Morrissey - 2008 - Greatest Hits - By the Numbers

Dave, you seem to be-- I don't know-- grateful that Morrissey made an effort to play so many gigs. You aren't implying there are more ways to "give back" to the fans than sloppy studio outtakes and pointless 87-minute jam sessions, are you?

You're right. That isn't the only way. I mean, surely Morrissey's gotten nothing out of the brutal touring schedule that he's maintained. I have been ecstatic to see him touring so much recently and am grateful I've gotten to see him perform 6 times this year, but it's not like he didn't make a pretty penny out of the deal.
I've never seen Mozzer hold a free concert for 100,000 people on the Great Lawn of Central Park to support NYC Public Schools...or anything free for that matter. Then again, he doesn't owe us anything. :rolleyes:

*hears crickets chirping, looks around, ducks to avoid being hit with bottles*
 
You're right. That isn't the only way. I mean, surely Morrissey's gotten nothing out of the brutal touring schedule that he's maintained. I have been ecstatic to see him touring so much recently and am grateful I've gotten to see him perform 6 times this year, but it's not like he didn't make a pretty penny out of the deal.
I've never seen Mozzer hold a free concert for 100,000 people on the Great Lawn of Central Park to support NYC Public Schools...or anything free for that matter. Then again, he doesn't owe us anything. :rolleyes:

*hears crickets chirping, looks around, ducks to avoid being hit with bottles*

Sure, that's fair to point out. Morrissey made money off the deal. That's true. All I meant by my statement is that when an artist turns his life into a work of art and shares it with millions of strangers, imbuing an otherwise trashy art form with sublime amounts of honesty, humor, emotion, and intelligence-- who can call his own music "the songs that saved your life" and get no argument from thousands of fans around the world including me-- I tend to think that's giving enough.
 
You're right. That isn't the only way. I mean, surely Morrissey's gotten nothing out of the brutal touring schedule that he's maintained. I have been ecstatic to see him touring so much recently and am grateful I've gotten to see him perform 6 times this year, but it's not like he didn't make a pretty penny out of the deal.
I've never seen Mozzer hold a free concert for 100,000 people on the Great Lawn of Central Park to support NYC Public Schools...or anything free for that matter. Then again, he doesn't owe us anything. :rolleyes:

*hears crickets chirping, looks around, ducks to avoid being hit with bottles*

That was a sick concert. Loved the interpolation of "For What Its Worth" at the tail end of "Jimi Thing."
 
Sure, that's fair to point out. Morrissey made money off the deal. That's true. All I meant by my statement is that when an artist turns his life into a work of art and shares it with millions of strangers, imbuing an otherwise trashy art form with sublime amounts of honesty, humor, emotion, and intelligence-- who can call his own music "the songs that saved your life" and get no argument from thousands of fans around the world including me-- I tend to think that's giving enough.

I think Morrissey is given too much credit for supposed songs that "share his heart". Jack the Ripper is a great song but unless you want to believe that Morrissey wants us to know that he has a time machine and committed the murders himself it is meaningless to his "sharing".

I could go on and on about DM's lyrics and their own reflectiveness to what goes on in his world such as "So Damn Lucky" about his near fatal car accident (which after going head on into a wall myself once and the following someone who hit a pedestrian where the body flew into the air accurately describes everything that goes through your mind) and "Gravedigger" as well as "One Sweet World", and Dancing Nancies and more but it would fall on deaf ears. As some people cry out "Why you got to hate mistah?"
 
Sure, that's fair to point out. Morrissey made money off the deal. That's true. All I meant by my statement is that when an artist turns his life into a work of art and shares it with millions of strangers, imbuing an otherwise trashy art form with sublime amounts of honesty, humor, emotion, and intelligence-- who can call his own music "the songs that saved your life" and get no argument from thousands of fans around the world including me-- I tend to think that's giving enough.

Oh yeah, I guess I overlooked the fact that his music changed my life. :o Thanks, Worm. Being forced to be at work while being sick and being hopped on on cold meds has made me cranky. LOL I just wish I could be like "No, Moz *slaps him on hand*, put this song on the album, it's really good!" and "Bad, Mozzy, *hits him on head with rolled up newspaper*, you can't put a photo of you when you were 30 on the cover when all the songs are from the last 5 years!" LOL

I guess I'd just rather him not put out these compilations or at least throw in some really interesting stuff in it to show his appreciation to his loyal fanbase. And people saying that 'its for the casual fans' does not hold water. There are countless ways that the GH album could have been put together that would have pleased both sides of the fanbase. And honestly, to say it's for the casual fans is a weak excuse, because I don't see including mostly songs from ROTT and YATQ as Moz's finest showings. If you were gonna rope in some casual fans and convert them, it would be smarter to get their attention with a few of his biggest recent hits, then wow them with the magic that was his earlier work.

That was a sick concert. Loved the interpolation of "For What Its Worth" at the tail end of "Jimi Thing."

That is was. I had a great time at that show. I know alot of people on these boards can't stand DMB...but the energy at at their live shows is ridiculous! Good times!
 
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Oh yeah, I guess I overlooked the fact that his music changed my life. :o Thanks, Worm. Being forced to be at work while being sick and being hopped on on cold meds has made me cranky. LOL I just wish I could be like "No, Moz *slaps him on hand*, put this song on the album, it's really good!" and "Bad, Mozzy, *hits him on head with rolled up newspaper*, you can't put a photo of you when you were 30 on the cover when all the songs are from the last 5 years!" LOL

Well, you may not need reminding.

The disconnect between the cover photo and the date on our wall calendars only underlines how silly and unnecessary the compilation is. The photo, the lame track listing, the obviously crass and opportunistic release of the album at the outset of his jump to a new label-- all record company tactics over which Morrissey probably hasn't a whole lot of control.

Sort of smacks you in the face and lets you get on with your day, doesn't it? Unless you've got a bad cold-- my condolences.
 
Well, you may not need reminding.

The disconnect between the cover photo and the date on our wall calendars only underlines how silly and unnecessary the compilation is. The photo, the lame track listing, the obviously crass and opportunistic release of the album at the outset of his jump to a new label-- all record company tactics over which Morrissey probably hasn't a whole lot of control.

Sort of smacks you in the face and lets you get on with your day, doesn't it? Unless you've got a bad cold-- my condolences.

I have said it before and I will say it again... "control freak" that Morrissey is... he probably had a LOT to do with the greatest hits CD. Look how quickly he has denounced Smiths Greatest hits compilations and album art that he had nothing to do with.
 
I just think its really misleading to call it a Greatest Hits, it should specifically say something like "of the last 10 years" or to that effect.

At the very least, Morrissey should come up with a clever title like "My Early Burglary Years" to stick on the album rather than calling it "Greatest Hits". He used to put effort into every little thing he did - from designing the sleeves to the typography of the lyric sheets to the titles of the albums - but now it's like he doesn't even care.

And as for the tracklisting - Moz has a tradition of baffling tracklistings for his compilation albums. Remember "World Of Morrissey" and "My Early Burglary Years"? Those didn't make any sense either. This tracklisting is total rubbish and serves absolutely no purpose. He has become everything he ridiculed in "Paint A Vulgar Picture".

Oh, I am so sickened now...
 
At the very least, Morrissey should come up with a clever title like "My Early Burglary Years" to stick on the album rather than calling it "Greatest Hits". He used to put effort into every little thing he did - from designing the sleeves to the typography of the lyric sheets to the titles of the albums - but now it's like he doesn't even care.

And as for the tracklisting - Moz has a tradition of baffling tracklistings for his compilation albums. Remember "World Of Morrissey" and "My Early Burglary Years"? Those didn't make any sense either. This tracklisting is total rubbish and serves absolutely no purpose. He has become everything he ridiculed in "Paint A Vulgar Picture".

Oh, I am so sickened now...

Comtesse, sickened? Not you! Surely not you!

I don't pay attention to these compilations. They are the spawn of record companies and nothing more. Go into a record store and look at the product for any band with a history longer than five years. Half of the CDs are worthless compilations. Bands with a few decades of history are always over-anthologized and nine times out of ten it's done cheaply and whorishly. I think the problem has gotten a lot worse since Morrissey wrote "Paint A Vulgar Picture". Times have changed.

And isn't the total lack of personality of this release kind of reassuring, in a way? As if Morrissey himself found it distasteful and just let the company do what it wanted? Wouldn't it be worse if Morrissey's fingerprints were all over this package, as if he himself were telling his fans "You must buy this"? As a longtime fan I can reject this immediately and save my money for his new album. I prefer that. There's a certain amount of honesty in this release. In a funny way by not adding those stupid "incentive rarities" I feel like he's not asking for my money.

You can criticize Morrissey for not insisting on greater control over how his music is re-packaged and re-issued, but you have to consider the economics of the situation. "Greatist Hits" compilations are probably mandatory for artists of Morrissey's stature who don't sell a lot of records but want the support of a bigger label. The profit from this release will be small but so is the overhead. It's probably a guarantee to his investors that they'll get their money back. Because of the GH package we'll get a couple of studio albums.

That still doesn't quite explain why he has apparently become less interested in his sleeves and other elements of the product. I'm as disappointed as anyone in the quality of the sleeves but I think it's due to the prevailing climate of music releases. My guess is that Morrissey no longer feels these releases are special in the way they once were. The way people buy and listen to music has changed. You can imagine him poring over every detail of a 7" record like "Suedehead" or "Bigmouth Strikes Again" but why do the same with a 4" CD cover that most people won't care about and still more fans will never see because they download the songs on their computer?

And, you know, one other thing to mention is Morrissey's point of view about his back catalog with respect to his beginnings as an indie artist. I was reading about Joy Division last night and twenty years on Hooky and the others were still going on about how little money they received. Most indie artists of that era probably have similar misgivings about their origins on tiny indie labels like Factory or Rough Trade. New Order did not make money (so they say) until the early Nineties. It might be that Morrissey puts up with a certain amount of exploitation of his back catalog because, one, the record companies might demand it, as I said above, but also he may feel entitled to more money than he got when he was starting out. As fans that might hard to swallow when we're hit with tasteless compilations like this one but, I dunno, I tend to think it's a mitigating factor.
 
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"And isn't the total lack of personality of this release kind of reassuring, in a way? As if Morrissey himself found it distasteful and just let the company do what it wanted? Wouldn't it be worse if Morrissey's fingerprints were all over this package, as if he himself were telling his fans "You must buy this"? As a longtime fan I can reject this immediately and save my money for his new album. I prefer that. There's a certain amount of honesty in this release. In a funny way by not adding those stupid "incentive rarities" I feel like he's not asking for my money."

I have to disagree. By adding "That's How People Grow Up" and "All You Need Is Me" Morrissey is absolutely putting his fingerprints on this. If the release were strictly singles chosen due to sales volume, then I think your argument is valid; however Morrissey has injected himself into this argument by placing two new songs on the album aimed squarely towards his core fan base. There is no way either of the new songs belong on a Greatest Hits or Best Of compilation.

To me Morrissey and Decca want it both ways: to appeal to his dependable fan base by throwing in a couple of non album tracks and by releasing an album of singles culled largely from the past two albums for those "casual" fans.

To me it fails on both accounts: most of his fans already own not only YATQ and ROTT but the CD Singles from both those albums, so it really comes down to the two new tracks. In the downloading age, that is precisely what iTunes is for: just pick the songs you want to buy. On the second count, is there such a thing as a "casual" Morrissey fan? I've yet to find one! Perhaps there is a market for a "Greatest Hits" album, but I suspect if it sells well it is because once again, his most rabid fans have gone out and purchased it.
 
Has anyone pointed out that almost everyone who's bitching about this tracklisting and already has these songs is a long-time fan? What about the legions of teens and twenty-somethings who came to Morrissey in his post-wilderness years? Isn't this Grayest Hits really aimed at the crowd that heard "Irish Blood, English Heart" on their college radio stations, not us?
 
"And isn't the total lack of personality of this release kind of reassuring, in a way? As if Morrissey himself found it distasteful and just let the company do what it wanted? Wouldn't it be worse if Morrissey's fingerprints were all over this package, as if he himself were telling his fans "You must buy this"? As a longtime fan I can reject this immediately and save my money for his new album. I prefer that. There's a certain amount of honesty in this release. In a funny way by not adding those stupid "incentive rarities" I feel like he's not asking for my money."

I have to disagree. By adding "That's How People Grow Up" and "All You Need Is Me" Morrissey is absolutely putting his fingerprints on this. If the release were strictly singles chosen due to sales volume, then I think your argument is valid; however Morrissey has injected himself into this argument by placing two new songs on the album aimed squarely towards his core fan base. There is no way either of the new songs belong on a Greatest Hits or Best Of compilation.

To me Morrissey and Decca want it both ways: to appeal to his dependable fan base by throwing in a couple of non album tracks and by releasing an album of singles culled largely from the past two albums for those "casual" fans.

To me it fails on both accounts: most of his fans already own not only YATQ and ROTT but the CD Singles from both those albums, so it really comes down to the two new tracks. In the downloading age, that is precisely what iTunes is for: just pick the songs you want to buy. On the second count, is there such a thing as a "casual" Morrissey fan? I've yet to find one! Perhaps there is a market for a "Greatest Hits" album, but I suspect if it sells well it is because once again, his most rabid fans have gone out and purchased it.

But you answered your own complaint. We will be able to buy the new songs a la carte through iTunes or as a single. There is no need to buy the album. And even if one track is not available anywhere else, I still see that as Decca's decision, not Morrissey's.

I don't think there's a big market for a GH album. Morrissey knows this and so does Decca. Their expectations, I'm sure, are very low. The idea is that it costs very little to release the CD and once it's out there, circulating in record stores, they'll get a trickle of profit from people who buy such CDs indiscriminately-- probably a bigger number of people than we think. Any release that gives them an opportunity to put more product on the market is therefore a benefit.

Also it should be seen as a preamble to his next studio album. In a sense it's just a different form of advertising. A GH package puts his face in record stores again, lets his PR people release some verbiage about him, gets some fluff out and about, reminds people he's still alive.

I realize my answers are somewhat cynical but that's the state of the marketplace in 2007.
 
But you answered your own complaint. We will be able to buy the new songs a la carte through iTunes or as a single. There is no need to buy the album. And even if one track is not available anywhere else, I still see that as Decca's decision, not Morrissey's.

I don't think there's a big market for a GH album. Morrissey knows this and so does Decca. Their expectations, I'm sure, are very low. The idea is that it costs very little to release the CD and once it's out there, circulating in record stores, they'll get a trickle of profit from people who buy such CDs indiscriminately-- probably a bigger number of people than we think. Any release that gives them an opportunity to put more product on the market is therefore a benefit.

Also it should be seen as a preamble to his next studio album. In a sense it's just a different form of advertising. A GH package puts his face in record stores again, lets his PR people release some verbiage about him, gets some fluff out and about, reminds people he's still alive.

I realize my answers are somewhat cynical but that's the state of the marketplace in 2007.

No, I don't think you're cynical at all. Pragmatic, yes. I think the idea of this album as PR works, provided the new album does not wait until next Fall. That would seem to me too long a period of time in between albums to have any lasting impact. I think the GH album will be quickly forgotten by all involved and is as you imply a pure money grab.

What about this notion of "the casual Morrissey fan?" Do you believe there is such a thing? The general perception (or mis perception) of Morrissey is one of a polarizing figure. I don't think this new album is going to be breaking down any walls.
 
What about this notion of "the casual Morrissey fan?" Do you believe there is such a thing? The general perception (or mis perception) of Morrissey is one of a polarizing figure. I don't think this new album is going to be breaking down any walls.

Ha, well to answer your question I'm going to get even more cynical!

(My answer is also extremely arbitrary and subjective-- but that's never stopped any of us before!)

There are no casual fans, you're right. But there are plenty of casual buyers. One group is shrinking and the other is expanding.

As I said above I don't think people buy and listen to music the same way anymore. My observation is that everything you find in a store (whether it's iTunes or a physical retailer) is presented as an undifferentiated hodgepodge of product. The focus is on two big segments: new "hot" artists (disposable pop) and the huge and ever-expanding back catalogs of established artists. In the latter category, a band or artist's history becomes a kind of trademark or guarantee of quality that casual buyers--and I'm only talking about casual buyers here-- look for when they shop. (In books the equivalent are any "Classics" series like Penguin or Oxford.) Look no further than six year old kids in Ramones t-shirts for proof. You see the same thing going on in iTunes only it's much more pronounced-- they are selling songs in special iTunes compilations by year. Not so much individual bands but the history of rock and roll is being sold back to consumers as a brand.

Thus, in Morrissey's case, it's enough that he falls into the brand category of "established singer". It almost doesn't matter anymore whether he is thought of as an appealing artist with a distinguished history or half-disdainfully as "one of those Eighties guys". His product shows off a comforting level of market viability to casual buyers who are distracted and half asleep as they fill up their hard drives with the history of rock and roll. He's got the necessary cultural clout to guarantee a safe purchase, and what's a better value than a "Greatest Hits" package?

Polarization occurs when people actually care enough about one band or one genre enough to despise other bands or genres. I don't see much of that anymore. Music still matters but not enough to provoke extreme reactions in people. The rainbow spectrum of artists from Elvis to Eminem has been merged into one color and that color is the color of your country's currency. For casual music buyers love and hate don't enter into the mix. Morrissey is no more or less appealing than Duran Duran or The Cure or Debbie Gibson or George Michael or Warrant: a couple of choice songs to round out their iPod's "Eighties" Playlist.
 
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Has anyone pointed out that almost everyone who's bitching about this tracklisting and already has these songs is a long-time fan? What about the legions of teens and twenty-somethings who came to Morrissey in his post-wilderness years? Isn't this Grayest Hits really aimed at the crowd that heard "Irish Blood, English Heart" on their college radio stations, not us?

Humm... I suppose you may have a point there. I actually know a couple of teens who became Moz fans this year and are now starting to listen to the back catalogue- I Immagine that by touring so much there may be quite a few new fans... still, "all you need is me" should be the single :D - no excuse for that ;)
 
That still doesn't quite explain why he has apparently become less interested in his sleeves and other elements of the product. I'm as disappointed as anyone in the quality of the sleeves but I think it's due to the prevailing climate of music releases. My guess is that Morrissey no longer feels these releases are special in the way they once were. The way people buy and listen to music has changed. You can imagine him poring over every detail of a 7" record like "Suedehead" or "Bigmouth Strikes Again" but why do the same with a 4" CD cover that most people won't care about and still more fans will never see because they download the songs on their computer?

if not putting the effort to the artwork anymore for that reason, then you'd at least think and hope that extra care/thought/quality goes into the new songs themselves (esp. lyrically). but given the four most recent songs, i don't see it there either -- definitely not like in the "old days". maybe there will be surprises with the next album, but for me, the four new songs are all unremarkable and some even lousy.
 
I think he believes the art work and the songs are good, or he wouldn't be putting them out. He's not someone who compromises about his art. What he's releasing is a reflection of what's going on in his life now. If you find the conflicted Morrissey of 20 years ago to be more to your liking then that is your personal taste, but plenty of us enjoy his current work.
 
If this is of vague interest to anyone, here are the last.fm listeners' charts for Moz. Only Redondo Beach doesn't feature in the top 100. Rest bolded. I fixed some dupes, eg song counted with and without a comma.

1) Irish Blood, English Heart - 17,142
2) First of the Gang to Die - 16,912
3) You Have Killed Me - 16,780
4) Everyday Is Like Sunday - 14,474
5) Suedehead - 13,913
6) Let Me Kiss You - 13,172
7) I Have Forgiven Jesus - 11,280
8) I Like You - 9,630
9) America Is Not the World - 9,228
10) The Youngest Was The Most Loved - 8,701
11) Come Back to Camden - 8,615
12) I'm Not Sorry - 8,588
13) Dear God Please Help Me - 8,478
14) How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel? - 8,385
15) The World Is Full of Crashing Bores - 8,332
16) All the Lazy Dykes - 7,706
17) The Last of the Famous International Playboys - 7,523
18) You Know I Couldn't Last - 7,487
19) Life Is A Pigsty - 7,430
20) In The Future When All's Well - 7,350
21) November Spawned a Monster - 7,265
22) I Will See You In Far Off Places - 7,084
23) The Father Who Must Be Killed - 6,706
24) I Just Want To See The Boy Happy - 6,537
25) Interesting Drug - 6,534
26) Hairdresser on Fire - 6,523
27) The More You Ignore Me, the Closer I Get - 6,489
28) To Me You Are A Work Of Art - 6,412
29) On The Streets I Ran - 6,285
30) We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful - 6,092
 
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