All this talk about "the" covers album?

Vegan

Well-Known Member
Did i miss something? Is there at least strong rumours of a new album of cover tunes?

Couldn't "Back On The Chain Gang" just be a live version and stop gap single?
 
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Did i miss something? Is there at least strong rumours of a new album of over tunes?

Couldn't "Back On The Chain Gang" just be a live version and stop gap single?
'Well, just yesterday I started recording what will be my new album: it will be entirely covers and with 12 songs. So you see: I'm already doing what many say I would never do!'
Source: Interview in Infobae, August https://www.morrissey-solo.com/thre...m-entirely-of-covers-12-songs-infobae.142738/

But whether this was just a tongue-in-cheek comment which got distorted in translation remains to be seen.
 
'Well, just yesterday I started recording what will be my new album: it will be entirely covers and with 12 songs. So you see: I'm already doing what many say I would never do!'
Source: Interview in Infobae, August https://www.morrissey-solo.com/thre...m-entirely-of-covers-12-songs-infobae.142738/

But whether this was just a tongue-in-cheek comment which got distorted in translation remains to be seen.

Well, some of the band members (Jesse?) posted the same thing on Instagram (re: recording a covers album) and Boz was in LA and they were clearly in the studio, as evidenced by earlier posts. So the evidence is stronger than that one comment.

Although this info was never collated and posted on the main page as a single story, it can be found in various discussion threads.

I'm curious to know if this is the second BMG release or if it's on a different label (I suspect the latter since it's UK-only?), but that will become clear when the details of the Chain Gang single come out....
 
Yes, Jesse definitely posted that on August 16th on his Instagram and Twitter.
 
The information spread has been a pain.
Yes, Jesse did indeed mention covers album:

20180829_184532.jpg


Meanwhile...
The rumour mill asserted that it wasn't a covers album - specifically: 'as if' Morrissey would release one.
Similarly, 'Anon' (hopefully not the one that informed us All The... 7" was never coming out) has posted a couple of 'it's not a covers album' posts.
That ties in with the idea repeated here a few times (wishful thinking that is emoted as certainty which manifested as a 'deluxe edition'): that it's the other half of the material being recorded that Joe mentioned (possibly including the songs that didn't make it on to LIHS).
There's no information since the bank holiday as to the band's studio status. Boz is in Brighton/London. Matt was in Chicago. Gustavo? Obviously, Moz, Jesse & Mando were in Ca.
So 3 wks recording whatever it is - unless more studio information surfaces.
The UK only thing remains interesting. If no Sire This Is Morrissey appears on the 31st - then there's more distribution issues, but how that relates to 'new' material & BMG/Etienne/Warners/Domino, again remains to be seen.
There's no real indication that BMG have dropped him, despite their woeful promotion of his products.
Let's get to the 31st or an update from Central before going wild with speculation - less worry lines that way.
Regards,
FWD.
 
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Further to the above:
From Mando's IG story today:

39494127_517443005382523_153485698614165504_n.jpg


Also,
There doesn't appear to a Sire release - anyone seen different?
Kaos Records (a shop used for a Vinyl Boutique pop up shop) are showing the full tracklisting as they are stocking the UK / Parlophone version Stateside - I suspect Amazon will be doing similar. Obviously, getting the fullest version of the album is better than a cropped one. That said, it certainly undermines the sales plan and believability of information on Central.



Regards,
FWD.
 
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There's no real indication that BMG have dropped him, despite their woeful promotion of his products.

I agree that BMG probably hasn't dropped him. If they had, we would surely have heard something -- at least a hissy fit from the man himself. But woeful promotion? They gave the album a proper push and forked out for two videos, which have a very limited audience. The vinyl singles have been just a sideshow for diehard fans and avid collectors (and for Moz and vegan.c***face to boast about number one chartings in the vinyl singles chart), so BMG has no reason to care about them.
 
I agree that BMG probably hasn't dropped him. If they had, we would surely have heard something -- at least a hissy fit from the man himself. But woeful promotion? They gave the album a proper push and forked out for two videos, which have a very limited audience. The vinyl singles have been just a sideshow for diehard fans and avid collectors (and for Moz and vegan.c***face to boast about number one chartings in the vinyl singles chart), so BMG has no reason to care about them.
I'm fully aware of the initial push by BMG and pretty sure I've been involved in highlighting every aspect of LIHS and the singles enough to assess any perceived changes in marketing in a fair manner.
Their interest has dwindled. The last 7" received zero mention. The one before that received one tweet by BMG mentioning it - that's hardly comparable to their actions around Spent The Day.... - if the singles were all a 'sideshow' then why the disparity in promotion between 1st and last? Zero mention whatsoever is just odd. Marketing agreements and record contracts won't have any 'reduce efforts after time' clauses in them would they? How would any artist feel happy about their work if they knew the 3rd,4th,5th... thing they did wasn't as interesting or worthy of mention by their own label? That is a noticeable change and all I was referencing in my comment. I believe you will find many comments across many threads by myself around the release of the album acknowledging BMG positively, but they aren't even behaving like he exists at the moment which makes some criticism valid (and yes, totally appreciate his own role in some of this, but that won't be in a contract anywhere).
Regards,
FWD.
 
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I'm fully aware of the initial push by BMG and pretty sure I've been involved in highlighting every aspect of LIHS and the singles enough to assess any perceived changes in marketing in a fair manner.
Their interest has dwindled. The last 7" received zero mention. The one before that received one tweet by BMG mentioning it - that's hardly comparable to their actions around Spent The Day.... - if the singles were all a 'sideshow' then why the disparity in promotion between 1st and last? Zero mention whatsoever is just odd. Marketing agreements and record contracts won't have any 'reduce efforts after time' clauses in them would they? How would any artist feel happy about their work if they knew the 3rd,4th,5th... thing they did wasn't as interesting or worthy of mention by their own label? That is a noticeable change and all I was referencing in my comment. I believe you will find many comments across many threads by myself around the release of the album acknowledging BMG positively, but they aren't even behaving like he exists at the moment which makes some criticism valid (and yes, totally appreciate his own role in some of this, but that won't be in a contract anywhere).
Regards,
FWD.

Spent The Day was before the album and part of the campaign leading to LIHS. Post-album singles get usually the short shrift unless you're Taylor Swift or whoever. A limited edition or not, a vinyl single will only shift a few thousand copies at best -- which at best will not make a loss, so the record company has no reason to flex its muscles. Especially as the artist is hellbent on self-destruction like Morrissey has been on interviews. He should be thankful they haven't dropped him so far (as far as we know).
 
BMG will probably drop him the second that he fulfills what is likely a two album contract, and he's probably aware of it, hence the Neil Diamondesque choice of releasing a cover album on the heels of a traditional album of new material.
 
A pre-single tweet highlighting release date, a 'now available from' tweet & a positive tweet about chart position would cost them nothing at all really would it?
Regards,
FWD.
 
BMG will probably drop him the second that he fulfills what is likely a two album contract, and he's probably aware of it, hence the Neil Diamondesque choice of releasing a cover album on the heels of a traditional album of new material.
Neil Diamondesque? :confused:
 
Neil Diamondesque? :confused:
Think: Neil Young recording a Rockabilly album to piss Geffen off or Prince with slave written on his face releasing things he wasn't interested in to annoy Warners.
Same idea.
Regards,
FWD.
 
plot twist: all the songs are covers of songs by The Smiths.

I gotta be honest, I hadn't even thought about the potential of him (re)-recording one Smiths song as part of this covers album - but now that I think about it, I can absolutely see it being an outrageous "present-day Morrissey" thing to do to rustle jimmies. A sentiment that comes to mind which he's expressed in recent years is that "I Want The One I Can't Have" would've been a hit if he had delivered a better vocal at the time. The reasons I could see him not doing it are perhaps that the story would then be "Morrissey re-records Smiths classic" and not "Morrissey releases covers album" OR, he wouldn't want Johnny to get any residuals from this project.
 
I gotta be honest, I hadn't even thought about the potential of him (re)-recording one Smiths song as part of this covers album - but now that I think about it, I can absolutely see it being an outrageous "present-day Morrissey" thing to do to rustle jimmies. A sentiment that comes to mind which he's expressed in recent years is that "I Want The One I Can't Have" would've been a hit if he had delivered a better vocal at the time. The reasons I could see him not doing it are perhaps that the story would then be "Morrissey re-records Smiths classic" and not "Morrissey releases covers album" OR, he wouldn't want Johnny to get any residuals from this project.


Would be great to have a studio version of his version of Charming Man, especially the way Jesse brings a whole new dimension to a very old and tired song. There's also 'A Fool Such As I' that was botched.
 
Neil Diamondesque? :confused:
There's all sorts of tricks to fulfilling contracts with minimal effort if you're coming to an end with the company. You don't fulfill your end, you get sued.
Nobody says you have to release something good, or original, though I am interested in hearing what covers he will choose.

I said Neil Diamondesque, because going a covers route is kind of a dad/grandpa music way of going about it. Also, if people are at a point where they
like your voice, but not necessarily the songs you're coming up with, you go with covers. Maybe they'll still like your voice doing other people's songs.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJNbijG2M7Oz_dbNuNk_VU7xNoEsiR4Y7
 
snip...
I said Neil Diamondesque, because going a covers route is kind of a dad/grandpa music way of going about it. Also, if people are at a point where they
like your voice, but not necessarily the songs you're coming up with, you go with covers
. Maybe they'll still like your voice doing other people's songs. Snip...
Good point.
Add this to the list of things artists can do if near the end of contract. That said, if Morrissey is aware that he is persona non grata with his record label, why would he (given previous history) even try to do anything remotely innovative (in the context of him changing his album releases).
BMG should have kept the Twitter account as a portal to advertise and not let it go so easily - their main 'portal' does him no justice currently. If they are 'embarrassed' by Moz & his recent proclamations, it isn't professional to live that out on promotion for his work. There will be zero in his record contract that says: 'if you mention Waters, we won't make punters aware there's a new single out' - which is basically my point: BMG could do more (and do for some artists).
Regards,
FWD.
 
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