"Autobiography" by Morrissey released (Oct 17, 2013 - UK and Europe)

Autobiography by Morrissey is out now in the UK and Europe on Penguin Classics.

Reviews:

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Re: Article: "Autobiography" by Morrissey released (Oct 17, 2013 - UK and Europe)

The gawker has him as full out gay...

IM SOO CONFUSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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Re: Article: "Autobiography" by Morrissey released (Oct 17, 2013 - UK and Europe)

The 'Penguin Classic' move seems to have been a masterstroke, the book has received a ginormous amount of media attention. Everywhere I look they are talking about Morrissey.
 
Re: Article: "Autobiography" by Morrissey released (Oct 17, 2013 - UK and Europe)

My $.25. Why isn't there a North America release scheduled? Is the book publishing hierarchy in the US that dim to not realize the millions of NA Moz fans ready to shell out for the Moz Bible? Are book publisher executives dimmer than music business executives? Anyway, I downloaded the e-version thru treacherous means because I can not wait for f***wits to figure it out NA distro. I've read most of it, skipping around like a kid who's had too much sugar.

The book is riveting though it bogs down during the Joyce trial. Moz is a great and very vivid prose writer but we already knew that thru his re-issue CD liner notes and TTY dismissives. Regarding the Joyce trial passages, it's a depressing affair that Moz spends about 50 pages too much to discuss. OK, I get it, you got f***ed over by Joyce and a truculent judge for millions. And Marr is spared no vengeance either for his role. Funny, no comments from Marr via his Twatter a/c. But does Moz (and Marr) ever realize that their refusal to employ a manager during their Smiths' daze to advise them about royalty splits really crippled them in the end? And Moz's diatribe's against Geoff Travis goes a bit beyond the pale. Maybe the Smiths didn't chart/sell as much as you thought they should have. When tours/interviews/TV performances are cancelled/refused during the Smiths era, what's a record exec supposed to do? Moz was as hard to handle/promote then as he is now. IMHO the Smiths did much better than a band of their nature was ever supposed to. It seems to me that anything tied to money really clouds Moz's judgement and makes him out to be a penny-pinching megalomaniac. Please don't read the bit about him being disappointed about paying a dead manager's family when it's MOZ that's really grieving. And all the claims (stated here over the years on Solo ad infinitum which led to Moz's hatred of Solo) from former band-mates/roadies of Moz's refusal of payments/shortchanging them add even more credibility to their stories. But nobody's perfect, not even St. Morrissey.

That said, there's some really beautiful prose about his childhood, LA/Rome, his love affairs, idols/writers/actors, solitude/loneliness & death. Yes, nobody thought he'd ever come clean about the Jake affair but here it is in black and white. There's also stuff about about Tina (a woman of superior means!) and Gelato (no frozen dessert involved that we know of) that make compelling reading. So Moz is really bisexual, pardon the pun. Quite suddenly, many lyrics/songs take on quite a different meaning. Reader really meet Author!

I am a bit disappointed that chunks of time and gaggles of people are ignored. Viva Hate & Kill Uncle are mere blips. He spends much longer describing K. Young's dress of choice than how Viva Hate came to be. Disappointing. Vini Reilly is not even mentioned even though Vini now claims to have written most of Viva Hate. Maybe he really did.

Not a word about Kevin Armstrong who was instrumental by his own accounts of Moz's post VH/pre Arse output and allegedly put him in touch in Mick Ronson along with Boz and his boys. Would Moz be the person he is without Kevin? We know more about Moz's neighbors in LA than about Kevin, Pete Burns, Vini and Deano Butterworth. At least Spencer gets some attention but it seems he's only a prop to demonstrate that former bandmates are nothing without Moz. To some degree Moz has a point but when the audience sees different musos with Moz on stage every 4 to 5 years, inquiring minds want to know what happened to so-and-so.

Speaking of so-and-so, the truth about Alain W is somewhat sorted out but leaves open the question as to if they will ever work together again. I'm under the impression that Alain's songs are some of Moz's best and despair at the thought of only future Boz/Jesse collaborations. Let me NOT kiss you!

Also, there's no mention of any of the Britpop bands (sans Echobelly) he was curating and nudging along (Suede,Libertines, Franz Ferdinand) but Damo Demps & K. Young get ink. Were the 90s a bad memory?

And the tour with Bowie where Moz went AWOL? Not a chirp! I will say that Bowie comes out better than expected given Moz's comments in the media about Mr. "Showie". Even Elton John comes across as an amicable friend. But Siouxsie Sioux? Moz's ax was sharp and does quite a bit of cutting into her character. Is she really that bad of a person? Moz seems to think that she's a bit too demanding and petty but ignores the stadium of former associates that feel the same way about HIM.

But such is the nature of the autobiography. It's his viewpoint of what transpired and it's his "truth", not anyone else's. It's Moz's world and we just live in it. And that I will happily accept until the day I die.

On a personal note, I was more than pleased that he singled out a few shows as being extraordinary that I had attended.
 
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Re: Article: "Autobiography" by Morrissey released (Oct 17, 2013 - UK and Europe)

Sooner (or later) all of your personas are going to run into each other....

I certainly hope so! And then, we'll all have tea. (beams.)

:)
 
Re: Article: "Autobiography" by Morrissey released (Oct 17, 2013 - UK and Europe)

My $.25. Why isn't there a North America release scheduled? Is the book publishing hierarchy in the US that dim to not realize the millions of NA Moz fans ready to shell out for the Moz Bible? Are book publisher executives dimmer than music business executives? Anyway, I downloaded the e-version thru treacherous means because I can not wait for f***wits to figure it out NA distro. I've read most of it, skipping around like a kid who's had too much sugar.

The book is riveting though it bogs down during the Joyce trial. Moz is a great and very vivid prose writer but we already knew that thru his re-issue CD liner notes and TTY dismissives. Regarding the Joyce trial passages, it's a depressing affair that Moz spends about 50 pages too much to discuss. OK, I get it, you got f***ed over by Joyce and a truculent judge for millions. And Marr is spared no vengeance either for his role. Funny, no comments from Marr via his Twatter a/c. But does Moz (and Marr) ever realize that their refusal to employ a manager during their Smiths' daze to advise them about royalty splits really crippled them in the end? And Moz's diatribe's against Geoff Travis goes a bit beyond the pale. Maybe the Smiths didn't chart/sell as much as you thought they should have. When tours/interviews/TV performances are cancelled/refused during the Smiths era, what's a record exec supposed to do? Moz was as hard to handle/promote then as he is now. IMHO the Smiths did much better than a band of their nature was ever supposed to. It seems to me that anything tied to money really clouds Moz's judgement and makes him out to be a penny-pinching megalomaniac. Please don't read the bit about him being disappointed about paying a dead manager's family when it's MOZ that's really grieving. And all the claims (stated here over the years on Solo ad infinitum which led to Moz's hatred of Solo) from former band-mates/roadies of Moz's refusal of payments/shortchanging them add even more credibility to their stories. But nobody's perfect, not even St. Morrissey.

That said, there's some really beautiful prose about his childhood, LA/Rome, his love affairs, idols/writers/actors, solitude/loneliness & death. Yes, nobody thought he'd ever come clean about the Jake affair but here it is in black and white. There's also stuff about about Tina (a woman of superior means!) and Gelato (no frozen dessert involved that we know of) that make compelling reading. So Moz is really bisexual, pardon the pun. Quite suddenly, many lyrics/songs take on quite a different meaning. Reader really meet Author!

I am a bit disappointed that chunks of time and gaggles of people are ignored. Viva Hate & Kill Uncle are mere blips. He spends much longer describing K. Young's dress of choice than how Viva Hate came to be. Disappointing. Vini Reilly is not even mentioned even though Vini now claims to have written most of Viva Hate. Maybe he really did.

Not a word about Kevin Armstrong who was instrumental by his own accounts of Moz's post VH/pre Arse output and allegedly put him in touch in Mick Ronson along with Boz and his boys. Would Moz be the person he is without Kevin? We know more about Moz's neighbors in LA than about Kevin, Pete Burns, Vini and Deano Butterworth. At least Spencer gets some attention but it seems he's only a prop to demonstrate that former bandmates are nothing without Moz. To some degree Moz has a point but when the audience sees different musos with Moz on stage every 4 to 5 years, inquiring minds want to know what happened to so-and-so.

Speaking of so-and-so, the truth about Alain W is somewhat sorted out but leaves open the question as to if they will ever work together again. I'm under the impression that Alain's songs are some of Moz's best and despair at the thought of only future Boz/Jesse collaborations. Let me NOT kiss you!

Also, there's no mention of any of the Britpop bands (sans Echobelly) he was curating and nudging along (Suede,Libertines, Franz Ferdinand) but Damo Demps & K. Young get ink. Were the 90s a bad memory?

And the tour with Bowie where Moz went AWOL? Not a chirp! I will say that Bowie comes out better than expected given Moz's comments in the media about Mr. "Showie". Even Elton John comes across as an amicable friend. But Siouxsie Sioux? Moz's ax was sharp and does quite a bit of cutting into her character. Is she really that bad of a person? Moz seems to think that she's a bit too demanding and petty but ignores the stadium of former associates that feel the same way about HIM.

But such is the nature of the autobiography. It's his viewpoint of what transpired and it's his "truth", not anyone else's. It's Moz's world and we just live in it. And that I will happily accept until the day I die.

On a personal note, I was more than pleased that he singled out a few shows as being extraordinary that I had attended.

This was a really nice review thanks !
 
What a book. More than I could have hoped for and expected. How anyone who has followed Morrissey through the years could find this autobiography anything less than fascinating is beyond me.

There speaks a true friend.
 
Figured Australia still wouldn't have caught up to the rest of the world, can't find a single bookshop in Melbourne that is stocking the book. Looks like it's time to order in!

*
I pre ordered mine online, but wanted to see if I could get a copy ASAP (seeing spoilers everywhere atm & it's hard to resist taking a peek), so went to Dymocks and a whole bunch of other stores & was told the same thing over & over: "it's not available in Oz yet, but we can do a special order, it'll take 6-8 weeks..or wait, we might get a shipment just in time for Xmas"

I highly suggest you buy it online.

It's $13 AUD at Book Depository, with free shipping to Oz - a way better deal than Amazon (quicker delivery too)!

Here's the link: *http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Autobiography-Morrissey/9780141394817
 
*
I pre ordered mine online, but wanted to see if I could get a copy ASAP (seeing spoilers everywhere atm & it's hard to resist taking a peek), so went to Dymocks and a whole bunch of other stores & was told the same thing over & over: "it's not available in Oz yet, but we can do a special order, it'll take 6-8 weeks..or wait, we might get a shipment just in time for Xmas"

I highly suggest you buy it online.

It's $13 AUD at Book Depository, with free shipping to Oz - a way better deal than Amazon (quicker delivery too)!

Here's the link: *http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Autobiography-Morrissey/9780141394817

Disappointing but hardly surprising given it's Australia... I've been skulking around all the bookshops in Sydney and the only peep I've heard of it was from the staff at Abbey's loudly sneering about its being on Penguin Classics. I like to try and support local bookstores but this time I think I'll just order online to save myself the hassle!
 

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