1) BOOKS.(page 116)
MORRISSEY
IN CONVERSATION-THE ESSENTIAL INTERVIEWS.
***
THE WIT AND WISDOM OF MOZZER. CURRENT FURORE NOT INCLUDED.
When making his triumphant come-back of 2004, Morrissey admitted that during his late'-90s wilderness years, rattling around his Hollywood retreat waiting for a record deal, he'd already begun writing his autobiography. "I've always been in the hand of the press", said the ex-Smith,"and so much nonsense about me has been accepted as truth". That Morrissey, at the time of going to press, is suing a music magazine for conspiring to "characterise me as a racist", suggests his tolerance for such nonsense has reached its limit. Yet four years later, we're still waiting for that apocalyptic memoir ("You ought to expect names, photos and fingerprints") as Morrissey continues to consolidate his post millennial second coming: this month, he's back in the UK, playing a week at London's Roundhouse.
In the meantime, Morrissey:In Conversation arrives to remind us of his past 25 years "in the hands of the press", compiling 27 magazine interviews from the Smiths' first footings in 1983 up to recent encounters in his newly adopted hometown of Rome in 2006. It's proof, lest we forget, that in term of great copy Morrissey has rarely been anything other than interview gold. Just as he sings his life on record, he's strategically used the music press as a soapbox to impart his unique worldview, whether calling for a "new movement of celibacy", having to knee KFC's Colonel Sanders "in the groin" in the name of vegeterianism or denying those recurring racist accusations.("If the National Front were to hate anyone, it would be me". It's an absorbing testament to the only rock'n'roll icon who's dared to admit feeling "erotic about blotting paper", yet in the age of the internet such a book feels vaguely redundant. Its target audience of Smiths-Morrissey devotees will probably already be familiar with the extensive interviews archives at the wonderful Arcane Old Wardrobe site, this collection's likely inspiration. The only exclusive entry is the full transcript of Paul Morley's 2006 encounter with the man, a hilarious read worth savouring in its entirety particularly for Morley's running joke about his subject's pained facial contortions.
Still, in regurgitating past clippings,this tells us nothing that we don't already know. For that we'll have to wait until he takes a break from singing-and possibly suing-to finish that hungrily awaited page-turner. Those "names, photos,and fingerprints" can't come soon enough" .
Simon Goddard.
Typical quote:"I don't go on holidays. Not since they shut down Butlins Bognor. I just hang around the East End in a long black cape."
Published: out now
Further info:www.plexusbooks.com
2) 2008 PREVIEW
AUTUMN ALBUMS (page 71)
MORRISSEY
The Pitch:those controversial comments about immigration put him in the news, but now it's time to let the music do the talking. According to the singer, his first solo album for new label Polydor includes the glam-rock throwback All you need is me, I'm throwing my arms around Paris, and One day goodbye will be farewell. Mooted producers include Tony Visconti and Jerry Finn, who worked on You are the quarry".
We say: we're long overdue a classic Morrissey solo album.
ETA: september.
Photo
3) UPCOMING GIGS.
THE HOT TICKET OF THE MONTH:
MORRISSEY (page 140)
Controversy-courting Mozzer supplements his sold-out-six-night-residency at London's Camden Roundhouse with two dates in the North and one in Scotland. Don't expect him to resurrect Bengali in Platforms, mind.
Photo of Mozzie with blue shirt and tie: "Morrissey, his full Windsor knot needed some work".
