Morrissey Central "Rebels Without Applause" (November 25, 2022)

FRIDAY, 25 NOVEMBER, 2022 :
First 'single' release in exactly three years.

Morrissey's Rebels Without Applause is available today worldwide (including Britain) on Spotify, courtesy of Capitol Records. The track is produced by Andrew Watt.
This is Morrissey's first 'single' release since 'It's Over', taken from the 'California Son' album in November 2019. 'It's Over' peaked at number 1 in the UK vinyl chart.

Morrissey's next live appearance is on Monday, 28 November at The Anthem in Washington DC.

Rebels Without Applause - MESSAGES FROM MORRISSEY - MORRISSEY CENTRAL - Rebels Without Applause

MESSAGES FROM MORRISSEY on MORRISSEY CENTRAL

www.morrisseycentral.com

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Just to help Central:
It's Over was released as an instant grat & pre-order bonus - February 25/26, 2019 (followed by Morning Starship - both getting airplay).
It's Over was then nightmarishly released as a physical 7" - (initially December 20, 2019) January 24, 2020.
The first actual "single" from California Son was Wedding Bell Blues 7" - May 10, 2019.
Regards,
FWD.

---

Media item:

• NME: "Morrissey shares ‘Rebels Without Applause’, his first new single in three years" - November 26, 2022

Related items:

• Rebels Without Applause released as a single track - initially on some region's YT, now to buy & stream (November 24, 2022)
• Fiona Dodwell: "Rebels Without Applause: New Morrissey Single Released" (November 25, 2022)

 

[YOR]

You think its "stronger " than Something Is Squeezing My Soul, River Clean. Life is a Pigstye?
Art Hounds? I Thought You Were Dead. Jim Jim falls?
What odd taste you have. In someways, Quarry wasn't that much of a Morrissey record. Ir was Morrissey Mainstream, as you like Autotune and that best, could it be you just have very shit taste?
Or maybe its what Ludwig would think of as a language issue. By "Strong" do you actually mean "piss poor" ?

From your little list, only two were released as singles, so you're making a relatively poor argument... And yes, I find RWA better than those two... I happen to love Quarry and especially the singles...

Taste is individual and therefore can't be shitty... Online behaviour, however, can be very shitty!

 

[theprivilegeismine]

I enjoy a lot of Dog on a Chain, but IN SPITE of the autotune I hear throughout that album. I try to ignore it but it's very hard for me. I just still can't believe he'd ever let a producer do that to his voice. The one thing I've always felt about Morrissey is that no matter what, his legendary two-take wonder vocal performance is the most pure, authentic part of him, and what you're hearing is, for lack of a better term, his soul, right there on the record. I really find autotune a travesty when it comes to an artist like Morrissey.

THIS. You have captured my thoughts on the situation perfectly; he doesn't need all of those production tricks that perhaps other artists need due to their vocals not being strong enough or because they basically can't sing.

So doing this to a vocal that is usually amazing on its own, flaws and all, is saddening. I love RWA - the lyrics, the nostalgia, the melody and everything else about it, so to hear it being absolutely butchered by some producer who has gone overboard is just disappointing. Truly, truly, truly.

 

[Gregor Samsa]

You think its "stronger " than Something Is Squeezing My Soul, River Clean. Life is a Pigstye?
Art Hounds? I Thought You Were Dead. Jim Jim falls?
What odd taste you have. In someways, Quarry wasn't that much of a Morrissey record. Ir was Morrissey Mainstream, as you like Autotune and that best, could it be you just have very shit taste?
Or maybe its what Ludwig would think of as a language issue. By "Strong" do you actually mean "piss poor" ?

The only single among these songs are Skull.

 

[ringrosso]

Well bugger me with the fat end of a rag man's bugle - I'm so surprised that I couldn't even finish listening to this - it sounds awful.
I'm even more disappointed than the last time.

I will persevere, because that is what I do.

 

[Protagonist]

I mean, this is Great Value Cemetery Gates. It's also his best single since the Chain Gang cover in my book. I am willing to be generous with my old fave and assume that the Cemetery Gates similarity is intentional, since the subject matter is so similar. If the whole record sounds like this it will be an impressive achievement, but I don't know who will still be here to listen.

 

[Alfred O. Sauce]

I mean, this is Great Value Cemetery Gates. It's also his best single since the Chain Gang cover in my book. I am willing to be generous with my old fave and assume that the Cemetery Gates similarity is intentional, since the subject matter is so similar. If the whole record sounds like this it will be an impressive achievement, but I don't know who will still be here to listen.

Johnny should send an open letter telling Morrissey to stop using his guitar riffs as click bait.

 

[Ken Sluiter]

I enjoy a lot of Dog on a Chain, but IN SPITE of the autotune I hear throughout that album. I try to ignore it but it's very hard for me. I just still can't believe he'd ever let a producer do that to his voice. The one thing I've always felt about Morrissey is that no matter what, his legendary two-take wonder vocal performance is the most pure, authentic part of him, and what you're hearing is, for lack of a better term, his soul, right there on the record. I really find autotune a travesty when it comes to an artist like Morrissey.

Hi There, My name is Ken Sluiter. I mixed "IANADOAC". A colleague alerted me to this thread hoping that I could shed some light on this “Auto-Tune” business.

There was likely an occasional word or syllable that was touched up; but I can confirm that “running the vocal through auto-tune” never happened. There was no need. Hope this clears things up.

 

[pewtavert]

What did they do to Morrissey's voice. Did he inhale helium in the studio prior to singing?

Exactly! The song sounds so overly produced that it is very un-nerving. I'm shocked that Morrissey would allow such a release that could never be reproduced to a live audience. I mean it's even more manipulated than Blondie in the late 70's, early 80's who absolutely could not reproduce live what she put on vinyl. I don't know, I'm lost for words, I love the song but the "official" version is just odd sounding.

 

[T. H. Auden]

After being initially critical of the production, I now can't stop listening to it. It’s beautiful. The guitars in the refrain are truly mesmerising.

 

[Lionsy]

I've been listening to it since it came out, I love it, sounds like latter day Morrissey to me. These untrained ears can't hear any special things being done to his voice in all honesty... he sounds better than he has for a while and when I compare it to the live version it sounds fine?

 

[Anon23]

I hear some fairly light processing on his vocals (certainly light by modern pop music standards), but it’s hardly the robot chipmunk on helium disaster some posters on this forum are claiming. I also can’t see how people can call it both “overproduced” and “demo-like” (an oxymoron surely)?

 

[Deleted member 29227]

I've listened to this track quite a bit over the past few days. The 24-Bit - 48.0 kHz version is def the better version.

Initially, my main concern was the apparent vibrato effect on Moz's voice, so I went through quite a few of the live performances posted on here from the recent tour, and, sure enough, he does have vibrato, but it's less noticeable, maybe down to the lower quality of the live vids. Check this from Manchester:



This studio track production is cleaner, lighter & much brighter than the live versions, so guess that's maybe why the vibrato is more noticeable.

I have to say, it's addictive, a great single in my books, and definitely fit for radio airplay.
If only, though

 

[SqueezingMySkull]

Hi There, My name is Ken Sluiter. I mixed "IANADOAC". A colleague alerted me to this thread hoping that I could shed some light on this “Auto-Tune” business.

There was likely an occasional word or syllable that was touched up; but I can confirm that “running the vocal through auto-tune” never happened. There was no need. Hope this clears things up.

I'd love to know more details ("touched up"?) His voice throughout that album sounds autotuned...so what is going on there? I even pointed to very specific time stamps where you hear his voice artificially jump notes, just like an autotuned vocal was. So what happened? Why does it sound like this on IANADOAC but not any other album Morrissey has recorded? I'm not denying what you're saying, but SOMETHING has to be going on differently on this album.

It's a major reason I rarely put the album on. I find I can't enjoy it due to whatever vocal processing is happening. It's especially prominent in the otherwise wonderful song, Knockabout World. But his voice is also really bizarre on the song Bobby, Don't You Think They Know, especially the vocals when he sings the word "kno--ooow"...It sounds totally unnatural and bizarre.

 

[Machin979]

FRIDAY, 25 NOVEMBER, 2022 :
First 'single' release in exactly three years.

Morrissey's Rebels Without Applause is available today worldwide (including Britain) on Spotify, courtesy of Capitol Records. The track is produced by Andrew Watt.
This is Morrissey's first 'single' release since 'It's Over', taken from the 'California Son' album in November 2019. 'It's Over' peaked at number 1 in the UK vinyl chart.

Morrissey's next live appearance is on Monday, 28 November at The Anthem in Washington DC.

Rebels Without Applause - MESSAGES FROM MORRISSEY - MORRISSEY CENTRAL - Rebels Without Applause

MESSAGES FROM MORRISSEY on MORRISSEY CENTRAL

www.morrisseycentral.com

---

Just to help Central:
It's Over was released as an instant grat & pre-order bonus - February 25/26, 2019 (followed by Morning Starship - both getting airplay).
It's Over was then nightmarishly released as a physical 7" - January 24, 2020.
The first actual "single" from California Son was Wedding Bell Blues 7" - May 10, 2019.
Regards,
FWD.

---

Media item:

• NME: "Morrissey shares ‘Rebels Without Applause’, his first new single in three years" - November 26, 2022

Related items:

• Rebels Without Applause released as a single track - initially on some region's YT, now to buy & stream (November 24, 2022)
• Fiona Dodwell: "Rebels Without Applause: New Morrissey Single Released" (November 25, 2022)

Love it! Absolutely fantastic too see Morrissey still producing tracks as good as this.

Don’t mind the way he says gone the third time like people seem to be moaning about. Or how he says bawdy Come on guys he is as real as an artist gets and it comes across that way. Not fussed about it all being polished etc just enjoy the records please.

Well done Morrissey and band

 

[stux]

It sounds horrible. Perhaps a separate issue, but his whole voice throughout the song is sitting in the mix very oddly, and I think ruining what could have been a very lovely little song.

I’m going to both agree and disagree with you here!

I agree his voice doesn’t quite sit in the mix. It sounds separate, maybe that is meant to be clean but his voice sounds thin and detached. If you compare to other recordings from the last couple of albums it is very different, his voice generally fills the mix, full, baritone, power and none of that is here.

Where I disagree is that I don’t think it sounds horrible. It is just different.

i also dont think his voice is smothered in autotune, there is a lot of ghosting of the primary vocal with the backing, I do think there is auto tune there but i don’t hear it in Morrissey. I think he has delivered a great vocal performance, vibrato, pitch change, delicacy and autotune would dial a lot of that out.

 

[Ken Sluiter]

I'd love to know more details ("touched up"?) His voice throughout that album sounds autotuned...so what is going on there? I even pointed to very specific time stamps where you hear his voice artificially jump notes, just like an autotuned vocal was. So what happened? Why does it sound like this on IANADOAC but not any other album Morrissey has recorded? I'm not denying what you're saying, but SOMETHING has to be going on differently on this album.

It's a major reason I rarely put the album on. I find I can't enjoy it due to whatever vocal processing is happening. It's especially prominent in the otherwise wonderful song, Knockabout World. But his voice is also really bizarre on the song Bobby, Don't You Think They Know, especially the vocals when he sings the word "kno--ooow"...It sounds totally unnatural and bizarre.

Hello again,

I don’t have the time or patience to go back and forth on a Morrissey forum, so this will be my last response on the matter.

By “touched up” I mean that if there’s a word or even a syllable that sounds a hair flat or sharp in a distracting way, I’ll examine it and adjust if needed. Sometimes it sounds better, and sometimes I’ll leave it as is. I mixed this record three years ago, so I can’t remember the specifics of which line on which song. I will say this though, in my many years of mixing records in every genre; I’ve never had an artist or producer deliver lead vocal tracks that sounded so finished as the songs I mixed for Morrissey. In other words, the lead vocals sounded just amazing to my ears, and from what I can tell were usually recorded in one take with the band.

I’m sincerely sorry that you can’t listen to “IANADOAC”. I honestly don’t know what you’re hearing. I also mixed several songs on “California Son” and used, more or less, the same mixing process on the vocals. I’m not sure why you hear it on one record, but not the other.

For the record, I also don’t hear the “drenched in auto-tune” effects on “Rebels without Applause” either. I do hear a few spots where it sounds like the vocal was “stretched”, but it sounds like an artistic decision, not an accidental artifact. Anyone who follows Morrissey’s career need only look to “Bigmouth Strikes Again” to hear that artificial vocal manipulation has always been on the menu for this particular artist. I, for one, am always excited when Morrissey releases a new single, and this one doesn’t disappoint.

 

[YOR]

Hello again,

I don’t have the time or patience to go back and forth on a Morrissey forum, so this will be my last response on the matter.

By “touched up” I mean that if there’s a word or even a syllable that sounds a hair flat or sharp in a distracting way, I’ll examine it and adjust if needed. Sometimes it sounds better, and sometimes I’ll leave it as is. I mixed this record three years ago, so I can’t remember the specifics of which line on which song. I will say this though, in my many years of mixing records in every genre; I’ve never had an artist or producer deliver lead vocal tracks that sounded so finished as the songs I mixed for Morrissey. In other words, the lead vocals sounded just amazing to my ears, and from what I can tell were usually recorded in one take with the band.

I’m sincerely sorry that you can’t listen to “IANADOAC”. I honestly don’t know what you’re hearing. I also mixed several songs on “California Son” and used, more or less, the same mixing process on the vocals. I’m not sure why you hear it on one record, but not the other.

For the record, I also don’t hear the “drenched in auto-tune” effects on “Rebels without Applause” either. I do hear a few spots where it sounds like the vocal was “stretched”, but it sounds like an artistic decision, not an accidental artifact. Anyone who follows Morrissey’s career need only look to “Bigmouth Strikes Again” to hear that artificial vocal manipulation has always been on the menu for this particular artist. I, for one, am always excited when Morrissey releases a new single, and this one doesn’t disappoint.

Thank you so much for setting the record straight...

 

[Anonymous]

Hello again,

I don’t have the time or patience to go back and forth on a Morrissey forum, so this will be my last response on the matter.

By “touched up” I mean that if there’s a word or even a syllable that sounds a hair flat or sharp in a distracting way, I’ll examine it and adjust if needed. Sometimes it sounds better, and sometimes I’ll leave it as is. I mixed this record three years ago, so I can’t remember the specifics of which line on which song. I will say this though, in my many years of mixing records in every genre; I’ve never had an artist or producer deliver lead vocal tracks that sounded so finished as the songs I mixed for Morrissey. In other words, the lead vocals sounded just amazing to my ears, and from what I can tell were usually recorded in one take with the band.

I’m sincerely sorry that you can’t listen to “IANADOAC”. I honestly don’t know what you’re hearing. I also mixed several songs on “California Son” and used, more or less, the same mixing process on the vocals. I’m not sure why you hear it on one record, but not the other.

For the record, I also don’t hear the “drenched in auto-tune” effects on “Rebels without Applause” either. I do hear a few spots where it sounds like the vocal was “stretched”, but it sounds like an artistic decision, not an accidental artifact. Anyone who follows Morrissey’s career need only look to “Bigmouth Strikes Again” to hear that artificial vocal manipulation has always been on the menu for this particular artist. I, for one, am always excited when Morrissey releases a new single, and this one doesn’t disappoint.

Thank you Ken for your contribution to a super late career LP from Morrissey

 

[jmb066]

Hello again,

I don’t have the time or patience to go back and forth on a Morrissey forum, so this will be my last response on the matter.

By “touched up” I mean that if there’s a word or even a syllable that sounds a hair flat or sharp in a distracting way, I’ll examine it and adjust if needed. Sometimes it sounds better, and sometimes I’ll leave it as is. I mixed this record three years ago, so I can’t remember the specifics of which line on which song. I will say this though, in my many years of mixing records in every genre; I’ve never had an artist or producer deliver lead vocal tracks that sounded so finished as the songs I mixed for Morrissey. In other words, the lead vocals sounded just amazing to my ears, and from what I can tell were usually recorded in one take with the band.

I’m sincerely sorry that you can’t listen to “IANADOAC”. I honestly don’t know what you’re hearing. I also mixed several songs on “California Son” and used, more or less, the same mixing process on the vocals. I’m not sure why you hear it on one record, but not the other.

For the record, I also don’t hear the “drenched in auto-tune” effects on “Rebels without Applause” either. I do hear a few spots where it sounds like the vocal was “stretched”, but it sounds like an artistic decision, not an accidental artifact. Anyone who follows Morrissey’s career need only look to “Bigmouth Strikes Again” to hear that artificial vocal manipulation has always been on the menu for this particular artist. I, for one, am always excited when Morrissey releases a new single, and this one doesn’t disappoint.

Thank you for responding, some of these trolls are never satisfied with anything Morrissey does, records, releases etc. IANADOAC sounds amazing. Appreciate your insight.

 

[Redacted]

I hear some fairly light processing on his vocals (certainly light by modern pop music standards), but it’s hardly the robot chipmunk on helium disaster some posters on this forum are claiming. I also can’t see how people can call it both “overproduced” and “demo-like” (an oxymoron surely)?

it is