Morrissey A-Z: "It's Over"

BookishBoy

Well-Known Member






Today's song is Morrissey's cover of this Orbison/Dees composition, off the California Son album. The original reached #1 on the UK singles chart a month after Morrissey turned five.

What do we think?
 
Despite the pig's ear they made of this release (the most convoluted and problematic solo release ever IMHO), it was very well received by commenters here. I suspect there was definitely something starting to go wrong with BMG at this point - certainly about when/what was released as a single at least.
It got a good bit of airplay though and the vocals were lauded consistently.
Not sure LP's warbles added anything really - his voice was more than enough on this.
Regards,
FWD.
 
I'm not sure about LP's contributions, either, but this is still a glorious cover version. Absolutely love it.
 
A weird trajectory this one has been through. First, when it was initially released as a download, I loved it. Then, once the album came out, it dimmed a little. And now, after re-listening to the album countless times over the past 2 years, I can happily say that it is great again. Understated, slightly dramatic instrumentation that recalls the tension of the original. Some nice counterpoint vocals from LP, but these are dwarfed by a very respectable attempt at emulating Orbison’s vocal prowess by Morrissey. It’s probably the only Son song that was bound to never reach the heights of the original, due to the sheer difficulty of learning Orbison’s style, but does a more than decent job of trying.
8/10
 
Superb vocal performance, and a style of music that he should delve deeper into.
 
great song,fantastic voice on this.some of the music is quite dreamy.all in all just a great song.
9 falling/10 stars.
 
I think Jeff Lynne (among others) described Roy Orbison as the best singer in the world, so Morrissey was never going to outdo him. He made an admirable attempt though and you can hear why Morrissey was so proud of his vocal.

I personally like LP's contributions and she is just the sort of singer who he should be working with.

The composition itself is a classic.

This version doesn't differ massively from the original, so it's not one of my absolute favourites from the album. It was a worthwhile exercise simply due to the quality of the singing, though.

In the poll on the Hoffman board it ranked (partly due to the newness of the album at the no doubt) 47th from 264 solo songs.
 
Morrissey’s vocals on It’s Over are, of course, beautiful and the production sounds, to these untrained ears, faultless. But as to the song itself, neither this or the original really does a great deal for me – it is… nice. I suppose this sentiment reflects my overall position with California Son in general – some lovely songs to be found, but I don’t really think of it as a ‘proper’ Morrissey album, much like I don’t think of David Bowie’s Pinups or Kicking Against the Pricks by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds as part of those artists’ true canon.

When I listen to It’s Over I largely just recall the shambolic release of it as a 7” single, which has been well documented elsewhere and mentioned above. The last physical single released by BMG, I believe?
 
Without any doubt his greatest cover, and has made a spectacular effort with this song...
Will never forget the hair on the back of my neck standing to attention when first hearing this....
I love everything about this song..
Unfortunately I doubt we shall ever hear this in the set list ..
It’s spectacular, stunning and beautiful. Probably in my top ten Moz songs of all time ...
 
When I first heard that Morrissey record a duet with Lp I was a bit shaken or even confused. She is ok, Lost on You is a beautiful pop song that moves some people deeply. But her specific voice ... I thought - it can go wrong. But it worked. Definitely in the Top 5 songs covered by Morrissey. A great tribute to a Great Artist from a Great Artist. Splendid rendition . 8/10 .
 
Morrissey’s vocals on It’s Over are, of course, beautiful and the production sounds, to these untrained ears, faultless. But as to the song itself, neither this or the original really does a great deal for me – it is… nice. I suppose this sentiment reflects my overall position with California Son in general – some lovely songs to be found, but I don’t really think of it as a ‘proper’ Morrissey album, much like I don’t think of David Bowie’s Pinups or Kicking Against the Pricks by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds as part of those artists’ true canon.

When I listen to It’s Over I largely just recall the shambolic release of it as a 7” single, which has been well documented elsewhere and mentioned above. The last physical single released by BMG, I believe?
This review says what I was going to say, only better.
 
Snip...

When I listen to It’s Over I largely just recall the shambolic release of it as a 7” single, which has been well documented elsewhere and mentioned above. The last physical single released by BMG, I believe?
To be honest, it was terrible to have to log all that nonsense. Had it been a simultaneous release instead of 'given' away with vinyl 11 months off, it could have 'done' a lot better - assuming that's what he's meant to care about.
Regards,
FWD.
 
Morrissey’s greatest vocal, unfortunately it’s no match for Roy Orbison’s totemic version. And given it’s a fairly faithful cover, it does seem to invite some comparison.

The problematic vocal comparisons are compounded for me, by the brevity of LP’s appearance: you think “great” (and possibly “thank God”) her outstanding voice is coming to the assistance—and then Morrissey (and/or the production team) inexplicably seem to push the ladder away, and she becomes barely audible in the mix.

Listen to LP’s live version of this song for some insight into what this ‘duet’ could’ve been.

For years, I’d thought I would like to hear Morrissey sing Wicked Game. But this recording convinced me that that might ultimately be a similarly exposing project.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Tags
morrissey a-z
Back
Top Bottom