Speaking as a gentleman of experience, an observation: There has always been a group of people that feel let down by Morrissey. Ever since he emerged into the light, people have projected their own thing onto him and then fallen in love with the reflection he offered. Often its a bottomless deep and tender love ....... and then some are scorned. For some its part of growing up. It happens over and over. I've followed him closely since 1994. In 1997 people were saying he had changed, the Smiths split had changed him, then the court case had changed him, then moving to American had changed him. Most normal people hated Morrissey in those days. He wasn't a big act. If you wore a Morrissey T-Shirt someone would give you shit in the streets of London. He couldn't get a record deal. Everyone called him racists. Everyone thought he would just disappear. It was all over. Finished . Morrissey never changes. He remains dedicated to the pop song as artistic expression. Its his obsession. Its always the fans that change but they don't notice and some of them stick around to spoil the party like bitter ex-wives. Hes always said provocative stuff to get attention. He is catty and dramatic like that. Things appear to go in cycles though. This is just the down swing, just like 97. The group of people who feel let down is quite big at the moment just like it was then, he's playing the same size shows and people are saying he is not as good as he was. Its the was that changes. Over the years when the was was shifts a lot, if you follow me. If he comes back with a strong album with some catchy singles that capture a mood he might be top of the heap once again but it doesn't matter if he doesn't because he's done enough to live forever already anyway. I hope they combine these two albums and make a belter with some great b-sides (extra tracks). I honestly think if he presented record companies with the best 15 songs from 25 rather than the best 10 from 10 he'd have a queue begging him to sign.