To celebrate its 20th Anniversary, on 27th September, EMI will release through the resurrected 1960s Major Minor label, with Morrissey's full cooperation, a remastered Special Edition of Bona Drag.

Originally released to much acclaim in October 1990, Bona Drag perfectly captures Morrissey's effortless transition in becoming a solo artist. It brings together his exceptional first seven singles, four of which went Top 10: his triumphant Top 5 debut, "Suedehead"; the anthemic, apocalyptic lament to wet seaside towns, "Everyday Is Like Sunday"; "The Last Of The Famous International Playboys"; and "Interesting Drug". The Top 20s "Ouija Board, Ouija Board", "November Spawned A Monster", and "Piccadilly Palare" and a selection of high quality b-sides from the singles complete the album.

The compilation has now been remastered and overseen by Morrissey, and is updated with the addition of six previously unreleased and much coveted songs from the era:

- "Happy Lovers At Last United"
(Outtake from "Sunday" sessions)

- "Lifeguard On Duty"
(Outtake from Viva Hate sessions)

- "Please Help The Cause Against Loneliness" (demo)
(Outtake from Viva Hate, previously covered by Sandie Shaw)

- "Oh Phoney"
(Outtake from Bona Drag sessions)

- "The Bed Took Fire" (early version of "At Amber")

- "Let The Right One Slip In" (alternate long mix)

Directing the artwork for the reissue, Morrissey has chosen to return the cover art - taken from the "November" video - back to its natural colour, so his shirt is black. In addition, he has also decided to update the back and inner artwork with a selection of favourite, hand-picked and rarely-seen photos.

The LP version will be a double heavyweight 180g vinyl, housed in a wide-spine sleeve with a pull-out poster. The CD will be housed in a gatefold, card sleeve with an eight-page booklet, which will contain the aforementioned photos.

Major Minor Records was started by Radio Caroline manager Phil Solomon. Its truly eclectic roster of artists and singles releases makes it a perfect home for Morrissey. These include such esteemed and high-watermark pop classics as:

David McWilliams - Days Of Pearly Spencer
Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg - Je t'aime... moi non plus
Them - Gloria
Tommy James and The Shondells - I Think We're Alone Now & Mony Mony
Taste - Blister On The Moon
July - My Clown
Frazer Hines - Who's Dr. Who?
Malcolm Roberts - May I Have The Next Dream With You
Isley Brothers - It's Your Thing
Karen Young – Nobody's Child
The Dubliners - Seven Drunken Nights

This will be the first release on the label since 1970.

There will be more Morrissey news to come in the next month.

Bona Drag tracklisting (running order subject to change):

1. Piccadilly Palare
2. Interesting Drug
3. November Spawned A Monster
4. Will Never Marry
5. Such A Little Thing Makes Such A Big Difference
6. The Last Of The Famous International Playboys
7. Ouija Board, Ouija Board
8. Hairdresser On Fire
9. Everyday Is Like Sunday
10. He Knows I'd Love To See Him
11. Yes, I Am Blind
12. Lucky Lisp
13. Suedehead
14. Disappointed
15. Happy Lovers At Last United (Previously unreleased)
16. Lifeguard On Duty (Previously unreleased)
17. Please Help The Cause Against Loneliness (Previously unreleased)
18. Oh Phoney (Previously unreleased)
19. The Bed Took Fire (Previously unreleased)
20. Let The Right One Slip In (Alternate long mix, previously unreleased)

Source : http://true-to-you.net/morrissey_news_100712_01

16 December 2009

Statement from Morrissey to True-to-you

On these last days of the old year, I thank everyone who attended the 2009 concerts.
My personal favorites were:

1 Dublin
2 Dusseldorf
3 Munich
4 Pomona
5 Warsaw

The three Brixton concerts were dramatic and perfect for me, and there was a great air of adventure in both Estonia and Latvia. The Russian concerts were a big thrill, but in the absence of even a speckle of publicity .. it's difficult. You begin to feel as if you're playing to a private club - and, in fact, you are. We pondered on the massive poster-campaigns for others and we wondered how such things become possible. The audiences in Russia were loud and greatly inspiring.
Hope denied in Liverpool, and the physical limits were tipped in Swindon – these were life's unfortunate lows.
I spent the night at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon where the staff restored my faith in humanity. I had no idea such kindness existed.
There were more stop-start-trap-doors and cancellations this year than ever before, and it's difficult to keep your mental balance and to remain unclouded at such times. Since every living person appeared to have some strain of flu, there seemed no reason why I should escape it, and I could not listen to medical advice that cautioned me to stand back from the audience and not to shake anyone's hand. Life has come to this? By tours' end I had no face worth rearranging.

The landscape of familiar faces who have replaced the Irregular Regulars, and who attend as many of the concerts as possible, continue to astound me. I don't know how – or even why – they attend so many. It is remarkable, and the financial costs must wipe them out for good. I am repeatedly honored and speechless by their dedication.
There are no 2010 plans to fire me out of a cannon. Hopes of concerts in New Zealand and Australia collapsed under a mound of doubts. That's life.
Even though you see the death of culture all around you, you also want to raise whatever it is you do to a higher plane, yet there is no one, it seems, who can inch the Morrissey thing forwards. As we all now know, the world of music is purely market-driven – not even youth-driven anymore. Talent or merit or songs do not enter the equation for a split second; the campaign is the thing, the campaign is what is discussed amongst the public, the campaign is what impresses the press, and the songs are never a factor. The labels will only push the "artists" that they themselves have discovered, and have no interest in the self-made, blah, blah. But my parting with Universal is not a negative. I am sorry that "Swords" was such a meek disaster. It was proposed and accepted as a budget-priced CD, yet emerged everywhere as the most expensive CD in the racks. It was poorly distributed and didn't stand a chance, and ranks as the lowest chart position I've ever encountered. I remain steadfastly proud of "Years of refusal", which along with "You are the quarry" and "Ringleader of the tormentors" are my life's peaks. These three will allow me to die in peace. I am no longer in the thrall of anything that preceded them; the past is not me.
I was delighted at the radio airplay in England for "I'm throwing my arms around Paris", which seemed to match both "Suedehead" and "That's how people grow up" singles for rotation.
However, "I'm throwing my arms around Paris" did not chart in France! ... but everything has its time and place...

What does the future hold? What does the next minute hold? It all rests as ever on determination – that which springs from somewhere deeper than the body. Record label interest is zero, but the sun will creep back into the room one way or another. It always does.

Small and bowed, I offer you my eternal thanks, and my hopes for a steady 2010, full of good grace and no darkness.

MORRISSEY
London, December 2009.