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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I was hoping we'd get more detail on what happened. Is it too late, or can there be a reboot for WPINOYB? Perhaps with some proper promotion this time?
 
Re: TTY Statement : Please Close The Door Behind Me

What a thoughtful, sober and enduring read! I wasn't expecting anything like this after all that has transpired in recent weeks. I thought the Spoken-Word vids were Moz's idea but they were Harvest's. Moz is correct that they should've been immediately followed up by real videos with Moz actually singing. And the whole thing about Harvest trying to get Moz to read Auto in front of an audience is pure quackery.

And I would add that the depression that's been reported lately has appeared to be lifted from Moz!:rolleyes:
 
Re: TTY Statement : Please Close The Door Behind Me

I thought the Spoken-Word vids were Moz's idea but they were Harvest's. Moz is correct that they should've been immediately followed up by real videos with Moz actually singing.

I can't tell you how many people (all of them just casual fans, but still) have asked me what I think about Morrissey's "new spoken word album." I really think the net effect of those videos was that a large percentage of the people who saw them thought they were the actual album tracks.
 
Re: TTY Statement : Please Close The Door Behind Me

I was hoping we'd get more detail on what happened. Is it too late, or can there be a reboot for WPINOYB? Perhaps with some proper promotion this time?

Didn't you read the full statement? To answer your question: Yes, he's looking for another label to release it properly.
 
Re: TTY Statement : Please Close The Door Behind Me

I can't tell you how many people (all of them just casual fans, but still) have asked me what I think about Morrissey's "new spoken word album." I really think the net effect of those videos was that a large percentage of the people who saw them thought they were the actual album tracks.

Considering the noise ("music") that accompanied the weak lyrics, maybe a spoken word album would have been more successful. Moz needs to go back to his glory years and look at what he did when he wrote such classics as "Sunday," "November," "Suedehead," "We'll Let You Know," etc.

The lyrics on WPINOYB are in no way near the quality of the above mentioned songs.
 
I am so tired of his whining and bitching. Yawn. Especially after seeing Johnny Marr solo. :guitar:
 
Re: TTY Statement : Please Close The Door Behind Me

It appears the WPINOYB is already off of itunes...??
 
Re: TTY Statement : Please Close The Door Behind Me

Moz needs to go back to his glory years and look at what he did when he wrote [...]

No, he needs to continue recording the songs he feels compelled to write. Whether or not it's what you want to hear is of no concern to him, nor should it be.
 
Re: TTY Statement : Please Close The Door Behind Me

I am so tired of his whining and bitching. Yawn. Especially after seeing Johnny Marr solo. :guitar:

He is not whining, he explained the situation of the fallout of Harvest and him. They sound like complete morons with no marketing experience. I would be mad as hell at Harworst.
 
Re: TTY Statement : Please Close The Door Behind Me

"Istanbul" was the obvious single. That would have been cool. I'm actually surprised that the contract didn't include a commitment for a song video in writing. Surely that could have been negotiated. If it ain't in writing, it's not worth much.
 
Re: TTY Statement : Please Close The Door Behind Me

He's such an intimidatingly good writer. And he perfectly cleared up what we were all scrstching our heads theorizing about for weeks. Usually TTY posts are cryptic. And like someone mentioned, it's a remarkably positive letter that DETAILED the grievance of working with Harvest without just making the dismissable generalization that record companies fail to deliver these days. He made the case that they indeed failed to deliver.

I'm bummed the man who failed him shares my last name. The Steve Barnett in my family was a truck driver who owned his own company and recently died of cancer, I swear I'm not connected to that guy. :p

I hate the business part. Let's listen to music. :)
 
Re: TTY Statement : Please Close The Door Behind Me

This made my night too. I kept telling the Mrs., when everyone was worried about his state of mind, “he’s gonna bounce back.” This statement he made on TTY tonight sums up why my love for this man has never wavered since I became a fan years ago.

iVIVA MOZ!
 
Re: TTY Statement : Please Close The Door Behind Me

No, he needs to continue recording the songs he feels compelled to write. Whether or not it's what you want to hear is of no concern to him, nor should it be.

And as we can see, these have been very successful--huh? Take off your Moz blinders and see things with some reality.
 
Re: TTY Statement : Please Close The Door Behind Me

And as we can see, these have been very successful--huh? Take off your Moz blinders and see things with some reality.

Successful or not, any artist with self-respect will write and record the music that is relevant and important to them, not delve into the past to appease the masses.
 
Re: TTY Statement : Please Close The Door Behind Me

And as we can see, these have been very successful--huh? Take off your Moz blinders and see things with some reality.

A top 20 album in an era where people don’t buy music seems successful to me.
 
Re: TTY Statement : Please Close The Door Behind Me

He is not whining, he explained the situation of the fallout of Harvest and him. They sound like complete morons with no marketing experience. I would be mad as hell at Harworst.

Right, It's never Moz's fault. Funny how he fails to mention he canceled his tour that was to promote his album. That is "marketing", is it not? No accountability whatsoever. He's lucky any record company even took a chance on him. He is completely unreliable and has no sense of responsibility.
 
"... even though Istanbul received 55 radio plays in just seven days on a major US station..."

People still listen to FM stations?
 
Re: TTY Statement : Please Close The Door Behind Me

He is not whining, he explained the situation of the fallout of Harvest and him. They sound like complete morons with no marketing experience. I would be mad as hell at Harworst.

You and your buddies (chickpea and geezer and the other lemmings) need to head on over to All You Need Is Morrissey or TRB's site. That is where the "yes men" congregate and kiss his ass for everything that he does.
 
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