Album review: Morrissey – World Peace is None of Your Business

Welcome to one of my sporadic album reviews where I go through track by track and say which song of this new album sounds like a song off one of the ’s old albums. Really, what more do you need to know?

I had my first listen to World Peace is None of Your Business yesterday so this is only my second listen, and just like first impressions of Big Brother housemates, all first night/week opinions are subject to change. But it’s a bit boring to review an album a month after you’ve got it, isn’t it? I laughed my arse off on the first listen, this album is funnier than Morrissey’s book.

It made me realise how long it has been between albums, too as Years of Refusal came out when I’d not been with my boyfriend long. We sat in a bedsit in Finsbury Park reading the lyrics when it came out, and laughing at lyrics like ‘it hasn’t!’ and it’s now we’re reading new lyrics nearly six years later. He does like to make us wait.

First up, World Peace is None of Your Business. God, that’s long to write out every time. This was the only song from the album I’d already heard. It starts off with what sounds like a didgeridoo, which is a bit worrying in the current post-Rolf climate. The song reminds me of I will see you in far off places, but I think that might just be the length of the title. It has a kind of Sweetie Pie-esque dreaminess about it in the verses. The lyrics are a bit clunky, but ‘each time you vote you support the process’ is bound to wind people up, which makes it a good lyric. And no, Morrissey didn’t get that idea from Russell Brand. Morrissey virtually gave birth to Russell Brand, so get it the right way round. Always nice to be called ‘a poor little fool’ by Morrissey, too.

Next is Neal Cassady drops dead. Who is Neal Cassady? I don’t know. Some black and white dude according to my Google search. It doesn’t matter, because the crux of this song is the ‘chorus’: ‘everyone has babies, babies full of rabies, rabies full of scabies… get that thing away from me.’ Not forgetting ‘tyke full of gripe.’ He also uses the word ‘nipper’ – I thought that was in the sole domain of Matthew Wright and his panellists on The Wright Stuff. There’s also an Irish sounding bit at the end where just sings no words for a while.

I’m Not a Man has a pointlessly long, almost silent 1.37 second intro… am I listening to a Bright Eyes album or a Morrissey album? This song has a decent level of theatrics and some odd lyrics – ‘beef-a-ronie’?! I can imagine him doing it live. I would plot it on the anthem scale of; not as good as It’s Not Your Birthday Anymore but better than Come Back to Camden. He also does some Chris Martin style ‘woo woo’s. Vegetarians note: there’s some funny lyrics about T-bone steak giving people cancer of the prostate.  I like to think of this song as the antidote to that awful song out at the moment that goes ‘I’m a man, yes I am.’ (That’s a reference for my younger readers.)

I’m not hugely enamoured with Istanbul but my boyfriend liked it. On first listen it made me think of The Father Who Must Be Killed – argh! But it’s not that bad. It’s quite atmospheric, I suppose. I’m not really feeling it – yet!

Earth is the Loneliness Planet of All is the one I’ve almost learnt the lyrics to already; it’s pretty catchy. It has a Spanish-sounding guitar on it and the lyrics are quite mournful. It has quite a good little instrumental bit at the end, too. It should be the next single, if Morrissey’s record label hadn’t pointlessly released almost every album as a download-only single already.

If you’re concerned about the title of Staircase at the University, you’d be right to be. A very strange song about someone throwing themselves down the stairs because of exam pressure. Like, where do you get your ideas, Morrissey, you mad sod? It’s a very jaunty little number for lyrics about someone’s ‘head splitting three ways’. This song kind of reminds me of Mute Witness, in that it has a throwaway, upbeat quality, and you know what? I like Mute Witness.

The Bullfighter Dies sounds like it’s going to be Meat is Murder-style depressing from the title, but is actually another perky one. I like the ‘mad in Madrid’ ‘ill in Seville’ lines. The chorus goes ‘hooray, hooray, the bullfighter dies.’ Who wouldn’t want to sing along to that?

My friend said she’d heard Kiss me a Lot on the radio and ‘it was shit’. I’m just surprised El Moz is getting played on the radio. Besides, it’s better than Let Me Kiss You. But what isn’t? It kind of reminds me of I Like You in that it’s sort of throwaway, but fun.

The first turkey of the album is Smiler with Knife, which is probably one of the worst titles of all time, plus the song has no tune. It plods along, painfully. This is going to be wearing down my skip button.

Kick the Bride Down the Aisle lyrically reminds me of Courtney Love’s new song Wedding Day ‘Break my neck on my wedding day/ She can’t walk but she can crawl’. It’s a funny title although the song is quite misogynistic, but it’s not like we haven’t heard it before from Moz, going as far back as William.. I noticed him doing it in his book as well, writing women off as fat or just lipstick wearers. Like Eminem, Morrissey gets a pass, but let’s not make a habit of it, hey? Why not ‘kick the husband down (or up) the aisle’? Sample lyric: ‘Look at that cow in the field, it knows more than your bride knows now.’ And I’m just pleased he wasn’t saying ‘look at that cow’ to describe the bride. Kristeen Young is also yodelling in the background if you like that sort of thing… I do, but only in short doses. I think I Will Never Marry probably summed up this sentiment a lot more poetically.

Next, unfortunately, is another duff one, but what did you expect from the title – Mountjoy?! Nonsensical lyrics and mentions of ‘man and boy’ – never good. I think ‘droning’ would be a good word to describe this song. As if that wasn’t terrifying enough a title, the next song is called Oboe Concerto. No oboes, please! And no flutes either. This isn’t a great ending to the album.

On the whole, though, three bad songs out of 12 isn’t bad, sometimes it’s only three GOOD songs out of 12. But… there’s no one song that I want to take to my heart and cuddle, either. Still at this point I’m just glad he’s still putting albums out. No, I’m just glad he’s alive.

Luckily, if you got the deluxe version, there’s some more good stuff to come. There’s a high-drama studio version of Scandinavia, which is great to have and true to the live version.

Next is possibly my favourite song of the lot (well done for not putting it on the album proper, Moz!) One of Your Own. It has an almost-underwater piano running behind it and the lyrics, ‘A job half done isn’t done’. Lyrically has that serial killer vibe about it which Moz loves so much. I like the end where he just repeats ‘I have no use for tomorrow.’

Drag the River starts with the sound of the ocean – well it sounds more like the ocean than the river. I’d say it’s quite a standard Morrissey b-side, pretty but not amazing.

Forgive Someone is pretty duff, I must say. Who exactly? Next is Julie in the Weeds, another shocking song title and quite unmemorable except for some interesting sound effects in the middle.

The final song is the hilarious Art Hounds – ‘When you can’t find a table for your fat aunt Mabel you stamp your feet and cry’ – which is brilliant to hear a studio version of, but it’s lacking a bit of the bite of the live version. It sounds a bit slowed down and not as high in the chorus? Also some of the lyrics have changed for the worst, like changing ‘If you cannot stand the real world, take my hand’ to ‘if you cannot stand this fake world take my hand’ which isn’t as good or as cool. You’ve got to love ‘I take 16 pills to send me to sleep and 16 to shake me awake’, though. It takes me back to Something is Squeezing my Skull, which takes us back to Years of Refusal – and where we started.

So that’s it. Funny, silly, dramatic, clever, childish… it’s all there. Now who does that remind you of? 

Placebo: Loud Like Love

Yes, it’s time for one of my album reviews, one where I go through every song and say what other songs by that artist I think it sounds like, because that’s what I want when I read music reviews, not a load of bluff and bluster and showing off.

So let’s begin. I love the new Placebo album! Not a surprise, you may think, but I was expecting to be disappointed for some reason. I think because Placebo just became this huge obsession and then we kind of cooled on it, I was expecting the decline to go further, but instead I could be just about to reignite my crush. Plus I’m going to see them in December which will be the first gig I’ve been to since Desaparecidos – woo.

Loud Like Love is the title track of the album and is just lovely, jangly guitars, atmosphere, ‘love on an atom, love on a cloud’ but what it’s all building too is the chorus chant of ‘breathe, breathe, breathe, believe’, which is a mantra I can get behind. It’s Placebo at their best, energetic, positive, singalong and catchy. You can’t go wrong unless you’re a total sourpuss.

Scene of the Crime begins with moody handclaps. The song has got a grimy feel to it, and hangs on the hook of the lyric ‘we almost made it, but making it is overrated’ which has a nice ring to it. There’s also a good crunchy dance bit in it (almost wub wubs, but not quite) that reminds me of the English Summer Rain days, and then there’s some Pierrot the Clown style piano. The end is quite theatrical with him just yelping ‘scene of the crime’ which is quite enjoyable. All in all, it feels very much like a Placebo track. Which is what you want, right?

Too Many Friends was the first song I heard from the album and I love it. The lyrics are absolutely ludicrous – ‘My computer thinks I’m gay, I threw that piece of junk away on the Champs-Élysées’ – but isn’t that what we want from Brian (except in Special Needs)? If you can get over the hump of the first verse (and the word ‘communiqué’) it’s actually an excellent song. I love the way it builds up and the chorus is great. Brian Molko moaning about people on their iPhones, you’ve got to love it. The climax of the song is ‘all that people do all day is stare into a phone’. I think he means ‘stare into their phones’ but it’s not the last bit of English he fucks up on this album. I love the ‘I’ll never be there’ lyric at the end, and can happily imagine him singing this live.

The next song is called Hold onto Me. Unfortunately there’s a Courtney Love song called this that’s better – a trap Placebo have fallen into before with their Devil in the Details (Bright Eyes got their first). This is the first partly dreary song on the album. It’s perfectly acceptable, but that’s not what I want from a pop song. I want to be stirred! Instead, it feels a little plodding and whiney. The piece de resistance is some muttering talking part, most of which I can’t make out, but he seems to be talking about some David Icke type shit about ‘the fourth and fifth dimensions’ and ‘this is the bridge to an entirely different energy level’. Ok, then.

Next up is Rob the Bank, which is like a more palatable Trigger Happy (cringe). The lyrics hit a new low here, including ‘rob the bank and pick your nose’ which had my boyfriend howling with laughter. It’s not a bad song, sort of Placebo by numbers, I think, but it is a silly one. There’s a bit of xylophone on it later which is nice for Bloc Party fans.

A Million Little Pieces – no, not just the excellent book that really pissed off Oprah Winfrey – but now a middling song on a Placebo album. Brian sings:  ‘No more glowing in the dark for my heart’ – probably for the best; sounds like a health condition. It’s not a bad song, but I feel it’s got delusions of grandeur; songs about leaving town always do, like someone having an internet strop and threatening to quit Twitter. I do however like the end piano bit where it goes ‘All my dreaming torn in pieces’ – this album has definitely mastered the art of a strong ending for each of the songs.

Exit Wounds has a drum beat that really reminds me of cool-videoed dance song by The Notwist – ‘Pick up the Phone’. This reminds me of the previous song in that it’s quite dark and moody – has Brian had his heart broken recently? This has a chorus that’s telling you it’s epic, but it’s not quite getting me. There’s also some really stinking lyrics here: ‘If I could I would hover as he’s making love to you, making rain as I cry.’ Dearie me. Why doesn’t anyone tell him? Come on Stefan, grow some balls. I do like the different parts to this song, it’s got a weird sound in the middle, and again a strong ending: ‘put me in the ground’, which is reminiscent of one of the best songs of all time; I Know It’s over by The Smiths. If I Know it’s Over is 10, then Exit Wounds is 878,985. But still.

I suspect Purify will be the next single, it just has that single-y feel to it, it kind of reminds me of For What It’s Worth off the last album. I do like it, but it’s like Breathe Underwater or something; it’s just there and energetic, but not grabbing me emotionally.

Begin the end namechecks heroin, and includes the words ‘misconstrue’ and ‘misapprehend’. It kind of reminds me of A Million Little Pieces in that it’s quite moody. I like the line ‘I’ve tried, God knows I’ve tried, but there’s nothing you can do to change my mind’ because let’s face it, who’s not been there? My editorial side gets a little antsy after that, as there’s a line that goes, ‘And I don’t enjoy to watch you crumble, and I don’t enjoy to watch you cry.’ Surely he means ‘watching you crumble’? It’s like ‘someone tried to do me ache’ all over again. Brian; why do you do this to me? Apart from that bugging me every time  listen to it, it’s a decent song.

Bosco is the final song on the album, and really one of the best songs, almost the best song, in a way, after Loud Like Love. It’s an anti-ballad, and it had me crying in my car this morning (I was hungover though, and also cried at an advert on the side of a bus). The use of the word ‘happenstance’ is to be appreciated, even though you suspect it’s just to rhyme with ‘circumstance’ that comes next. He also shoehorns in the words ‘partisan’ and ‘belicose’, the second of which I had to look up. What is this, a Will Self book? Incidentally it mean ‘demonstrating aggression and willingness to fight’ which is probably a word I need to know (ahem). But the killer is the ending, just him repeating ‘how I suck you dry’ and it sounding like the saddest thing in the world. It’s another Placebo song with lofty ambitions, but this time it hits them. I want to say mesmerising but that sounds wanky, so I’ll say it’s something like mesmerising.

Finally, if you get the deluxe version of the CD, you get a DVD of some studio recordings of the tracks, which was very enjoyable to watch. Brian has Nancy Boy-era hair and looks very attractive (how does he stay so skinny?) and they seem to have sealed the drummer off in a plastic booth. I do think 10 tracks on an album is a bit tight; 12 even seems low, but at least the quality is good and there’s little filler. The song on the DVD that isn’t on the album is called Pity Party (of one). You can probably tell from the title that’s not going to be a winner. It’s like a less charming In the Cold Light of the Morning, so quite glad that didn’t make it onto the album. On the whole though, pleasantly surprised with the album and looking forward to seeing them in December, especially as the fans are all quite short so you normally get a good view. Win/win!