Morrissey Returns to the Studio
by Chi | 00.00.0000

Musicians are kind of like ballplayers. You have the one-hit wonder, the guy who has a career average of around three points a game, but somehow manages to sink a game-winning shot. Anyone remember The New Radicals? A second category is the sturdy veteran, someone who hangs around the league for a few years, but doesn’t have what it takes to breaks through to stardom, a la The Counting Crows. Then there’s a third group, one we like to call the “Morrisseys.” For some reason, Morrisseys never quite wear out their welcome, even though for the last 30-something years, we’ve had to endure a neverending string of petulance and attempted comeback albums. Of course, it also helps when the man who coined the term just so happened to be the frontman of one of the most influential and revered bands of any time.

The ageless wonder is back in the studio readying an album of new material, which his producer Jerry Finn (of Green Day and Rancid fame) hopes will be available to the masses by Spring of 2004. Christmas may be just around the corner, but unless releases by Missy Elliot and Foo Fighters get you all riled up, it’s probably best to hold out for Mo-Man and his next serving of melodic megalomania. Besides, with new songs like “The First of the Gang to Die” and “I Like You” creating a swirl of Internet buzz (read: nerdy music forums), maybe he hasn’t lost his touch after all. Then again, isn’t that what we all said about the Counting Crows?