Belligerent Ghoul writes:

Special pre-order for Live At Earl's Court CD and Who Put The 'M' In Manchester DVD

....out March 22 in the USA.
---
Sus sends the additional news updates:

Brit Awards
January 26, 2005
Morrisey is nominated for Best British Male Solo Artist. Watch the awards on Thursday February 10th on ITV in the UK

NME Awards 2005
January 26, 2005
Vote for Morrissey in the 2005 NME Awards. Go to NME to vote. Every vote counts so vote today!!

http://www.morrisseymusic.com/news.asp

An anonymous person writes:

February's edition of Management Today (a UK business magazine), carries an aticle on successfully rebranding old and long-running products (like Lucozade, Ben Sherman etc).

However, a chunk of the article is about Sanctuary records and how the CEO, Andy Taylor, has helped revive certain brands, or rather bands and artists' careers, including none other than Morrissey's.

I do not have a scanner, but others may be able to scan the article in, but the relevant extract from the article is as follows:

"Caring for its acts has helped Sanctury through troubled times for the record industry. In the past six months it has made a profit of £6.9million on a turnover that rose 36% to £89million. Records constitute less than 40% of its turnover, but they’re still important. In recent years, it has revived the recording careers of people like Stevie Winwood, Alison Moyet, Kiss and Lynyrd Skynyrd, as well as doing well with younger acts such as The Strokes, The Libertines and British Sea Power through its Rough Trade joint venture. But its greatest coup has been bringing back the notoriously reclusive and difficult Morrissey.

The former Smiths singer hadn’t released an album since 1997. That one, for part of the huge Universal records empire, is said to have sold just 26,000 copies. Sanctuary put him back in the studio with a deal based on a sale of 500,000 copies. When 'You Are The Quarry' came out in May it sailed rapidly past that, thanks to the extraordinary visibility of the singer, who even popped up on BBC1 to exchange stilted banter with Jonathon Ross.

'A lot of people asked how we got Morrissey to do those things,' says Taylor [CEO of Sanctuary Group]. 'Our argument is it’s not that he’s difficult, but you have to understand what is acceptable to him and what isn’t.' The major labels, he adds, habitually use the 'difficulty' of artists to excuse their failures. They simply need to be handled with care: they need to feel they are promoting their record, not the record company."

There are also a couple of pictures of Moz (and a much improved, rather sensual photo of Alison Moyet) which accompanies the article - one of Moz circa 1987 and one from the YATQ photo shoots - god bless him.

someraincoatedlovers sends the link:

from REUTERS

Music Fuels Sanctuary Gains as Publishing Drags
Thu Jan 27, 2005 07:58 AM ET

By Jeffrey Goldfarb
LONDON (Reuters) - British music and entertainment company Sanctuary Group saw a 46 percent rise in turnover thanks in part to a platinum-selling album by Morrissey, though profit gains were limited to 9 percent by losses at its book publishing unit.

Sanctuary said on Thursday that earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization grew to 24.8 million pounds ($46.5 million) for the year ended Sept. 30, from 22.8 million pounds a year ago, excluding discontinued activities, according to its preliminary results.

The world's largest independent record company said turnover surged to 220.9 million pounds from 151.7 million pounds in the year-ago period.

"During a time of considerable upheaval in the global music industry, and tough retail conditions, Sanctuary has consistently achieved strong growth in profits year on year through our 360 degree approach to the industry," Sanctuary Executive Chairman Andy Taylor said.

Mark writes:

I thought this might be of interest to some since the Moz is a bit of a Klaus Nomi fan. Palm Pictures has produced a theatrical documentary film of Klaus Nomi called The Nomi Song. The film premieres in both NYC and LA on February 4.

I found this info on http://www.musictap.net/
---
Update: 01/30 02:04 GMT: BlueGirl writes:

"He came from outerspace to save the human race. Looked like an alien, sang like a diva."

Andrew Horn's 'The Nomi Song' will be screened the first week of February in Los Angeles and New York City. It is a documentary about the life and music of 80's phenomenon Klaus Nomi, whose song 'Death' was featured on Morrissey's 'Under the Influence' compilation. 'The Nomi Song' took home the coveted Berlin Film Festival's "Teddy Award" in 2004 for 'Best Documentary' and contains lots of rare archival footage and live performances including Nomi's ultimate perfomance of The Cold Song with full orchestra. Also featured is music by seminal artists Wire, The Marbles, The Bongos, Pylon, the Mumps, Chi Pig and David Bowie. This should prove an excellent opportunity to learn more about such an enigmatic figure and the vibrant scene from which he sprung.

The film will be screened for 6 days at LA's Nuart Theatre, with collaborator Kristian Hoffman and Club 57's Ann Magnuson in attendance at the opening on February 4. (What two fascinating No-Wave luminaries! It'd be worth going just to hear their perspectives on Nomi and maybe some East Village stories alone.) It will debut the same day in New York City at Cinema Village with the documentary's director Andrew Horn as the special guest.

Image of film poster (a)
Image of film poster (b)

Official Film Website
Los Angeles' Nuart Theatre
New York's Cinema Village.
Morrissey's 'Under the Influence' Compilation.
Kristian Hoffman's Obit for Nomi