World Peace Is None of Your Business

World Peace Is None of Your Business
Studio album by Morrissey
Released 15 July 2014
Recorded La Fabrique in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France, February 2014
Genre Pop rock, alternative rock
Length 54:34
Label Harvest/Capitol
Producer Joe Chiccarelli
Morrissey chronology

Years of Refusal
(2009)		 World Peace Is None of Your Business
(2014)
Singles from World Peace Is None Of Your Business
  1. "World Peace Is None of Your Business"
    Released: 13 May 2014
  2. "Istanbul"
    Released: 20 May 2014
  3. "Earth Is the Loneliest Planet"
    Released: 3 June 2014
  4. "The Bullfighter Dies"
    Released: 17 June 2014
  5. "Kiss Me a Lot"
    Released: 26 March 2015

World Peace Is None of Your Business is the tenth solo studio album by English singer Morrissey, recorded in February 2014 and released on 15 July 2014. It was produced by Joe Chiccarelli and was distributed by record label Harvest.

Recording

World Peace Is None of Your Business was recorded at La Fabrique in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence in France during February 2014.[1]

Album cover and clone stamp issue

The album's cover features an image of Morrissey crouching down and offering a pen to a chocolate Labrador. This photo was taken elsewhere, and the cover itself features that image photoshopped and superimposed in front of a wall with the words "World Peace Is None of Your Business" scrawled behind in orange text. On initial digital releases of the artwork, a clone stamp appeared on the left hand side; namely, a direct duplicate of the plant and brown tile next to Morrissey's leg became apparent. Most physical editions of the album had this corrected, though it still tends to appear on digital versions of the album's singles' embedded artwork, and on some physical copies. Largely, however, the clone stamp was removed for final in-store releases.

Promotion

The album's lead single, "World Peace Is None of Your Business", was released on 13 May 2014, alongside an accompanying music video featuring Nancy Sinatra next to Morrissey performing the song in spoken word.[2] On 20 May a second spoken word video was then released for the album's second single, "Istanbul". Purchasers who pre-ordered the album received a free mp3 download of the song.[3] On 3 June the digital download and spoken word video for the third single, "Earth Is the Loneliest Planet", was made available. The video features Pamela Anderson.[4] On 17 June the studio version and spoken word video of "The Bullfighter Dies", the fourth single, was put on Morrissey's official YouTube channel.[5] The spoken word video had previously leaked online on 18 May.[6] In addition to the four singles, "Kick the Bride Down the Aisle" debuted live prior to the album's official release.[7]

On 7 July 2014 a four-track 10" vinyl EP was released, featuring the four singles, for Record Store Day.[8]

On March 26 2015, "Kiss Me A Lot" was released as the album's fifth single.

Release

World Peace Is None of Your Business was released on 15 July 2014 by record label Harvest.[9][10][11]

A Deluxe Edition was also released. Of the new tracks, "Scandinavia" had been played live many times in 2011 and 2012, and also performed as part of the Studio in Session bonus feature on the 25Live DVD and Blu-ray release. "Art-hounds" had been played live only once, on 7 August 2011.[12] The four spoken word videos are available in audio form on a Japanese deluxe version, as well as the other 18 tracks.

Harvest Records controversy

On 20 August 2014 Morrissey announced that, due to disagreements with his record label Harvest, the album would be dropped only three weeks after its release.[13]

On 8 January 2015, Morrissey advised fans that a 45 of "The Bullfighter Dies" was scheduled for a global release by Harvest, but was scrapped by Steve Barnett at the last minute. The b-side was to be the original French mix of the song "One of Our Own".[14] Further vinyl singles, including "Istanbul", "Kiss Me A Lot" and "Neal Cassady Drops Dead" were to include other French mixes of several songs as their b-sides: "Scandinavia", "Smiler With Knife" and "Art-hounds", and were available to pre-order from amazon.fr. However, these were also presumably scrapped.[15]

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic 70/100[16]
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic [17]
The A.V. Club C–[18]
Billboard 77/100[19]
The Guardian [20]
Mojo [21]
NME 9/10[22]
The Observer [23]
Pitchfork 5.9/10[24]
Rolling Stone [25]
Spin 7/10[26]

The album was generally well received by critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews and ratings from mainstream critics, the album has received a metascore of 70, based on 36 reviews.[16] However, Benji Taylor of Clash Magazine wrote a mixed review of the album, saying "though the bleakly beautiful is still there, the flashes are sporadic. It pales in comparison to his crowning solo achievement, Vauxhall and I, and the LP Morrissey considers to be The Smiths’ masterpiece, Strangeways, Here We Come."[27]

Track listing

No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "World Peace Is None of Your Business"  Morrissey, Boz Boorer 4:21
2. "Neal Cassady Drops Dead"  Morrissey, Gustavo Manzur, Continuous 4:02
3. "I'm Not a Man"  Morrissey, Jesse Tobias 7:50
4. "Istanbul"  Morrissey, Boorer 4:40
5. "Earth Is the Loneliest Planet"  Morrissey, Manzur 3:38
6. "Staircase at the University"  Morrissey, Boorer 5:30
7. "The Bullfighter Dies"  Morrissey, Tobias 2:05
8. "Kiss Me a Lot"  Morrissey, Tobias 4:03
9. "Smiler with Knife"  Morrissey, Tobias 5:13
10. "Kick the Bride Down the Aisle"  Morrissey, Tobias, Continuous 5:18
11. "Mountjoy"  Morrissey, Boorer 5:08
12. "Oboe Concerto"  Morrissey, Boorer 4:07
Total length:
 54:35

Personnel

Additional personnel
Technical personnel

Charts

Chart (2014) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[28] 58
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[29] 17
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[30] 13
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[31] 7
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[32] 2
French Albums (SNEP)[33] 53
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[34] 28
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[35] 8
Irish Albums (IRMA)[36] 4
Italian Albums (FIMI)[37] 21
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[38] 29
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[39] 30
UK Albums (OCC)[40] 2
US Albums (Billboard 200)[41] 14

References

  1. ↑ "Morrissey has signed a two-album deal with Capitol Music in Los Angeles, and is set to record a new album in France starting on February 1". True-to-you.net. 15 January 2014. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
  2. ↑ Minsker, Evan (12 May 2014). "Morrissey's "World Peace Is None of Your Business" Single Art Is Amazing". Pitchfork. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  3. ↑ "Morrissey Streams New Song "Istanbul" | News". Pitchfork. 2014-05-20. Retrieved 2014-07-14.
  4. ↑ Minsker, Evan (May 19, 2014). "Morrissey Shares "The Bullfighter Dies" and "Istanbul" Spoken Word Videos". Pitchfork. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
  5. ↑ "Morrissey - The Bullfighter Dies (Audio)". YouTube. Retrieved 2014-07-14.
  6. ↑ "Spoken Word Video: Morrissey 'The Bullfighter Dies'". Morrissey-solo. Retrieved 2014-07-14.
  7. ↑ Grow, Kory (June 9, 2014). "Morrissey Premieres Depressing 'Kick the Bride Down the Aisle' Live". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 13, 2014.
  8. ↑ "World Peace Is None Of Your Business [10 Inch Vinyl Indie Exclusive]". Record Store Day. Retrieved 2014-07-14.
  9. ↑ Minsker, Evan (12 May 2014). "Morrissey Shares Nancy Sinatra-Featuring Video for "World Peace Is None of Your Business"". Pitchfork. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
  10. ↑ "Morrissey reveals new album tracklisting | News". Nme.Com. 2014-04-12. Retrieved 2014-07-14.
  11. ↑ "Morrissey Reveals Extremely Morrissey-Esque Tracklist for World Peace Is None of Your Business | News". Pitchfork. 2014-04-11. Retrieved 2014-07-14.
  12. ↑ "Art-hounds live Brixton Complete Great Quality". YouTube. August 7, 2011. Retrieved January 14, 2015.
  13. ↑ "Please Close The Door Behind Me". True-To-You.net. 20 August 2014. Retrieved 2014-08-22.
  14. ↑ "The Bullfighter Dies / single". True-To-You.net. 8 January 2015. Retrieved 2015-01-12.
  15. ↑ "Single information via amazon.fr". Amazon.fr. 12 January 2015. Retrieved 2015-01-12.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 "Reviews for World Peace Is None of Your Business by Morrissey". Metacritic. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  17. ↑ Stephen Thomas Erlewine (2014-07-15). "Morrissey: World Peace Is None Of Your Business". AllMusic. Retrieved 2014-07-16.
  18. ↑ Jason Heller (2014-07-15). "After a 5-year lull, Morrissey returns—and shrugs". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2014-07-15.
  19. ↑ Kenneth Partridge (2014-07-08). "Morrissey’s ‘World Peace Is None of Your Business’: Track-by-Track Review". Billboard. Retrieved 2014-07-17.
  20. ↑ Alexis Petridis (2014-07-10). "Morrissey: World Peace Is None of Your Business review". The Guardian. Retrieved 2014-07-15.
  21. ↑ Cameron, Keith (July 2014). "Review: The unbelievable truce". Mojo (65): 84.
  22. ↑ Ben Hewitt (2014-07-14). "Morrissey - 'World Peace Is None Of Your Business'". NME. Retrieved 2014-07-15.
  23. ↑ Kitty Empire (2014-07-13). "World Peace is None of Your Business review – Morrissey's 10th finds the singer on an upswing". The Observer. Retrieved 2014-07-17.
  24. ↑ Marc Hogan (2014-07-14). "Morrissey: World Peace Is None of Your Business". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 2014-07-15.
  25. ↑ Rob Sheffield (2014-07-15). "Morrissey: World Peace Is None of Your Business". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2014-07-15.
  26. ↑ Barry Walters (2014-07-16). "Moz Gives Old Age the Finger on 'World Peace Is None of Your Business'". Spin. Retrieved 2014-07-17.
  27. ↑ Taylor, Benji (2014) "http://www.clashmusic.com/reviews/morrissey-world-peace-is-none-of-your-business"
  28. ↑ "The ARIA Report: Week Commencing 21 July 2014" (PDF) (1273). Pandora Archive. July 22, 2014. Retrieved July 27, 2014.
  29. ↑ "Morrissey – World Peace Is None of Your Business" (in German). Austriancharts.at. Hung Medien. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
  30. ↑ "Morrissey – World Peace Is None of Your Business" (in French). Ultratop.be. Hung Medien. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
  31. ↑ "Morrissey – World Peace Is None of Your Business" (in Dutch). Ultratop.be. Hung Medien. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
  32. ↑ "Morrissey – World Peace Is None of Your Business". Danishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  33. ↑ "Morrissey – World Peace Is None of Your Business". Lescharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  34. ↑ "Morrissey – World Peace Is None of Your Business" (in Dutch). Dutchcharts.nl. Hung Medien. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
  35. ↑ "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
  36. ↑ "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week {{{week}}}, {{{year}}}". Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  37. ↑ "Artisti - Classifica settimanale WK 29 (dal 14-07-2014 al 20-07-2014)" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  38. ↑ "Morrissey – World Peace Is None of Your Business". Swedishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
  39. ↑ "Morrissey – World Peace Is None of Your Business". Swisscharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
  40. ↑ "Morrissey | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart Retrieved 17 July 2014.
  41. ↑ "Sam Smith, Iggy Azalea, Weird Al Yankovic Atop Billboard Artist 100". Billboard. 24 July 2014. Retrieved 24 July 2014.

External links