devout writes:

Check out his site www.bobgruen.com.

Photo of the Day!

May 6 - Morrissey and David Johansen pause for a moment between sets at NY's Apollo Theater. David opened the show as Morrissey played for 5 days at the historic venue. David will reunite with surviving NY Dolls to play at the Meltdown Festival in London in June, which is being curated by Morrissey.

2-J writes:

NME continues its seemingly never-ending coverage of Morrissey in this week's issue.

*Moz gets a mention on the cover: 'MOZMANIA HITS LOS ANGELES'
*There is a full page advert for You Are The Quarry
*There is a full page photo of him on the 'Next Week's Issue' page, with Moz sitting on a sofa. I think this is a completely new photo. It also says it is going to be 'The Heroes Issue' and 'Franz Ferdinand, Morrissey will see you now' as the main headline, and 'NME fixes it for today's hottest young acts to meet, interview, and generally gawp like stunned fish at the men who changed their lives' 'FRANZ FERDINAND take tea with MORRISSEY!'
*There is a full page live review of the Wiltern gig of the 24th April, including a big picture of Morrissey and the setlist.
In full:-

AMERICA'S MOZ WANTED

Morrissey
in Los Angeles
Venue: Wiltern Theatre Date: Tuesday April 24

The Deity of the depressed transcends time and fashion in the land of fake tits.

Ellie writes:

VH1.com is streaming the entire album, all songs, full length
here.

Brutalful writes:

I was at Virgin the other day and pre-Ordered You Are The Quarry. If you pre-Order it, they give you the Irish Blood English HEart Vinyl 45 free.

I pre-ordered so that when the opening numbers come out for 'ol Mozzer, a few copies will have been bought. - Its all in the numbers and opening weekends etc.

If you get paid on the 15th, please try to pre order the album before opening day.
---
belfast writes:

Pre-ordered from amazon a few weeks ago. YATQ arived today. yipee!!

Ben writes:

Here's a review of the Tuesday night concert in Harlem, as published in today's New York Times (May 6, 2004). It is also available online (registration required).

A Singer Expecting the Worst, Never Being Disappointed
By KELEFA SANNEH

Speedway writes:

'You Are The Quarry' is chosen as cd of the week and reviewed in todays City Life, the Manchester What's On guide.

CD of the Week - You Are The Quarry

Those who were becoming tired of the rather drab rockabilly-esque leanings found on previous albums will be pleased to know that on 'You Are The Quarry' Morrissey again has music strong enough to stand alongside his lyrics. The last moment he was this good was the criminally overlooked and majestic song 'The Teachers Are Afraid of the Pupils' from Southpaw Grammar.

And this is great news, as it comes at a time when the world wants the 'universe's greatest frontman' to return and thrill us once again with material as strong as his promise. And remember, the promise of Morrissey is not to be taken lightly.

This album is Morrissey's most studied release. Not in a contrived way, but in the way that you know that every lyric has been honed and toned until it's the perfect mission statement in Steven Patrick's eyes. The single 'Irish Blood, English Heart', quite apart from being a rollicking good record, is his idea of the perfect riposte to past allegations of racism, outlining his perennial interest in the flag with a more pinpoint precision. It's as if he thinks he's saying it once again sloooower for those at the back of the class who missed it the first time. And that's Morrissey for you. You didn't expect an apology, did you?

Everywhere the artist's humour is back with a vengeance. He's still a terrific bitch, his spite hilarious and barely reigned in at times, as on 'The World is full of Crashing Bores' and 'I'm Not Sorry'. But largely what makes this so interesting is the playful return of that sense of humanity that made Morrissey so vital before this, his second heyday. Certainly a return to form.

Rating: 9
Standout track: 'I Have Forgiven Jesus'
Influences: Oscar Wilde, Scott Walker
Related artists: Rufus wainwright, The Divine Comedy

S J Banks writes:

Marc Riley BBC 6 Music index

Around 75 minutes into the latest show

Also 47 mins in Vini plays a song live which sounds pretty damn good to my earlobes.

The whole show is a riot, not disimilar to the graveyard shift Marc Riley used to do with Mark Radcliffe.

Georgethetwentythird writes:

YATQ REVIEWS IN WHAT’S ON IN LONDON & TIME OUT MAGAZINES

There are reviews of YATQ in both London listing magazines this week. What’s On In London gives the album four out of five stars, and it appears to be the album of the week, although this is not actually mentioned. This is the full review:

“It’s been a long time coming. Numerous A & R men have been frustrated in their attempts to capture the voice and lyricist of The Smiths, arguably Britain’s most important hand, second only The Beatles or perhaps The Stones in influence and scope. Morrissey had become increasingly unhappy in the UK. Somehow he had become demonised and he’s had these fine songs for a while now with no outlet to vent his considerable wrath. It should therefore come as no surprise that despite lording in the LA, Mozzer has lost none of the anger and rapier wit that made The Smiths so special. From opener ‘America Is Not The World’, The Moz hits the target: lambasting the US (the place he loves enough to reside in) with spiky political comment: “America your head’s too big …” he croons, before putting the boot in with “Where the president is never black, female or gay … you have nothing to say”. You Are The Quarry is stacked sky-high with top tunes, wit, irony and spiky observations on relationships, hypocrisy in politics and the media. The world needs Stephen now, more than ever. With the airwaves full of crashing bore pop stars that Mozzer rightly regards as too “scared to show intelligence, in case they smear their lovely careers”. It’s nice to hear someone who actually has an opinion. Welcome back." (4 stars out of 5)

The Time Out piece is more of an article than a review (with a great cartoon of Morrissey holding a cup of tea, with a framed picture of a coal mine behind him!), entitled Strop Idol. Apart from including some insightful snippets as “Fifteen years ago, Morrissey’s Viva Hate collaborator Vini Reilly apparently gave Morrissey a copy of Patti Smith’s Radio Ethiopia to nudge him in a more experimental direction.” – surely Moz already had a copy?? – the last paragraph is quite thought-provoking!

“Morrissey’s lyrics are at their sharpest and funniest in years, like Barry Hines rewritten by Joe Orton … “How Can Anybody Possibly Know I Feel” is Philip Larkin fronting The Cramps; “I like You” is Ivor Cutler meets Duane Eddy; the homoerotic thug anthem “First Of The Gang To Die” is John Betjeman among the Rusholme Ruffians; the vamping Wurlitzer piano of “I have Forgiven Jesus” is Gilbert O’Sullivan’s take on Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus”; and “You Know I Couldn’t Last” is his best big waltz since “I know It’s Over”. Welcome back, Moz.” (No star rating is given).

John, England writes:

HMV reviews

Another good review. Interestingly the final 3 songs (Dykes, I like you, You know) are described as 'three of the best he's ever written', and 'How could anybody' is considered a 'wonderful throwback to prime Smiths.'

It's amazing how the critics are divided about the best and worst songs on the album, isn't it?

Manchester Neil writes:

The new Moz single, Irish Blood,English Heart, was given 5 stars and a glowing review in todays Metro- the UK's biggest free newspaper. The review is as follows:-

Morrissey:Irish Blood, English Heart *****

Sifting through the week's singles is like panning for gold and, by Jesus, this is a lump of the yellow stuff if ever there was one. Menacing and bolshie, kicking aroung race and nationality in a killer chorus, and all in two and a half minutes. Classic.

Another great review then. Released today in the UK - Ive just bought both cds and the vinyl release from HMV- ive done my bit to try and get it to number 1- hope everyone else does the same!

An anonymous person writes:

This is from last Friday (07/05). I thought 8 out of 10 was pretty good! The supplement is called "Y". The newspaper is "Público". The writer misspells Morrissey's name a couple of times, but I took care of that :)

Anyway, here goes the link and the translation into English.

Fim da Perseguição

THE END OF THE HUNTING
by Eurico Monchique