el moz is back and hes begun to attack, i ve grown fondly of the new album forgive me jesus is great, camden is also a good song, fav. is im not sorry. any way's moz you rock the year of 2004. the only place to go is up with been at the bottom. it feels good to be back doesnt it?

I always said "Irish Blood, English Heart" was inspired by Elton John's "Made in England". Must be true.

Ah, the Uncut review. Possibly the best of the music monthlies (avoids the peurility of Q and doesn't quite get as pedantic as MOJO). Shame that Peschek wrote the review and not Simon Goddard - I don't doubt for a second that Quarry would have been awarded four stars by SG. Still, you can't really argue - after the reviews by John Harris (which was unfair) and Rhodri Marsden (pretty fair in all honesty) it looks like Quarry has been vastly over-hyped. Most likely three or four super songs and a lot of average stuff. The great songs look to be 'First of the Gang', 'Jesus', 'Camden' and 'Crashing Bores'. Looks like Moz is going the way of so many middle-aged geniuses and settling into a trough of comparative mediocrity (ok, the reviews for Quarry have been better than Southpaw and Maladjusted, but this is clearly nowhere near the 'masterpiece' some were claiming it to be). Bowie stayed in this trough for 20 years before coming back with 'Heathen' and 'Reality' (these don't stand up to the likes of 'Hunky Dory', 'Ziggy Stardust', 'Heroes' or 'Scary Monsters', but they are good records). Let's hope it doesn't take Moz as long. Let's face it, one shit review (J Harris) might be down to the failure of the journalist to see/hear what's obvious, several average reviews suggests Moz's muse is not yet fully recovered. 'Vauxhall and I' seemingly remains the masterpiece - Moz needs to quit writing about taxmen and judges. Alain and Boz need to stop repeating the music they've already done, or at least get back to the high standards of 'Vauxhall'. I hope and pray for a future masterpiece from Moz, but I won't hold my breath, we could well be waiting a long time! I truly believe that any masterpiece (or even strong album) he does produce will a) need to restore his lyrical prowess; b) NOT be about taxmen and judges; c) be fiery and angry without being restrictively self-indulgent; and d) contain music from Alain and Boz that raises the bar a notch.

Don't get me wrong, I love Moz's work and will buy Quarry to support him, but the bubble has burst and its time to face the fact that Quarry is probably not a great album.

This volte face, U_turn, and humbling rapproachment just displays yet again what shameless hypocrite Morrissey is!

How can someone demand Sir Elton's 'head on a platter' and call him one of the 'biggest crashing bores in the world' and then get down on his knees and grovel:, "But oh Sur Eltone, will you pullllease perform Jobraith songs at Meltdown for me. I'll perform felatio on you if you commit."

It brings to mind that terrible remark HE made about Madonna, "being the closest thing to organised prostitution."

No! Licking Sir Elton John's arse is prostitution in my book.

I live in London and almost bought a golden pass to Meltdown, but common sense got the better of me. I'll not be attending anything relating to The Mozzer in the month of June. I'll probably won't even buy 'Y.A.T.Q' either.

Morrissey really is a boring old fart!

Re: "And there's a better than average questionnaire interview with Moz where he expresses genuine remorse at slagging off Elton John and hopes (to God!) that EJ will play Meltdown! Moz says that after his EJ comments, Elton responded by saying nice things about Morrissey which made him feel especially bad. Moz admits that it's a case of Bigmouth Struck Again! "

As my comment from 2 days ago states, back in the days when Morrissey was mad over the NYDolls, I was on the Yellow Brick Road!

So, everyone...is Elton once again *hip*?! My old EJ memorabilia would be worth quite a pretty penny on EBay!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Re: Elton Was *My* New York Dolls... (Score:1)

Back in 1974-1976I remember reading CREEM/CIRCUS RAVES/CIRCUS magazines along with SOUNDS AND DISC; Elton hated the NYDolls; something I'm sure Morrissey was also always aware of...

If this were 1976, Elton would be very *bitchy* towards Morrissey...the man has really mellowed-out since his hey daze! Aires people are not to be trifled with...

J. Razor -- Monday May 03 2004, @05:01PM (#99659)
(User #724 Info)
I'm Alone

I find the Elton reversal a bit hard to stomach, i can't stand Elton John but this is not the issue here. Morrissey backing down is a let down, he doesn't owe me anything quite rightly but it all looks so crass.
As for Elton, he won the battle of wits, by saying something nice about Morrissey he rose above it.

Did i just say something quite nice about Elton John?
Christ on a bike, i think the syndrome is spreading, John is a crashing tit anyhow, eeeeek those porky sausage fingers hitting the keys.

Tune in next week as Morrissey goes for tea at Maggie Thatchers and chooses his favourite Cure album.

No doubt i'll be well hung for saying negative things about Moz, but his antics should be questioned.
I guess when you hold someone in such high regard they're bound to disappoint you every now and again.

regards,
Kes.
quarry on campin!

Ok, here's the truth:

1. This Elton John debate is irrelevant. What counts is the music Morrissey produces. I do not care a jot about his 'rapprochement' with Elton.

2. Unfortunately, Moz has long ago passed his creative peak and has now settled into a rut. Come on, be honest, there are worrying signs of this:

a) Third average album on the trot - AND this is after a seven-year break! Last time he made a truly outstanding album was with Vauxhall in 1994, it's gonna be at least a year or two before he makes another one - hell, he's certainly pushing towards the same kind of fallow period Bowie experienced (20 years long!).

b) Moz thought this was his best album! The implications of this are worrying - he thinks that something as average (by his standards) as Quarry will do to qualify as an excellent piece of work. Sure 'First of the Gang' and 'Crashing Bores' and 'Jesus' are great - but he needs to ensure that there is a WHOLE ALBUM's worth of material that lives up to this standard.

c) Moz is in his mid-40s now - he may, possibly, release two more albums at most before he is 50. After that, he will not make music like 'First of the Gang' anymore, since he is astute enough to know the ignonomy of the ageing rocker. Any albums he does make after this will be far mellower, along the lines of Vauxhall (which may yet be a good thing) since he has talked many times about his music and image being commensurate with 'dignity' befitting his age.

d) The Queen Is Dead is utterly magnificent, unimpeachable. Most of the Smiths work is (Meat is Murder, Hatful of Hollow are not far behind; Strangeways very accomplished if a little less consistent). Your Arsenal is excellent. Vauxhall and I is a solo masterpiece. But the nearest to the present we get from this list is a decade ago. Much as I don't wish it to be so, I fear his salad days are long gone. The only hope is that he, like others before him, will at some point in the future produce a masterstroke of an album when no-one is expecting it.

Other than that, he may well be in terminal creative decline.

I can forgive any kind of U-turn or comment from the mouth of one of my idols.

But condoning someone like Elton John just makes me want to puke. Morrissey MUST have been being sarcastic.

What next? Morrissey gets Marilyn to sing the songs of Nico?

for instance, Mojo loved 'You know I couldn't last' which NME/Q didn't like at all.
Similarly NME described Crashing Bores as the highlight of the album and also loved Camden. Mojo didn't like either of those songs.

I'm quite pleased Moz changed his mind on Elton. Elton's pretty harmless and it tickles me that a huge, multi-million selling megastar is a Moz fan!
The Uncut interview reveals a humble Morrissey who says he still feels just like a fan so it's in the spirit of this humility that he tries to patch things up with Mr John.

All these comments are so boring. I hope people will understand that YATQ is a really good album. And if we play the game of the stars, it merits 4/5.
I just don't really like I'm not sorry, How could any possibly know how I fell and you know I could't last. But the other songs are excellent!
I don't know why people are complaining. I have the impression that a lot of morrissey's fans have been too spoilted by morrissey and that now they criticize him for nothing (the lyrics are not as good as the queen is dead, he likes elton john, YATQ is not Vauxhal and I n°2, he's got a lot of friends,etc.).
STOP PLEASE. That's ridiculous.
Morrissey is doing a very good solo career, with great songs and an amazing fan base. Once again, he has never sung like that! His voice is wonderful on YATQ and the songs are very various.
Comparison to the other bands that release CD nowadays, YATQ is by far the best album. The album of the year?

I am just as excited as any Morrissey fan...hoping just as much as anybody that the album will be well received.

But truth is - and I've heard large chunks of the record - it's rather so-so. I can hear bits of Sarah MacLachlan-meets-Dido-esque vibes from it and that's not a good thing, issit?

I think, generally speaking, 3 outta 5 is a very accurate score for YATQ.

The new Uncut is worth getting too for the big feature on the New York Dolls.

Sylvain Sylvain says that Morrissey must have been disappointed by the fact David Johnasen wasn't gay!

Also - surprised nobody's mentioned the other Morrissey feature in Uncut about him vs Bowie. It says that Morrissey walked out of the Bowie tour by nicking the tour bus and stranding the whole crew in Aberdeen. I've never heard this story before. Is it true?

All the reviews of the album so far have different favourites- one reviewers fave is another reviewers poison- why doesnt everybody just have a good listen to the album when it comes out & make their own minds up then. You can be sure that everyone will have their own opinions on which songs are great and which are weak. I love South paw & the teachers are afraid & im not keen on youre the one for me fatty- its each to their own. Im sick of people coming on here stating songs are rubbish & that moz has lost it - some of these people havent even listened to the album. I cant understand why some people come on here just to be detrimental about everything moz does/says/sings- some of these are the same people who attend his concerts and moan 'play something we know' if he sings anything post strangeways. Any moz fan worth their salt would be salivating at the moment at the thought of loads of new material, concerts & media exposure after many barren years. Lets stop the negativity & enjoy the album & concerts & pray theres even more albums to come.

Don't take Morrissey's outbursts so seriously - he criticised Sir Elton for "washing his dirty laundry in public" for heaven's sake! This is Morrissey we're talking about, remember! It's rather like Prince Charles criticising Tony Blair for being pompous! You just smile.. and move on.

I don't think there's any great artistic admiration for Elton on behalf of the Moz, perhaps he just feels it would be wonderful to see a someone performing the songs of an artist they share an admiration for. (Or perhaps he's just been informed by the Meltdown marketing people that absolutely nobody will buy tickets to see Gene, The Ordinary Boys and co!)

Even King Moz makes mistakes! Remember Alan Bennett's comments - maybe he just wants to meet Elton, so they can go out to dinner and chat about Jalbraith!

OK, so reviewing Quarry in tandem with Prince's 'Musicology' is frustrating, but Peschek does hit a couple of important nails on the head.

1. He says that Moz continues to collaborate with musicians who don't challenge him. While Boz and Alain have produced some very good music for Moz, there is a great deal of truth in this. They are in a rut now of repeating old styles from previous albums - as Peschek notes, these weigh even Moz's grandest ambitions down.

2. Following on from this - Vauxhall excepted, I honestly believe that there is not one Moz solo record which could not have been vastly improved had the music been made by Johnny Marr. Moz has always been able to produce splendid song titles ('The Harsh Truth Of The Camera Eye' may be a poor song, but that is a wicked title), and also, for the most part, splendid lyrics. Kill Uncle? I guarantee you if the Smiths had made that record, with the same lyrics it has now but with the musical collaboration of Marr, Joyce and Rourke, it would be seen now as a minor classic. No, the truth is that the music of Boz and Alain is solid but takes Moz to no higher level (unlike Marr). I think people some on this site forget that Marr was the other half of the Smiths, his contribution was HUGE. He made the music, man. And what music!! Moz, as Peschek points out, is tragically dependent on his collaborators, being only a wordsmith and not a musician. There is a great poet there, but he needs a true musical artist to lift his words on high.

3. On the other hand, Moz could help himself by ceasing to write about taxmen and judges. It just doesn't say too much to other people about their lives.

These psuedo-trip hop beats on "America is not the world" makes me want to cut my head off.

All this reaction to someone who has a Britney Spears tag on their sig here, hilarious.
I think the cd is more mature sounding which suits me fine, I'm not 25 anymore.
The cd is far from a dud, some very special things happening on it.
I'm just over da moon to hear his lovely voice again and have a chance to see him perform again.
I've enjoyed all the coverage in the press and it's been wonderful to see him on the covers again.
I look forward to the upcoming television appearances and concerts this summer.
Viva Moz!

Morrissey isn't allowed to change his mind.
Ugh, this place is so negative.

Yes, EMI, reissue, repackage! I personally would like to see Vauxhall reissued with 'Jack The Ripper' and 'I'd Love To' as bonus tracks - great songs, placed in the context of the musical period from which they came (the 'Viva Hate' bonus tracks are such a hotch potch because they come from all over the place). Anyone who didn't like them could stop the cd after 'Speedway'. Would also save buying compilations full of dross just to get one or two great tracks.

Also - a DECENT compilation of his overlooked songs - 'Trouble Loves Me', 'Lost', 'I Can Have Both', 'The Edges Are No Longer Parralel' et al - chosen by someone with good taste.

But - no 'Pashernate Love' or 'Let The Right One Slip In' please - both failures.

What is more amusing than anything is that David Peshek was Morrissey's press officer during the Maladjusted period.

A crashing bore!

How ironic, then, that your very own Mr Durst should sport a t-shirt supporting that "queer". Durst will clearly prostitute himself for the sake of looking trendy.

Besides, Morrissey's past work with The Smiths has more lasting cultural and musical value than anything Durst could even dream of in his wildest imagination. The opening bars of 'There Is A Light' contain more genius than the entire Limp Bizkit back catalogue.

Assuming, of course, you're not taking the piss, since coming to a site called 'morrissey-solo' would surely have indicated to anyone, even a retarded Limp Bizkit fan, that they had gone to the wrong place.