Ahead of his 50th birthday, Morrissey talks exclusively to Hot Press about the sexual nature of singing, letting go in the studio, being blacklisted by the UK's Radio One and how he approaches songwriting.
Morrissey has accused BBC Radio One of banning his music because the Controller doesn't like him. In an exclusive interview, the cover story of the latest Hot Press, he reveals: "I have a letter from him to my plugger which begins, 'let me explain to you why we will never play Morrissey'... which is alarming."
Aiken Promotions have just announced details of an Irish tour Morrissey is undertaking next year to celebrate his 50th birthday – God, we feel old! – and the February 16 release of his Years Of Refusal album,
In a world exclusive interview, Morrissey sets the record straight on sex, religion, politics, David Bowie and his Irish heritage, and casts a Trinny & Susannah-esque eye over Brian Cowen
Just when you thought it couldn't get stranger than Dervish performing Ireland's entry at the Eurovision Song Contest, it's been announced that Morrissey is in the running for the UK team.
Unfortunately, the material from Morrissey’s most recent solo albums, while still containing the clever lyricism that is his hallmark, is missing one vital element – Johnny Marr – and so is musically generic, undistinguished and at times just downright boring.
Morrissey. Avatar of melancholic self-pity, sexual ambiguity, and intense misanthropy. Well, bollocks to that. Somewhere along the road to perdition he has experienced a Damascene conversion. Tonight he stalks the stage like a latter day Errol Flynn, and with his cabal of pink-shirted buccaneers beside him, parades his new, invigorated self.
Those in Dublin and the vicinity (plus diehard fans who are willing to travel of course) will be thrilled to learn that the big Moz himself has announced an outdoor date for the summer.
The Moz is back! Again! ‘You Have Killed Me’ has been available on his myspace page since early February, acting as a taster from his forthcoming album, Ringleader Of The Tormentors. But with its official CD release, we can confirm that it’s typical of Morrissey’s modern-day mettle, being an uplifting yet brooding affair which pays particular focus to the strength of the chorus. Fingers crossed the rebirth he’s just enjoyed is safe for another round.
Like the album that immediately preceded it, Ringleader Of The Tormentors is a record of extremes. Extreme bitterness, extreme joy. Above all, extreme guitars – they chug and howl, burying the Moz whine beneath vast drifts of fretwork.
Curious beast, Morrissey.
Few others can have had cause to look back on last year with such a happy heart, 12 months that saw him revive a struggling solo career and re-emerge as a genuine star, something that would certainly be worth marking. Odd then that this is a slightly slip-shod effort.
“Now this is the point,” punned Stephen Patrick Morrissey before the unmistakable intro to ‘How Soon Is Now’ reverberated around the walls of the crowded venue...
When you sound like a version of a band that sound like a weak version of you, what exactly does that mean?
Music Review | Live
21 Jun 2004
Kim Porcelli
Any cynics betting on an evening of flabby nostalgia and/or paycheque-induced dead-but-won’t-lie-downism can pay up now. That’s not to say it’s anything less than heartstoppingly moving to hear the old stuff in the flesh , but it’s more thrilling still to witness a sterling set drawn mostly from brill new LP You Are The Quarry and to see and hear proof in spades that Moz in 2004 isn’t just trading on past glories.
MCD say tht despite him cancelling a number of US media appearances last week due to ill health, they’re “confident” that Morrissey’s June 5 visit to Dublin Castle will still go ahead.
Even ordinary life is pretty complex stuff, or so says American Splendor. Morrissey, pop’s foremost oddball-in-exile, has put a lot of living into this, his rebirth after seven years, and such a stretch in such an extraordinary life should provide rich, plentiful pickings. It does, in part.
The quiff may have thinned somewhat, but at the grand old age of 43, Morrissey is still in great shape, his white shirt soon transparent with sweat, his collar loosened to accommodate frequent skin-revealing tugs
