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| Review of 'Meetings With Morrissey' in the M.E.N. |
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posted by davidt
on Tuesday September 02 2008, @09:00AM
Jukebox Jury writes:The following review appeared in the Manchester Evening News Saturday 30th August.
(Headline)
Attempt to get closer to the heart of an intensely private star.
Meetings with Morrissey by Len Brown (Omnibus Press £19.95)
Can much more be written about Steven Patrick Morrissey, bard of Manchester, the voice of a million dispirited youngsters? Aparently, yes.
There have been scores of books about the former Smiths frontman, but Len Brown's 'Meeting With Morrissey' gives them all a run for their money.
Ex-NME writer turned TV producer Brown claims to have met Morrissey 'more times than any other journalist', was the first to interview the iconic singer after the demise of The Smiths and he dismisses those other biographies rather scathingly as the work of stalkers or Google cut 'n' pasters.
Brown says to understand Morrissey it's important to know that it begins and ends with Oscar Wilde.
And that's where we begin here - in room 118 of the Cadogan Hotel just off London's Sloane Square, where Wilde was arrested over charges of homosexuality and where Brown's first meeting with Morrissey occurred.
That 'New Morrissey Express' interview is reproduced here but there are several previously unpublished encounters, too.
Brown doesn't pretend to be a great friend or great confidant of Morrissey but his meetings have allowed him, on the evidence here, to get closer to the heart of the intensely private, yet outspoken star.
As well as delving into the meanings of Morrissey's famed lyrics, Brown offers a comprehensive review of the singer's career and includes an informative A-Z of Morrissey's influences: Oscar Wilde, of course, the musicians from Bolan to Bowie to the New York Dolls, the Coronation Street actresses and the 'Kitchen Sink' characters which adorned many a Smiths single cover.
There's not too much new here for the true obsessives but it's still essential reading for Mozza fans; they may be happy now.
Abigail Kemp
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