Morrissey has created an image for himself. Hasn’t he always said
“there’s no-one as good as Smiths/Morrissey”? That doesn’t mean he won’t listen to music from other cultures or styles, learning from them, or praising them. I think he is open to a wide variety of music.
However, he likes to be in control personally and artistically. To collaborate with another artist who has a strong individual sound would mean the end product would no longer be pure “Morrissey” and all along he has defined himself as different to the rest. As Other.
The musicians and writers he has worked with have not stretched him as much as I would have liked to see, going on what we have heard. (Perhaps there is a vault full of experimental stuff firmly locked up in the basement…
)
For all the physical comforts success brings it does not eliminate suffering. Both can dull the senses and creative urgency, but the will to carry on is still there. As we get older physical weaknesses encroach, and we begin to be reminded of our mortality and that of our loved ones. It wasn’t only the band that looked exhausted at the end of the last tour.
Each stage of life brings new challenges. This reflects in the music produced. The next album, based on the little we have heard, will be musically and thematically a development from previous, within the self-imposed boundaries. How far removed depends on more than simply the musicians’ contribution. It depends also on how much Morrissey is willing and able to push himself forward.
The music I can connect with changes over time, I may today be moved by a song I passed over before. New or old, Smiths or Morrissey, or another artist, it’s how I respond to it today that’s important.
PS EPBabe Spooky's post was No 42 in the thread!!