Morrissey retiring?

[King Leer]

The stage is his lifeblood, so it's hard to imagine any kind of traditional retirement in the cards.

I would like to see him take a hiatus to finish his autobiography. Come on, Moz, get it on the bookshelves by your 50th birthday!

 

[Robert Neville]

Did anyone stop to think that maybe this guy doesn't really write for the NME?

kewpie said so, and well, we all trust kewpie, and so we should!

 

[Currer Bell]

Did anyone stop to think that maybe this guy doesn't really write for the NME?

doesn't really matter, does it?

 

[Roma De Moz]

Honestly, after Ringleader Of The Tormentors, I don't think Morrissey has much else to say. Irregardless of what people think of that album, one thing we can all agree on is that it brought a certain amount of emotional and creative closure to his musical career. Probably without him meaning it to during the recording process, but I know I'm not the only one who finds it hard to see where Morrissey can go after writing a song such as "At Last I Am Born"?

Furthermore, when we look at the two subsequent songs that he has written, recorded and performed ("All You Need Is Me" and "That's How People Grow Up"), it's clear, without having to consider whether people like them or not, that they lack the usual poetic licence and sound repeatitive of old themes. They are the songs of a man who's hit a creative wall. They're not bad songs. "All You Need Is Me" is catchy and a good pop song, and "Grow Up" has a good musical part, but I think we should all just face that the newfound fondness Moz has for straightforward-statements in his songs, isn't so much a creative diversion, but that of a man who's writing ability has begun to wane.

I imagine this is in-part due to his move to Rome and having found a certain amount of contentment in his life. Someone on this board has a sig which reads, "I can't sing anymore, I'm too happy", and I think this is very true of Moz's situation. All those years of introspective angst and thwarted desires contributed almost entirely to the creative drive that made his music so emotionally powerful; now he has matured, moved on and found a degree of serenity in his life, things have of course changed.

If "All You Need Is Me" and "That's How People Grow Up" are a sign of things to come from the next album (if there indeed is one) then it probably will be a let-down. I'm happy for Moz's new outlook on life, and I wish him all the happiness; but while it may sound odd, I firmly believe that "happiness" has rendered his creative drive somewhat dull. I'd rather Moz retired in style, to a life of decadent pleasure and luxury in Rome, than churn out less than interesting records for the sake of it. We won't get another "Vauxhall" and we wont get another "Ringleader". It is of course possible that Morrissey could suprise us, and come with something completely new and innovative in sound, but it's altogether likely that he wont.

"Nothing is better than a false something".

 

[PregnantForTheLastTime]

Roma, why would you say this:

If "All You Need Is Me" and "That's How People Grow Up" are a sign of things to come from the next album (if there indeed is one)

when it is you who insists her friend is doing the graphic design on the new album?

 

[Robert Neville]

when will the NME retire

 

[Roma De Moz]

Her friend? You mean my friend? She is, whether it's the "Greatest Hits" or an all new album or not I dont know. I was merely specifying that we're all unsure still, even though we know something is on it's way.

 

[Uncleskinny]

Honestly, after Ringleader Of The Tormentors, I don't think Morrissey has much else to say. Irregardless of what people think of that album, one thing we can all agree on is that it brought a certain amount of emotional and creative closure to his musical career. Probably without him meaning it to during the recording process, but I know I'm not the only one who finds it hard to see where Morrissey can go after writing a song such as "At Last I Am Born"?

Furthermore, when we look at the two subsequent songs that he has written, recorded and performed ("All You Need Is Me" and "That's How People Grow Up"), it's clear, without having to consider whether people like them or not, that they lack the usual poetic licence and sound repeatitive of old themes. They are the songs of a man who's hit a creative wall. They're not bad songs. "All You Need Is Me" is catchy and a good pop song, and "Grow Up" has a good musical part, but I think we should all just face that the newfound fondness Moz has for straightforward-statements in his songs, isn't so much a creative diversion, but that of a man who's writing ability has begun to wane.

I imagine this is in-part due to his move to Rome and having found a certain amount of contentment in his life. Someone on this board has a sig which reads, "I can't sing anymore, I'm too happy", and I think this is very true of Moz's situation. All those years of introspective angst and thwarted desires contributed almost entirely to the creative drive that made his music so emotionally powerful; now he has matured, moved on and found a degree of serenity in his life, things have of course changed.

If "All You Need Is Me" and "That's How People Grow Up" are a sign of things to come from the next album (if there indeed is one) then it probably will be a let-down. I'm happy for Moz's new outlook on life, and I wish him all the happiness; but while it may sound odd, I firmly believe that "happiness" has rendered his creative drive somewhat dull. I'd rather Moz retired in style, to a life of decadent pleasure and luxury in Rome, than churn out less than interesting records for the sake of it. We won't get another "Vauxhall" and we wont get another "Ringleader". It is of course possible that Morrissey could suprise us, and come with something completely new and innovative in sound, but it's altogether likely that he wont.

"Nothing is better than a false something".

I think you've just articulated very well what a lot of people on this board want to say.

Peter

 

[Sharron Needles]

Did anyone stop to think that maybe this guy doesn't really write for the NME?

He must, because would you publicly admit to that if it weren't true?

 

[lux girl]

I'd rather Moz retired in style, to a life of decadent pleasure and luxury in Rome, than churn out less than interesting records for the sake of it. We won't get another "Vauxhall" and we wont get another "Ringleader". It is of course possible that Morrissey could suprise us, and come with something completely new and innovative in sound, but it's altogether likely that he wont.

"Nothing is better than a false something".

Somehow I think there's plenty of life in him, from a musical point of view.
Music is his life and his fans confirm that to him.
Many years left.

 

[Uncleskinny]

He must, because would you publicly admit to that if it weren't true?

He does. The mods and david get to see the e-mail address, and while he might not be an NME writer, he works for the company.

Peter

 

[MelissaY1]

he is not a performer though. performer is someone who sings songs that belong to an on stage persona, but not to themselves. morrissey isn't like that.

ROTT was lyrically and musically different than most of his previous work, and it depends what you consider a good songwriter. Just because you might relate to his earlier music better does not mean that his talent has disappeared or has diminished, he simply writes about different subjects now. Expecting him to have the same juvenile existential questions as he did twenty plus years ago is unrealistic, and not a mark of someone who has become a fading musician, but of someone who has moved on and started exploring new things, or at least observing them from a different perspective.

As for the music industry being a different world now, when are you comparing it to? The industry has never been kind to Morrissey, his entire career has been marked by the "us and them" fight. He never worked to fit into that industry, so it's changing atributes surely would not harm him now.

He's not a performer? He PERFORMS in front of an audience doesn't he? And do you think we're all seeing the REAL Morrissey onstage or any real musician/singer in front of an audience for that matter?

I understand people go through different phases of their lives and their writing will be influenced by different things as they change and grow as a person, but when you compare to the things he's done with Quarry as opposed to ROTT it's just two totally different albums, and in my OPINION, this one was not as good as Quarry and I think most fans will agree, and not a lot of time has passed between the two albums.

I just finished listening to Paul McCartney's latest album who I love even more so than Moz, but I was disappointed in that one too. And yes, he's gone through a divorce, he just had another kid, etc. but something was "missing" just like I feel with ROTT.

As for the music industry, again I agree they've never been kind to him, BUT, I read tons of rave reviews regarding Quarry than I did ROTT.....

 

[MelissaY1]

I bet MelissaY1's opinion is the only one NME is going to use for the article. It's already written. the title: "Fans Think It's Time For Morrissey to Quit".

Journalism is dead.

LOL, Sad but true......

 

[MelissaY1]

How much did the NME pay you for that?

Uh....none.....

 

[Albion]

Hi all,

Jamie from the NME here. I was wondering if I could garner some opinions of you Morrissey fans and experts?

Quite a few things have been going on recently that suggest Morrissey is stepping away from music. He's finding touring tough, has said he finds it lonely, and there is a greatest hits in the pipeline. Could he be winding things down?

I was wondering what you all thought about the possibility of Morrissey retiring? Do you think it'd be the right time for him to do it, considering his frustrations with the music industry and the ovious fact that he enjoys a reclusive lifestyle rather than being in the spot-light?

Would be grateful for any comments, please do post below.

Thanks. JF.

Incase i ever need two and two put together to make five in the near future could you possibly supply me with the NMEs phone number?

 

[PregnantForTheLastTime]

Well, if the NME is good at inflating and inventing, then let's have a bit of that directed at my bank account. Let's see what they can do!

 

[Robert Neville]

Uh....none.....

well demand some

 

[David]

People on these boards are so alarmist.

Yes Ringleader isn't his finest effort. But he came back after Kill Uncle to produce two magnificent albums in a row. And Ringleader is a far superior piece of work than Uncle.

I think it's pretty clear that the one area that Morrissey has not waned in is performing. His voice (infection or not) is the finest it has ever sounded. He is energetic. His live band is tight. He sings sets that date from The Smiths to Ringleader.

The sheer pathos it takes for him to sing his heart out onstage in front of thousands of people tells me that he has lost none of his core creative prowess.

He will be back.

 

[MelissaY1]

well demand some

I should!!

 

[Roma De Moz]

It seems to me that a good deal of people on these boards make the mistake of equating "change" with "quality": that because Morrissey has moved in a different direction, whether it's his band lineup, his lyrics or his music style, it somehow deserves praise and success because it is new and different. I very much doubt that those same posters would say the same about other artists they are less fanatic about; Morrissey can do no wrong though, apparently.

This isn't an attack on people who love the Ringleader record, or who love Southpaw Grammar, but any sensible person would understand that change can be for the worse. And yes, there is an objective element here, even though there are elements of arts that are subjective, it is not entirely measured that way. Would you say for example, that "Ganglord" is lyrically superior to "First Of The Gang To Die"? Of course you wouldn't. You have every right to prefer it, but no one would debate which track has Morrissey at his most poetic.

The same can be applied to Morrissey's lyrics now; they are more naked and explicit. In some cases, this works, but the readiness of fans to accept this change with open arms after having relished the poetic licence of past Morrissey, smacks of the fear of admitting that his writing abilties aren't what they used to be.