I must have really been bitten by the blogging bug on my return from holiday as I put up 34 posts across the month of December 2008.

It began with something marking World Aids Day and ended with a my take on the music of 2006 and in-between contained all sorts of nonsense including an enthusiastic review of the last ever Arab Strap gig in Glasgow, the first of what would become many mentions of The Fall (much to the disgust of ctel who has never hidden his lack of love for Mark E Smith and his merry bunch of troubadours), the beginning of what would become a Xmas Day tradition  and this the 67th posting on the blog on 17th December:-

THAT DECEMBER SPAWNED A MOZZA…

Hard to believe that I’m up to 67 postings and this is the first to feature Morrissey (aside from a sideways reference on Johnny Marr’s 43rd birthday).

I was 20 years of age and living in my first student flat in early 1983 when The Smiths came to the wider attention of the world. I simply couldn’t get enough of them, whether on record, in session on Radio 1, in print (there were 4 weekly music papers in the UK at that time), in concert or on television.

My love of the band was driven more by Johnny’s tunes than Steven’s lyrics, but in fairness, they were a perfect combination. So when the break-up came in 1987, I was not as interested in the singer’s solo career as most other fans of the band. Indeed, with an early version of his solo backing band containing everyone from The Smiths bar Johnny, I was pretty pissed-off about the beak-up, and was I stubbornly determined not to pay too much attention to him.

But as time when on, I got more and more interested in Morrissey’s solo output, simply because he was releasing some cracking songs. In saying that, there were still a number of pretty poor records being committed to vinyl or CD. What turned me into a fully-fledged fan  however, was the live experience and getting along to the first major solo tour 1991 to  a stunning gig at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall.

I’ve been along to see him on numerous occasions since – usually along with Mrs Villain. Even when he was releasing poorly received records, I still tried to always get along when he was in town. That changed after an absolute stinker of a gig at the Barrowlands in 1999 – the choice of set was self-indulgent, the security was over-zealous and the band played as if they were Guns’n’Roses with all sorts of guitar and drum solos. A very disheartening experience.

So I didn’t bother trying hard to get tickets for his 2002 tour. The reviews of those gigs were mixed – and given that he had no recording contract, or even the prospect of signing any deal, I assume I had seen the last of Morrissey.

But his return to form over the past three years has been something to behold.

Irish Blood, English Heart as a single was an astonishing return to form.  You Are The Quarry had brilliant tunes and lyrics and an overall consistency that I didn’t think he had in him. Morrissey was back, and I fell in love with him all over again.

I was very very lucky to pick up two standing tickets for his birthday gig at the M.E.N. in 2004 and it remains one of the most intense and euphoric live experiences that myself and Mrs Villain have ever enjoyed.

I’ve since managed to see him in a number of small venues in Paisley, Stirling and Greenock – and thoroughly enjoyed every one of them. But given that I’ve now been spoiled in getting up close at gigs, I chose not to go to the cavernous SECC the other week – and going by the reaction of a few folk I’ve spoken to since, it seems it was a good decision. Not only was the sound quality poor, but the performance was at best, perfunctory with little interaction with the audience.

I reckon that Morrissey is now at another crossroads in his career.

His last two albums have been among the best in his career.

But he has never yet made three good albums in a row. The novelty of playing live again with a new band seems to have worn off, and a severe critical backlash is due. He’s also now in his late 40s, and what else has got to prove? I don’t know if there will be a new record in 2007 or 2008.

And at this moment in time, I don’t really care. I personally think he should call it a day and go out on a high……we can then look back on a largely magnificent career without it being soured by a lack of quality at the end. But I’m sure there’s many out there who disagree.

Here’s a few tracks from the solo career that I’ve particularly enjoyed:-

mp3 : Morrissey – Girl Least Likely To
mp3 : Morrissey – Disappointed
mp3 : Morrissey – Now My Heart Is Full
mp3 : Morrissey – Satan Rejected My Soul

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2013 Update

Since I typed those words, Morrissey has released just the one new studio LP – Years of Refusal in 2009 (so I was right when I said I didn’t think he would release anything in 07 or 08) .  This LP wasn’t as well received as his 2004 and 2006 efforts.  There’s been yet another best-of compilation but the flame has been kept burning, certainly here in the UK, by imaginative tours that have taken him to lovely Town Halls and old concert venues in the most unlikely of places rarely visited by an other pop stars.

Having said that, he has let down many fans in the USA and South America with tours that have ended very early on due to continuous ill-health and lots of folk have been left badly out-of-pocket trying repeatedly to see him on stage with no success.

Morrissey stands at a similar crossroads as that of 2006.  No record deal and nothing imminent.  There’s new material out there as he’s aired things at his live gigs which haven’t yet been put down for release, but being honest, none of it has jumped out as being superior to what he’s give us before.

However, he has repeatedly, throughout the length of a career than is now in excess of 30 years, pulled off surprise after surprise, and on that basis something will likely happen over the next 18 months which will leave us all with our jaws hitting the floor.  That long-promised autobiography??