Harvest ends contract with Morrissey - TTY

I'm really shocked that so many here seem to thing the next logical step for Morrissey is to re-form the Smiths. Given his extremely vocal, unfaltering stance on the subject, I cannot see how is that is something he could or should every consider. To say as much is to assume that his primary motivation musically is to get as much positive attention from the media and critics as possible, and I just don't think that's the case. Obviously those things are important to him (more so than they should be), but not at the expense of him being able to write and record the music HE wants to—whether or not you like the resulting music is beside the point. Morrissey is clearly where HE wants to be artistically; why on earth would he want to change that just to revisit the long, long-ago past and risk becoming some kind of nostalgia act? To please an audience? I don't see that happening. Ever.

I agree wholeheartedly. I don't think he'll ever play his trump card, nor do I think he needs to. With Autobiography a success, he's motivated to continue writing. He said he's working on a novel, so that seems like it would be next on his plate, and who knows -- maybe his third act will be with pen as sword, minus the vocals.

He's not at the end of the road and desperate for a Smiths reunion. Morrissey makes his own opportunities, and one way or another, he'll be back, on his own terms. He always is.
 
its official: Moz is the new Wacko Jacko, living in his own reality.
now we await the propofol overdose.
 
And complex cognitive function is necessary in order to contemplate the meaning of life and to have existential angst.

That doesn't prove that you suffer more than other animals.
It does prove that you're singularly capable of bourgeois affectation.
 
First the cancellations, then the bodyguard and now this.

Then man's life is constant drama. The issue is that he overinflated his fame, when most people don't know who he is. He can walk down the street of most places and not be recognized. He expects record companies to bend over backwards for him, and in return he cancels tours, talks shit about his record company and doesn't promote his album. They got fed up, and I'm sure they had a clause to get out of a second album.


It sucks, when the singles were released and the videos came it it looked so hopeful, a rebirth for his career. Now look at where he is.
 
you think Morrissey didn't have anything to do with the cover art?? It was obviously directed by him. It is a shit cover agreed but I am sure the label probably were not overjoyed with it either. The fact this picture showed up on TTY quite a while ago shows he obviously sees something in it we do not

It wouldn't be terrible if they at least Photoshopped it right. Morrissey wasn't the one who sat around at home on his computer fiddling with the cover art. That was some geek at Harvest and they failed pretty embarrassingly.

The cover is no "Kill Uncle" but as KU tells us the cover isn't everything.
 
The quality of the album had nothing to do with the arse falling out of the record contract. It is a fantastic record but I agree with Barleycorn on one thing: it is a great album for existing fans but probably wouldn't jump the gap to gain more fans, like Quarry did with its excellent singles and the massive Moz momentum which was nigh unstoppable. Moz should have promoted World Peace. He did the album a disservice by releasing it with a whimper. It deserved better treatment. It is like a beautiful but unwanted child thrust into the world at arms length. I don't know who or what is to blame for this.

Inside the industry Morrissey is a known quantity, and most of his admirers (while they love his music) are hesitant to work with him.

On another thread, folks were wondering why Morrissey never really achieved mainstream success. The fault lies mainly with Morrissey: his stars were lined up in the early '90s, and a big break was in sight. Journalists were poised to give him several major, front-cover stories (including Rolling Stone). Reputations were on the line and Morrissey said he was good to go. He wasn't. He messed up and he took a few folks down with him. Who knows if that was the moment when he would have "broken through." Chances are fairly good that his star would have burned that much brighter.

Morrissey is not well, he is not stable, and his relationship to his fame is deeply troubled and contradictory. He has gotten a few passes because folks know that (when he's on) he's the best there is. But that's not enough for the folks who make the big decisions. He has done very well and gone very far for someone so volatile - it's a testament to the strength of his art.

This album is fantastic: Morrissey delved deep, his band upped their game, and the result is an album that could have done so much more if Morrissey had been stable and healthy enough to work with with a PR team. Alas, history seems to have repeated itself, and the result is (as you so eloquently put it) "a beautiful but unwanted child" that many fans admire but that few others will hear.

Such a terrible shame, but if it's the last album he records, it's one hell of a great way to go.
 
First the cancellations, then the bodyguard and now this.

Then man's life is constant drama. The issue is that he overinflated his fame, when most people don't know who he is. He can walk down the street of most places and not be recognized. He expects record companies to bend over backwards for him, and in return he cancels tours, talks shit about his record company and doesn't promote his album. They got fed up, and I'm sure they had a clause to get out of a second album.


It sucks, when the singles were released and the videos came it it looked so hopeful, a rebirth for his career. Now look at where he is.

I'm pretty sure he hoped to have more than one of the four "singles" chart. And I don't think coming in at 82 on the singles chart was satisfying either.
 
Alain Whyte was clearly smart to get out when he did.
Even he was stabbed in the back by Morrissey in the autobiography
 
Maybe I should check out her music. I am not a fan of the female singing voice. I know that sounds terrible. I support women in the arts and all endeavors--I am a woman myself. I am just not drawn to it. It lacks that primordial sexual attraction--alluring element--that the male voice has. That is why i don't like high voices in males. Baritones are sexy. Falsettos, of course, are great though when sung by a careful singer like Moz.

Funny I'm the same.
 
very true. the lyrics are really bad on this album for the most part. A few brief flashbulb glimpses in there of Morrissey's greatness but for the most part they are trite rubbish.

Musically it sounds like it has been written by session musicians. Obviously the band can play very well but being a great player and a great songwriter are two very different crafts and for the most party Boz aside they are not.

Music equipment shops around the world are full of guys who work there that could probably play every note for note any past Morrissey or any other artists' album but try getting them to actually write a great song and they couldn't.

All the flamenco guitars and effects can not hide the fact that the majority of the music on this album sucks

Stellar, excellent points.
 
Good riddance, Harvest Records. It's a real testament to the times when the artist is being criticized for not promoting an album well enough. THIS IS THE JOB OF THE RECORD COMPANY!!!!! Does anyone really believe that Morrissey wouldn't have been down for doing just about anything to help promote the album? This man deserves so much care, attention, promotion, adulation and encouragement as one of the singular global artists in a century. PLEASE give me a budget and free reign to promote Morrissey! This would be the easiest task in all of music today because people are starving for something genuine. I can completely understand Morrissey's shock and dismay.
 
The noise surrounding the release of this album has been a whimper rather than a bang. I suppose Moz envisioned his tenth album to hold as much gravitas as Quarry did a decade earlier, but I think there's too much water under that particular bridge. For one, it's fair to say he's probably lost a fair few fans in the last ten years. 'Natural wastage' has doubtless occurred somewhat; those who were angsty teenage scenesters in 2004-2006 may have simply grown up and got a job in banking, or engineering, a wife, a couple of kids, etc.
Then of course this site has dwindled since 2002, and attitudes have changed. There are those with a personal vendetta because maybe a show in their city was cancelled, maybe a show a couple of hours' drive was cancelled and a non refundable hotel deposit was lost.
There is the devoted fan who visit sites like this one on a daily or weekly basis...
Maybe Harvest could have done a little bit more, maybe Morrissey could have done a bit more. The digital singles route was a risky one to take. Not everyone has happily moved to the likes of iTunes, and Morrissey fans are probably a traditionalist bunch; so many people commenting on here about physical releases of the singles. Maybe Harvest seriously got the demographic wrong, and thought more younger Moz fans would go all in with iTunes and buy the singles as they were released. Inevitably they didn't. The music industry has changed so much, even since YOR. But where was the big opening single? I like the title track of this album, but it's not really a radio song.
I think the issue around the sleeve art has been greatly hyped and exaggerated. It's not great, but see also Bowie's 'the Next Day' sleeve. I think after the showmanship in the images of the last three albums, the 'bad photoshop job' that is portrayed in the picture we saw a couple of months before in its original form, separates WPINOYB with the last three records, which is probably what Morrissey wants.
I think Morrissey's comments in the TTY post the other day were the final straw for the label. But maybe it's for the best. Maybe everything happens for a reason. It's clear that Harvest really didn't understand Morrissey, the music or the way to handle him. Look at the Twitter debacle... just cringeworthy, really. And the digital only singles.. that didn't exactly work out for them!
As for what I want to see next, I hope the novel materialises. I'm really hoping he doesn't do a Smiths reunion... Look at the cancellations that have taken place on solo tours; We know from experience he's likely to be volatile; one person could say the wrong word and this would cause a seismic affect on proceedings. Morrissey is best working under his own terms.
 
The noise surrounding the release of this album has been a whimper rather than a bang. I suppose Moz envisioned his tenth album to hold as much gravitas as Quarry did a decade earlier, but I think there's too much water under that particular bridge. For one, it's fair to say he's probably lost a fair few fans in the last ten years. 'Natural wastage' has doubtless occurred somewhat; those who were angsty teenage scenesters in 2004-2006 may have simply grown up and got a job in banking, or engineering, a wife, a couple of kids, etc.
Then of course this site has dwindled since 2002, and attitudes have changed. There are those with a personal vendetta because maybe a show in their city was cancelled, maybe a show a couple of hours' drive was cancelled and a non refundable hotel deposit was lost.
There is the devoted fan who visit sites like this one on a daily or weekly basis...
Maybe Harvest could have done a little bit more, maybe Morrissey could have done a bit more. The digital singles route was a risky one to take. Not everyone has happily moved to the likes of iTunes, and Morrissey fans are probably a traditionalist bunch; so many people commenting on here about physical releases of the singles. Maybe Harvest seriously got the demographic wrong, and thought more younger Moz fans would go all in with iTunes and buy the singles as they were released. Inevitably they didn't. The music industry has changed so much, even since YOR. But where was the big opening single? I like the title track of this album, but it's not really a radio song.
I think the issue around the sleeve art has been greatly hyped and exaggerated. It's not great, but see also Bowie's 'the Next Day' sleeve. I think after the showmanship in the images of the last three albums, the 'bad photoshop job' that is portrayed in the picture we saw a couple of months before in its original form, separates WPINOYB with the last three records, which is probably what Morrissey wants.
I think Morrissey's comments in the TTY post the other day were the final straw for the label. But maybe it's for the best. Maybe everything happens for a reason. It's clear that Harvest really didn't understand Morrissey, the music or the way to handle him. Look at the Twitter debacle... just cringeworthy, really. And the digital only singles.. that didn't exactly work out for them!
As for what I want to see next, I hope the novel materialises. I'm really hoping he doesn't do a Smiths reunion... Look at the cancellations that have taken place on solo tours; We know from experience he's likely to be volatile; one person could say the wrong word and this would cause a seismic affect on proceedings. Morrissey is best working under his own terms.

+1000 Pin this post to the top of the forum and force everyone to read it.
 
Good riddance, Harvest Records. It's a real testament to the times when the artist is being criticized for not promoting an album well enough. THIS IS THE JOB OF THE RECORD COMPANY!!!!! Does anyone really believe that Morrissey wouldn't have been down for doing just about anything to help promote the album? This man deserves so much care, attention, promotion, adulation and encouragement as one of the singular global artists in a century. PLEASE give me a budget and free reign to promote Morrissey! This would be the easiest task in all of music today because people are starving for something genuine. I can completely understand Morrissey's shock and dismay.

People have the world at their fingertips now. If they're starving for something genuine and if Morrissey is something genuine then they would have found him.
In actual fact, it's just a matter of taste. Morrissey appeals to certain people and not to others. Unfortunately he appears to appeal to less people than he once did. Whether that's a result of age, of misjudged comments one after the other or because the records aren't good enough, we'll never know.
 
Tags
harvestrecords morrissey moz no album viva hate

Trending Threads

Back
Top Bottom