V Good, though Mozza remains a mystery
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An excellently written book.
Only problem is that there are no interviews with Morrissey himself or with any one who knows him, so at the end of it all I felt I'm no closer to an understanding of Mozza at all.
There are however lots of quotes from interviews he has given to the press - some of which are quite enlightening.
The author also writes very well and made me laugh a few times too.
I'd have to say that I'm also in the camp that feels that the stuff Morrissey did with Johnny Marr shows how important the sublime Marr was - as integral as Morrissey to the Smiths - just listen to the guitar on "Boy with the Thorn in His Side".. and I dont think Mr Simpson gives anywhere near enough credit to Marr.
That said, this is a very good book, well written and fun.
I'd recommend it.
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Morrissey finally has a biographer worthy of him
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This is a remarkable book and, like it's subject, is startlingly unique. It’s funny, clever, insightful and often quite moving. Above all it’s brilliantly, dazzlingly written. Morrissey finally has a biographer worthy of him. I have to admit though that I was, relatively speaking, a part-time Morrissey fan when I came to this book, but after finishing 'Saint Morrissey' I realised what I'd been missing out on, went out and bought all the albums I didn't have (except 'Southpaw Grammar' of course) and fell in love with Morrissey all over again, and more completely this time. But then this isn't just the best Morrissey book out there, this is one of the best books on pop culture and fandom ever penned. Or at least, one of the best I've read - and I've read it twice now, in quick succession. I may even start memorising lines from it - talking about the effect hearing the first Smiths album had on him Simpson writes: 'It filled me with the urge to shoplift expensive perfume and spray bus shelters with it'. Is fandom catching? And can you become a fan of a writer simply because of the intensity and intelligence of their own fandom? 'Saint Morrissey' certainly makes it seem that way.
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Half a book
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I like Mark Simpson's style and it's rather sweet that anyone can be quite so keen on Morrissey. But in many ways that is the problem with this book; Simpson believes that Morrissey's solo career is comparable to what he achieved with The Smiths, a proposition that just isn't true. It's also a dull argument since one of the most fascinating aspects of Morrissey's career is quite how and why he so suddenly declined from the massively iconic and influential music of The Smiths into the tiddly Casio beats and feeble lyrics of his solo efforts. Simpson's writing is not all it could be either - cliches and grammatical mistakes lead one to suspect that this book waited rather too long to find a publisher. By the time it did, its moment was past, Simpson had lost his initial enthusiasm for the subject and his tiredness made him relapse into the repetitive, faux cleverness of a student essay.
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A Smiths Fan Writes
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If a die-hard Smiths/Morrissey fan were to buy one book - a book that really *gets* what this particular corner of fandom is all about - then Saint Moz is the one to choose. Fans have had to make do, until now, with the rather trainspottery Severed Alliance. Rogan's oeuvre, in a sense, it the flip-side of Saint Morrissey; it exemplifies the desperate need of a really obsessed fan to know everything there is to know about their hero. Its the literary equivalent of those Morrissey fans who rip their idol's shirt to pieces when he throws it into the crowd at the end of a gig. But Simpson's is a more tender vivisection altogether. It caresses its subject, shares its secrets: butterfly kisses. Its Simpson's playfulness with language and ideas as much as his insight into the Morrissey phenomenon that makes this one of the great pop biographies of recent years. You could turn the final page of the Severed Alliance, still confused as to the worldwide appeal of this most English Lancastrian lyricist; Simpson's intelligent exposition of the universal themes of masculinity, loss and desire which permeate Morrissey's work leaves you in so such doubt. This is, put simply, a book to buy in hardback.
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