Morrissey Strikes Again

[Otis Westinghouse]

Didn't know the nightly regular Trouble Loves Me, from Maladjusted, before hearing the Dublin gig, but what a gem! Must hear the original. Also great fun to the cover of A Song From Under The Floorboards. It can't come close to Magazine's brilliant original, but I think it's a great one to include.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Moz at the Kng's Lynn Corn Exchange, May 27. Someeone told my wife she must have got it wrong when she said I was off to this modest town to see the Mighty Quiff, so unlikely does it seem, and indeed, it looked tiny:



Very nice inside. Allegedly takes 1,200 standing, but felt like under 1,000.
Good acoustics. We stood near back, yet you could see his face clear. Didn't fancy moshing, but would ideally have gone closer, and could easily (my mate wasn't keen to).

Moz in cracking form. He loves playing live, he loves his audience, there's a mutual sense of passion and love that you can taste. Black tux, pink shirt, band in matching red Playboy t-shirts. Moz was getting pretty sweaty and did the usual thing of throwing 3-4 shirts to the hyenas. Apparently the shirts smell divine. The lights are down when he removes it, though his bod is in pretty decent shape for a 47 year old. Good band, great drummer.

Setlist hasn't varied much of late. Song From Under the Floorboards has, sadly, gone, and the more boring Ganglord (b-side) become a regular. 9 songs off ROTT, though very sadly the awesome Dear God... isn't played ever.

First of the Gang to Die
Still Ill
The Youngest Was the Most Loved
In the Future When All's Well
I'll Never Be Anybody's Hero Now
Girlfriend in a Coma
You Have Killed Me
To Me You Are a Work of Art
I Will See You in Far-Off Places
Ganglord
I Just Want to See the Boy Happy
Let Me Kiss You
On the Streets I Ran
At Last I Am Born
Life is a Pigsty
How Soon is Now?

Irish Blood, English Heart

Great, of course, to hear cracking renditions of the three Smiths classics. Shame he doesn't draw more from his vintage Arsenal/Vauxhall era. We were quite tanked up on Guinness, which was great in terms of intensifying the hugely emotional nature of it all (the one-two of an epic Life Is A Pigsty followed by How Soon Is Now was incredible, excoriating, eviscerating stuff). It meant I spent far to much time fiddling with my mobile, phoning people for distorted sharing of the great noise and texting too, and whole chunks of it are a blur (I love Let Me Kiss You, but can barely remember it), but for me it was like a good party, and like seeing Elv at Hammersmith, the booze made it all the more exciting.

Feels like an important Must Do in life has been achieved. The depressing Wembley Bowie support slot doesn't count, I've now had the full Moz experience. The man is a legend. For all his waywardness and absurdity, he's done more for me than all but a very small number of songwriters and I will always adore him.

[Mike Boom]

Lucky pommy gits!

[Otis Westinghouse]

Yeah but far lucky to have seen him in the relatively tiny venue I depict above than in one of these! Wembley Arena? Nah, I'll stick with the memories of King's Lynn, thanks.

[Mike Boom]

Yeah, small venues are better for sound, but having seen many bands at Wembley Arena I think the atmosphere at a big Morrissey show like that would be just electric - and never been to the GMEX, but come on, Christmas with Mozzer!!! AND besides, some of us would just be happy to see him anywhere!!!

[Otis Westinghouse]

Christ! Now I'm wishing I had gone. Check this:

Intro
Panic
First of the gang to die
The youngest was the most loved
You have killed me
Disappointed
Ganglord
I'll never be anybody's hero now
William, it was really nothing
Irish blood, English heart
I will see you in far off places
Girlfriend in a coma
Everyday is like Sunday
In the future when all's well
I've changed my plea to guilty
Let me kiss you
The National Front Disco
Dear God, please help me
How soon is now?
I just want to see the boy happy
Life is a pigsty
ENCORE:
Please, please, please let me get what I want
Don't make fun of daddy's voice

wonderful setlist,great show,morrissey sings
better than ever.just a couple of mishaps,
20 second cut in the intro to pigsty and
an edited glitch somewhere else.
enjoy and once you have it,share it any way
you want.

Dear God now added to the set!!! Why, oh why didn't he play this in May? It would have killed me. Fave song on ROTT, a Moz classic. And William, and Please, Please, Please. And though I feel deeply ambivalent about it, Nat Front Disc would have been a thrill to hear as it's musically great (though would a herd of Moz fanatics chanting 'England for the English' make you want to throw up?) - none of these were played on the May tour.

http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-deta ... omm1540323

The last thing I need right now are even more bootlegs in the house, but this one I can't resist!

[Mike Boom]

Wow - National Front Disco.
Great set list indeed.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Moz performed a new song That's How People Grow Up on Letterman recently:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJgltCQ7omo

Sounds a bit predictable, though with a good chorus, all the same.

Regarding a new LP, http://true-to-you.net/morrissey_news has this in a recent q & a:

Could you say to your fans if you think you will give us another album soon?
Guillaume
Paris, France

I presently have the option to tour for the remainder of 2007, or start a new album. I don't have a deal, but I have an offer from Warner Brothers. At the same time, there are some great touring offers - New Zealand, South Africa, my beloved Scandinavia, Israel and Iran. I would love to sing in Tehran.
So, for this week, it's a dilemma.

[Who Shot Sam?]

Moz will be playing six dates at The Roundhouse in London this winter. Get in there, you UK people...

http://billboard.com/bbcom/news/article ... 1003677214

[Otis Westinghouse]

No doubt sold out by now. Not so long since I last saw him, so not fussed, but this should be a good night out for all concerned.

[verbal gymnastics]

Moz will be playing six dates at The Roundhouse in London this winter. Get in there, you UK people...

Nah - this is the one to go to:

http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/INFO/21x21/

Wouldn't it be great (and expensive!) if Elvis did something like this. In the UK.

[Who Shot Sam?]

Moz will be playing six dates at The Roundhouse in London this winter. Get in there, you UK people...

Nah - this is the one to go to:

http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/INFO/21x21/

Wouldn't it be great (and expensive!) if Elvis did something like this. In the UK.

hehe

Great idea. I saw Sparks once when I was a teenager ("Moustache" era). They are lots of fun live.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Sadly didn't get to see Moz at Roundhouse. Review here. Several new songs, inc. the aforementioned That's How... . Observer review here, not hugely favourable to new songs. no Dime bootleg, yet.

Jonathan Ross said he would be performing (the new single, no doubt) and talking on this Friday's show. The last time he was on it, the interview was utterly excruciating. Why would he want to subject himself and us to that again?

[verbal gymnastics]

My mate went to see him on Friday and said he sang three songs before going off. Russell Brand then came on and said the show was cancelled because Morrissey had a sore throat.

My mate wasn't best pleased...let alone everyone else there.

[Otis Westinghouse]

http://true-to-you.net/

New album Years of Refusal is in the can but not released due to label issues.



[Weird - video watchable here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElemRKA9r1c , but the embedded version above seems to say it's no longer available.]

New single 'All You Need Is Me'. Fun lyrics. Predictable but likeable song. I will miss him when he's gone, indeed.

[invisible Pole]

Morrissey and a picture promoting his new 7-inch , so to speak.

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/n ... naked-nsfw

[Otis Westinghouse]

Saw that photo in the paper and did a double take! There's a link on there to a snippet of the interview with Russell Brand that appears to be on the deluxe ed DVD. I believe they're chums. Russell's chum J Ross has him on this Fri doing the very lovely 'Throwing My Arms Around Paris' and being interviewed, which seems surprising given the excruciatingness of the interview last time round, which wasn't like the mock pain Moz affects in the Brand link above, but genuine pain, but Ross told a story of how last time he came round for dinner and this time asked to come and visit again, as well as fitting in a social with Russell. Moz really is quite a strange person.

So the producer is Jerry Finn, who apparently got a horrendous brain haemhorrage shortly after completing the LP, bringing to two the tally of producers who completed a Moz LP and then died. there are worse ways to go, although the poor guy was only 39. He did a good job on You Are the Quarry, so hopes are high. I like the singles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morrissey' ... udio_Album

First LP since Your Arsenal not to feature Alain Whyte, although he co-wrote several of the songs.

Will head to Fopp come Monday.

[cosmos]

What would y'all recommend to a Morrissey/Smiths newbie?

Cheers in advance!

[pophead2k]

I'll let others handle rankings and such as I am far from a completist, but 'You are the Quarry' is just a fantastic album start to finish.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Smiths: Hatful of Hollow (early compilation of singles, sessions, etc., with many of their best songs included); Queen is Dead (their finest hour LP wise).

Moz: Your Arsenal; Vauxhall and I. (Both from his mid-90s solo peak. You Are The Quarry is very good, yes, but these are my faves, especially Vauxhall.)

There are loads of great songs scattered throughout his/there career beyond these. A Smiths singles compilation is also a good place to start.

[cosmos]

Thank you!

[Otis Westinghouse]

Well we commented elsewhere that despite some very negative 'we've heard it all before and it's boring' UK reviews, others were less dismissive, and Years of Refusal. Now that I've played it several times, I'm really getting to like it. Although it lacks anything as spectacular as 'Dear God Please Help Me' and no chorus quite as good as 'You Have Killed Me' and no epic drama along the lines of 'Life is a Pigsty', it's probably a better album overall than Ringleader, which did have rather a lot of filler and dragged in parts. Favourite songs on this are the three singles, especially 'Paris', and 'Mama Lay Softly on the Riverbed' with its fabulous and classically Moz chorus 'Life is nothing much to lose/But it's so lonely here without you', 'It's Not Your Birthday Anymore', but I like to play it as a whole as it all works, isn't too long, doesn't drag. I love the full-on sound of it, loads of attack ion the guitars and drums. Good production - a fitting epitaph for poor Jerry Finn.

I can't wait to see these songs live, I think it will be thrilling with a well warmed-up band.

I'm glad I got the version with DVD. It's fascinating to watch Moz in the Russell Brand interview. Brand is typically silly throughout and often very funny, but Moz remains true to himself in every respect (the leather chairs in Brand's Hollywood home had to be replaced with fabric ones). I don't think you can be at all disappointed as a lover of The Smiths from the beginnings to see his persona preserved entirely intact, unavoidably so, with no compromise, still looking wonderful, still smarting from a world full of cliches, barbarians and morons. It's a good way to be able to see Moz close up and study the details.

I normally like Alexis Petridis, but in his review he was well wide of the mark. He cited the lines 'I was driving my car/I crashed and broke my spine/So yes there are things worse in life/Than never being someone's sweetie' as evidence of Moz's current shortcomings as a lyricist compared to his glorious past, but to me it's wonderfully hilarious and in keeping with the wayward wit of many of his earlier lyrics.

I used to find reviews that dismissed artists I loved as somehow upsetting, but now I find that if it's someone you really like and the work is a good step forward, adds something new and keeps your fan's ardour burning, then it's actually quite refreshing to see others trash it as it marks out your fan territory that bit the more. 'Aha, you don't get it as your not a real fan'. Growing older for me is not a process of growing out of fanhood, but the opposite. So it is routinely when Ron S and Lloyd C release something, and often Elvis too.

I recommend this fine record. You can hear it on spotify, but really you want to take it home and own it and love it.

Long live Moz, he's completely and wonderfully unique and it's impossible to imagine the last 25 years without him there to make them better.

[pophead2k]

I concur with Otis on this one. I think it's a terrific album and meant to be played LOUD. I find 'Paris' in my head the most but I think the opener is terrific. I'm not enough of a long time fan to judge lyrical quality in terms of past v. present, but I always find something of interest in Morrissey's lyrics.

[Otis Westinghouse]

All those reviews dismissing it as tired and iold, nonsense! It's very feisty, full of vim and vigour. I love Something is Squeezing my Skull enormously, Mama Lay Softly on the Riverbed ('Life is nothing much to lose' gets me every time), Paris and It's Not Your Birthday Anymore. The measure of a good LP is that you want to play the whole thing, not necessarily that it is made up of standout tracks. It's like a football team. This LP works better as a whole, I would venture, than anything he's done since the mid 90s haydays of Your Arsenal and Vauxhall and I. It doesn't drag in any places the way the last two did, despite having better singles and some truly outstanding moments.

His two worst-renowned records, Southpaw Grammar and Maladjusted are getting reiussed with notes by Moz, extra tracks, etc., but also deletions:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Maladjusted-Mor ... 357&sr=1-5

and

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Southpaw-Gramma ... 357&sr=1-3

[sheeptotheslaughter]

I've must say I was one when I read the reviews thought here we go again and wasn't looking forward to the album. But it has really grown on me. Something's Been Squeezing My Skull is the next single and has been played on the radio a fair bit and sounds great.

The re issues I never bought first time around I'd started to lose interest but perhaps I'll get them this time