Years Of Refusal

Many things are happening in the world of Morrissey:

I'm a bit late in reporting that the release of "All You Need Is Me" has been delayed until June 2. There has been some speculation that the label was going to scrap it altogether but since some stock had already been manufactured, they'd move out the release date and make it a one-week only release. Which means this one is likely to be pretty rare. My copies have been on order for weeks so I'm hoping I get them and don't have to turn to eBay. Not that I'm above it.

A video has been made for the single, in which we find Morrissey walking about a municipal garden with his gang of younger, somewhat tough-looking lads. Nothing new there then. Will someone please write the man a different treatment for his next video? [As an aside, do you suppose Boz feels just slightly intimidated by all of the tight t-shirts and muscle on display? Surely he must.]



Somewhat surprisingly, Sony-BMG are planning to reissue Southpaw Grammar - an album which didn't exactly tear up the charts on its initial release - as an expanded, remastered edition in July. This version will reportedly boast new artwork and three unreleased bonus tracks. No news on what they are yet, or if they are indeed unreleased tracks or whether "unreleased bonus tracks" actually means "three tracks already released as b-sides but which we are calling unreleased because nobody bought those singles anyway." So we'll see. Care to wager a guess as to what they'll be?

Years Of Refusal, Morrissey's ninth solo record, has been completed and is due out in September via Universal. It was produced by Jerry Finn, who previously worked on You Are The Quarry which, as you'll remember, was really quite good as it brought Morrissey back out of those cruel late-90s/early-2000s drought years and made a bunch of people (including the NME, for a while anyway!) remember how awesome he always was.

In business news, Morrissey has ended his relationship with manager Merck Mercuriadis, opting instead to go with ie:music who also represent, uh, Robbie Williams. And we all know how well he's doing under their stewardship. About the split, Merck said, "I believe my penance is complete and Saint Morrissey has granted my absolution." At least all of that time spent doing penance with Moz has reaped dividends in the skill of tart quips!

Finally, a little birdy told me that Morrissey was at KCRW's studio in LA last week doing "pre-taping" with Nic Harcourt. Is a Morning Becomes Eclectic session on the way?