Meetings with Morrissey [Hardcover]

"Ex-NME writer turned TV producer Brown claims to have met Morrissey 'more times than any other journalist', was the first to interview the iconic singer after the demise of The Smiths and he dismisses those other biographies, rather scathingly, as the work of stalkers or Google cut 'n' pasters.

"Brown says to understand Morrissey it's important to know that it begins and ends with Oscar Wilde. And that's where we begin here - in room 118 of the Cadogan Hotel, just off London's Sloane Square, where Wilde was arrested on charges of homosexuality and where Brown's first meeting with Morrissey occurred. That 'New Morrissey Express' interview is reproduced here but there are several previously unpublished encounters, too.

"Brown doesn't pretend to be a great friend or great confidant of Morrissey but his meetings have allowed him, on the evidence here, to get closer to the heart of the intensely private, yet outspoken star.

"As well as delving into the meanings of Morrissey's famed lyrics, Brown offers a comprehensive review of the singer's career and includes an informative A-Z of Morrissey's influences: Oscar Wilde, of course, the musicians from Bolan to Bowie to the New York Dolls, the Coronation Street actresses and the 'Kitchen Sink' characters which adorned many a Smiths single cover.

"There's not too much new here for the true obsessives, but it's still essential reading for Mozza fans; they may be happy now."
(Abigail Kemp) -- Manchester Evening News, August 30 2008

Brown has conducted more interviews with Morrissey than most, which lends the book an authenticity, not often found: `'On threadbare Manchester council estates once a year fairs would come round. It was a period of tremendous violence, hate, distress, high romance and all the truly vital things in life.''

Brown suggests such thinking, along with much of Morrissey's work, is `'realism rather than pessimism,'' and I for one, am inclined to agree. I also believe this biography is truly blessed with all the right information and reasoning. Not only does it enable the reader to both discover and embrace Morrissey through simple prose, it explores many of the artists he himself has celebrated - including Patti Smith, James Dean, Pat Phoenix, Marc Bolan, Billy Fury and the inevitable New York Dolls (of whose fan club back in the day, Morrissey was UK President!). More than anyone, the book investigates the subject's lifelong fascination with the brilliant Oscar Wilde: `'Although he was the most intelligent, he simplified everything. Therefore practically everybody could read Oscar Wilde and understand. He wasn't complicated. Yet he still left you lying on the bed... panting. It was so real and truthful.'' -- Book Review, David Marx, October 2008

Brown lifts the lid on one of the most individual performers we have today - from Morrissey's sexuality to what still drives him. Often biographies don't tell us anything new - this is an exception. Fans will love this insight into Morrissey. -- The Sun newspaper September 2008

Now my head is full As a man whose meeting with Morrissey, both formal and informal, stretch back to being the first to interview the solo Moz in 1988, and on into 2003 and his pre-You Are The Quarry resurgence, Brown has more credentials than most to hurl a book about Steven Patrick out into the market. A self-confessed Smiths diehard, he also avoids turning this into some fawning Mozfather love-in.

It's not quite bursting with unprinted interviews. Most of the text re-tells the story, with Brown's own personal experiences (of Morrissey and other events in his life) adding colour, turning these memoirs-cum- biography into a hugely enjoyable read. What we get is a portrait of a man who, to reference Oscar Wilde as Brown does, has turned his life into a work of art.

Brown takes Moz's declaration that "everything's linked, everybody takes from the artists they love" as a manifesto, tracing Morrissey's story through his literature, British film/TV and female pop influences. Ultimately (and sometimes wearily overbearingly so), it leads right back to Wilde, Morrissey's biggest love. The final chapter, tying up all the influences and parallels between the artists' lives, might get a bit much, mind. Without being brainsizzlingly new, Brown's turned out a very fair, even-handed account that happily gets you running back to those records to play detective yourself. -- Record Collector, November 2008

Renowned broadcaster and scribe Len Brown might just have written the most compelling tome in the near library of Moz biographies. His Meetings With Morrissey draws on a lifetime's worth of encounters to try and lift the veil on the enigma. Fresh insights are provided, with the body of work and sources of inspiration outlined with forensic detail. Perhaps the greatest triumph here though is the sense that Brown has teased out more of the real Morrissey - whoever he is - than any other chronicler to date. -- AU Magazine, September 2008

There is much to enjoy here; the interview material is sparkling and Brown's extrapolations on the figures who populate Morrissey's imagination, from the obvious (Oscar Wilde, James Dean) to the more obscure (TV's pioneering camp hairdresser Raymond 'Teasy-Weasy' Bessone) show an impressive grasp of Mozza arcana...one of the better books on the man who has claimed onstage to be Stinky Turner, Stan Ogden and 'Bruce Springroll'. -- Mojo, December 2008

It's not quite bursting with unprinted interviews. Most of the text re-tells the story, with Brown's own personal experiences (of Morrissey and other events in his life) adding colour, turning these memoirs-cum- biography into a hugely enjoyable read. What we get is a portrait of a man who, to reference Oscar Wilde as Brown does, has turned his life into a work of art.

Brown takes Moz's declaration that "everything's linked, everybody takes from the artists they love" as a manifesto, tracing Morrissey's story through his literature, British film/TV and female pop influences. Ultimately (and sometimes wearily overbearingly so), it leads right back to Wilde, Morrissey's biggest love. The final chapter, tying up all the influences and parallels between the artists' lives, might get a bit much, mind. Without being brainsizzlingly new, Brown's turned out a very fair, even-handed account that happily gets you running back to those records to play detective yourself.