Please Close The Door Behind Me - Morrissey statement at TTY

It's a long one!

PLEASE CLOSE THE DOOR BEHIND ME - true-to-you.net
20 August 2014

Morrissey statement

In response to 77 million questions I can only say this much on the subject of the Harvest drama. It is quite true that Harvest initially appeared like a saintly beacon of light, and they instantly packed us off to France where we recorded World peace is none of your business. The universe was back in balance, and we all considered this to be the very best Morrissey recording ever, and even the boo-hoo-suck-it-off elements of the press appeared to want to agree. At last I am born.

It all seemed too good to be true. It was. I believed that the rich soil of the album had several strong hit singles. Frayed tempers began when Harvest arranged the 'spoken word' films, none of which gave any clue as to what World peace is none of your business intended to be, or is. The films were OK, but they went nowhere and stayed there.

With every nerve alert, we pushed the label for a proper video for Istanbul to precede the album, not least of all because a single ahead of the album release might inch the album to a higher chart position. The label backed off, even though Istanbul received 55 radio plays in just seven days on a major US station. Instead, the label requested a fifth spoken-word film, which naturally had me fumbling around for an axe: no independent thought required. The UK label, meanwhile, created a quite fantastic television advertisement to transmit during the week ahead of the album release. I could taste excitement once again. The TV ad never appeared and my hackles bristled as my bristles heckled. The label responded with frosty aloofness, and I suddenly realized that we were not, after all, of the same species. I ploughed into them insisting upon "proper band videos, where the band play and I sing" - an evidently confusing concept that required seven weeks of explanation, detailed graphs and several drawn up maps.

The label suggested I come to Los Angeles and read passages from Autobiography in front of selected audiences. As frightening as that idea was, I hung on, desperate to believe that Harvest were not as cheap as they now looked. I hope to finish this statement whilst I'm still clean-shaven, so I will jump to the final curtain: during the weeks of the album release, the label were minus one single structural idea, and it appeared evident that each member of the team was acting in separate rooms without doors or windows. Mutual mistrust exploded between Harvest and I, and with fashionable pessimism, the label boss yawned and ordered the surface smartness of dropping World peace is none of your business three weeks after its release. There, now! This would not have happened to the Teletubbies.

Sorrily botched the project may now be, but it's worth it to get Morrissey out of our Inbox. Yes, I can be intensely persistent, and I certainly have an over-active fantasy-life, but the Harvest experience tells us that despite the blinding flash of teeth and smiles, it doesn't take much for the coin to flip and suddenly we're all compromised and shattered. All you need to do is disagree with the vanity of the label boss and your beheading will be slotted in between bottles of the most average champagne on the market. Just one weak-chinned drone can assert the fist of injustice and all of our efforts are flushed away. And thus ... they were.

I might be wrong, but I think World peace is none of your business will instantly disappear from iTunes and record stores and every download-upload-offload outlet on the planet, because Harvest technically have no right to sell it.

Most of the Harvest team are very nice, and I sincerely thank them for trying and caring so much - even if their promotional duties were fully undertaken by the Morrissey audience themselves, whose You Tube videos for World peace is none of your business fully provide the art that the label could not muster. The listeners instantly understood how entertainment could also be art. Staggeringly, I still believe that there's a label out there with my name on it, and one that will issue World peace is none of your business, and afford it the respect it deserves.

Thanks for reading this (rashly assuming that you have), and thanks once again to the Harvesters who tried.

We are boot-camp ready for Lisbon in October, so with the will of many gods, hopefully at least 38 of you will turn up.

MORRISSEY
20 August 2014



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Re: TTY Statement : Please Close The Door Behind Me

World Peace production values make both Refusal and Quarry sound like they were recorded in shoe boxes. But World Peace lacks their cohesiveness and falls down on sloppy lyrics.

Then again, I'm Not A Man, Staircase At The University, Kiss Me A Lot, Smiler With Knife and Oboe Concerto all sit very comfortably in the Morrissey cannon.

Really? The odd instruments (does anybody dig the didgeridoo? flamenco guitar at every turn), the 2 minutes of silence that proceeds "I'm not a man", ballads that should be uptempo songs and vice versa (World Peace, Earth is Lonely) and the demo quality of Cassady, Smiler & Oboe suggest there was no producer at the helm at all. On the other hand, the polish and golden sheen of Let me kiss you, First of the gang, Something is squeezing & It's Not your B-day reflect a skilled producer at the helm.
 
Re: TTY Statement : Please Close The Door Behind Me

Really? The odd instruments (does anybody dig the didgeridoo? flamenco guitar at every turn), the 2 minutes of silence that proceeds "I'm not a man", ballads that should be uptempo songs and vice versa (World Peace, Earth is Lonely) and the demo quality of Cassady, Smiler & Oboe suggest there was no producer at the helm at all. On the other hand, the polish and golden sheen of Let me kiss you, First of the gang, Something is squeezing & It's Not your B-day reflect a skilled producer at the helm.

Exactly! It's like the producer shrugged and said, "Let's throw everything at this and see what sticks." :p They're neat tricks, but they're clumsily demonstrated.

I'll take the worst song on "Years Of Refusal" over the best song on "World Peace..." (which song would the latter even be??)
 
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Re: TTY Statement : Please Close The Door Behind Me

Really? The odd instruments (does anybody dig the didgeridoo? flamenco guitar at every turn), the 2 minutes of silence that proceeds "I'm not a man", ballads that should be uptempo songs and vice versa (World Peace, Earth is Lonely) and the demo quality of Cassady, Smiler & Oboe suggest there was no producer at the helm at all. On the other hand, the polish and golden sheen of Let me kiss you, First of the gang, Something is squeezing & It's Not your B-day reflect a skilled producer at the helm.

Yeah like you know any better.
 
Major labels have more marketing power. Moz has said he doesn't want to be DIY because then only a few people will listen to his music. He enjoys conquering the world. Here's some info. I found on Wikipedia:

Third-party loophole[edit]
A different form of payola has been used by the record industry through the loophole of being able to pay a third party or independent record promoters ("indies"; not to be confused with independent record labels), who will then go and "promote" those songs to radio stations. Offering the radio stations "promotion payments," the independents get the songs that their clients, record companies, want on the playlists of radio stations around the country.

This newer type of payola was an attempt to sidestep FCC regulations. Since the independent intermediaries were the ones actually paying the stations, it was thought that their inducements did not fall under the "payola" rules, so a radio station need not report them as paid promotions.

Former New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer prosecuted payola-related crimes in his jurisdiction. His office settled out of court with Sony BMG Music Entertainment in July 2005, Warner Music Group in November 2005 and Universal Music Group in May 2006. The three conglomerates agreed to pay $10 million, $5 million, and $12 million respectively to New York State non-profit organizations that will fund music education and appreciation programs. EMI remains under investigation.[10][11]

Concern about contemporary forms of payola prompted an investigation during which the FCC established firmly that the "loophole" was still a violation of the law. In 2007, four companies (CBS Radio, Citadel, Clear Channel, and Entercom) settled on paying $12.5 million in fines and accepting tougher restrictions than the legal requirements for three years, although no company admitted any wrongdoing.[12] Because of the increased legal scrutiny, some larger radio companies (including industry giant Clear Channel) now flatly refuse to have any contact with independent promoters.

Clear Channel Radio launched a program called On The Verge that required the stations to play a given song at least 150 times. One of the songs that benefited was Iggy Azalea's Fancy.[13]

Permission to ask a stupid question...

What is the advantage of signing to a major record label versus an indie label? Do they pay better? Is it the difference between carrying a real Fendi clutch or a cheap Chinese knock off? I'm totally serious. Because if you equate the analogy to say...working at a bookshop, I'd rather work at Powells than corporate NASDAQ-driven Barnes & Noble for cool factor, let alone the motivations of an indie label are about rocking the f*** out to music instead of fame and exposure which as far as I can tell is a passé motivation reserved for the Kanyes and Beyonces of the world. But please correct me if I'm wrong or not seeing a seminal angle, I want to understand.
 
i love the flamenco guitar and hope the next album keeps and focuses somewhat on it. world peace sounds great imo. cassady does i think have a bit to much compression on it and bullfighter i think could use some bringing up of the guitar line in the overall mix but thats all i can think of really in terms of production disagreements.
 
Re: TTY Statement : Please Close The Door Behind Me

Cool. I'd never seen those videos before. I wonder how I missed them. "Ganglord" is a particularly relevant song these days with all the allegations of police misconduct. I didn't know there were clips of Moz taking a dance lesson with a dude. I want to take a dance lesson with Moz too!

And yes, you're gonna miss Moz when he's gone!


Eugenius' Top 12 Take-Aways From Morrissey's Latest Open Letter to His Fans and Foes


5. If he wanted a video for "Istanbul" so bad, and he hated the spoken word promos, he should have negotiated for all that high-production spoken word video money to go towards one video. No matter how low the sum of those spoken word clips cost, it still would have paid for something better than the video for "All You Need is Me" or "Ganglord"--both which looked like they were filmed for less than $2,500 and a bottle of scotch, each.
 
Re: TTY Statement : Please Close The Door Behind Me

yes, i do honestly truly dig the didgeridoo and i LOVE flamenco guitar. I lived in Avignon, France for a time, i spent a lot of time taking day trips to Aix, Arles, Nîmes, etc... and WPiNoYB brings me right back to when i lived in Provence... the young gypsie swing hash smoking bonfires that would include all of the above instruments and then some.. this album really FEELS Provençal... it really makes me feel like i am walking the streets of Arles or Avignon during the fête de la musique... it is another Morrissey album that for me feels like it was made JUST for me, and I am just fine with that... i am so glad tony visconti did not produce this album.. i know he would have removed all the local flavour..

Really? The odd instruments (does anybody dig the didgeridoo? flamenco guitar at every turn), the 2 minutes of silence that proceeds "I'm not a man", ballads that should be uptempo songs and vice versa (World Peace, Earth is Lonely) and the demo quality of Cassady, Smiler & Oboe suggest there was no producer at the helm at all. On the other hand, the polish and golden sheen of Let me kiss you, First of the gang, Something is squeezing & It's Not your B-day reflect a skilled producer at the helm.
 
Re: TTY Statement : Please Close The Door Behind Me

As articulate and well-spoken as he is on this matter, it is sad how clueless he is on how the music business works in 2014. Airplay is perfectly meaningless for mature artists with solidified (and older) fan bases. Videos are worthless and vain cash-wastes unless you are an artist under 25 that can show some skin. His foolish romance to be on a major record label like he's Alma Bloody Cogan in this day and age is nearly break-from-reality psychotic. If ever there was an artist that should be self-funding, releasing and marketing his music and "brand", it's Morrissey. He would have complete control, be more successful and would frankly make a lot more money. The only problem with that self-employed business arrangement is it would be hard for him to complain about, blame or sack himself if matters did not inevitably meet his delusional expectations.

This is exactly right and well written. Thank you.
 
i agree with a lot of what youre saying and agree it was nicely written. i will say that videos i think do still hold some importance and value. i think now its more about how theyre distributed and content vs cash that causes problems (old fashioned thinking). the possibility of a video going viral can be an enormous advantage at a very cheap cost. problem is you first have to know what a good video is and how to achieve one. that treadmill video for ok go comes to mind immediately as a good example.
 
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