).
In Your Lap - Not keen. At all. The music is pretty dire, the lyrics a rambling mess, a non-song really.
The Girl From Tel Aviv Who Wouldn’t Kneel - I don’t like the music, I can definitely hear a similarity to Kill Uncle here, but the worst of KU, not the best, sadly.
All The Young People Must Fall In Love - I didn’t like it live and I do not like the studio version either.
When You Open Your Legs - Like.
Who Will Protect Us From The Police - Liked bits of this one, I cringed at times too, so mixed feelings.
Israel - The best of the five tracks we had not heard until today. I like it, different to the sound we are used to, but this time in a pleasant way.

So it seems it was the best of LIHS that was premiered at the Beeb and Berlin gigs, a bit of a shame as I liked 5 out of those 7 songs and was hoping for a similar ratio on the remaining 5.
Alas, I only liked 1 out of those 5 upon first listen.
All in all, a mediocre album I am afraid, 5/6 out of 10 I would say.
I do believe the good songs - Question Mark, Lonely, Jacky, etc - are indeed better than anything on WPINOYB, but the bad ones are really bad, perhaps some of his worst ever.

Feeling somewhat disappointed truth be told.
Still, on a more positive note, I now have 6 more Morrissey songs to listen to and enjoy.
 
Last edited:
I'll agree that the album is front loaded but the only songs I really find disappointing are The Girl from Tel-Aviv and Who Will Protect Us From The Police?

And I of course wish it was longer. Any word on a deluxe with bonus tracks?
 
Guess I was right with my prediction about I Bury the Living - seven minutes of Tobias was never a good proposition.

It's not Jesse's fault. The lyrics itself is pretty uninspiring.
Pity Morrissey could've chosen other song.

Personally it's a good album.
However, I Bury The Living and In Your Lap are rather disappointing.

I was skeptical about Who Will Protect Us From The Police because of the title, but it's strangely powerful.

If Morrissey didn't mention UKIP during 6 Music Live, it could've been his fourth No.1 album.
 
Last edited:
I bury the living- A contender for one of his most interesting songs of all time, with lyrics that are so bad I'm just baffled. I love the violin and crickets intro, the 70's soul funk sound of the bass, I like the shouty bits, I like the pretty falsetto and lovely soothing outro, but Jesus Christ, does he need a lyricist?

In Your Lap isn't even there, really, tune-wise. At all.

Girl From Tel Aviv- It borders on that tacky Squirrel Nut Zippers part of the 90's. I could see it being nice background for a boozy summer night in the background, but it's so campy that you should probably bring a tent.

Who will protect us- It's alright. It's weird hearing almost industrial sounding synths kicking off a Morrissey song, but there they are.

Israel- f***, that's pretty. Let's get him a lyricist and try again.
 
I really loved this album.
LIHS is pretty better than WPINOYB. All songs - except "In your lap" - are powerful and incredible.
My personal favs and highlights:
- All the young people must fall in love
- Home is question mark
- My love I'd do anything for you
- When you open your legs
- I wish you lonely
- I bury the living
- Israel
 
Back
Top Bottom