In the land of Boz

Amy

from the Ice Age to the dole age
Slow news day and I found myself thinking about the songwriting dynamics of the solo band - particularly how much Boz Boorer seems to have slid sharply down the hierarchy in 20-odd years. I like Boz and I know he’s the solo stalwart, the reliable pair of hands etc - but look at his album co-writes since Maladjusted:
  • Maladjusted (original not reissue) – 3
  • Quarry – 4
  • Ringleader – 0
  • Years of Refusal – 4
  • World Peace - 5 (9 on the Deluxe)
  • Low In High School – 4
  • Dog on a Chain – 0
It’s not a great trajectory. Two albums with no Boz tracks at all and the rest, he gets a third of the album at most. He used to compete fiercely with Alain in the ‘Lads’ days and he’s still submitting songs for consideration, so what happened? Even at times when you might expect Boz to become more prominent as a writer (i.e after Alain left), he was just overshadowed again by new collaborators like Tobias and then Manzur.

It makes me wonder what Moz privately thinks of BB’s songwriting ability - and what Boz thinks about so much of his stuff being 'passed over'. It often feels like as time passes, Boz is less and less involved with the creative part of the band and more involved with the logistics and the technical aspects of directing the musicians, supporting producers, sorting out tour stuff, etc. Has he become the warehouse manager of the Moz world?
 
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He did tip up 9 of the 18 on WPINOYB
Bit harsh to bracket him as a warehouse manager. Some are quite well paid.
 
He did tip up 9 of the 18 on WPINOYB
Bit harsh to bracket him as a warehouse manager. Some are quite well paid.
Oh, sorry - I completely forgot about World Peace! (played it once and abandoned it). Thank you for the reminder - I'll edit the OP.
 
Boz also had 2 additional tracks on the deluxe LIHS, and the other tracks that were given away for free (Blue dreamer's eyes, By the time..., I understand why people laughed, Brow of my beloved) were all Boz compositions.

So he filled the void left by Alain's departure as a songwriter, at least for a while.

But he was completely absent on Dog on a Chain, his place being taken by Manzur & Lopez. I don't know what to make of it because Boz strikes me as an irregular contributor of song material throughout the entire Morrissey career. He co-wrote half of V&I, but had only 1 composition on Southpaw. Then he co-wrote again a third of YATQ, but was absent from all B-sides in that era and from ROTT.

So my personal view is that Boz goes through periods where he is less prolific as a songwriter. I think it is funny to call him the warehouse managers, but I share your views on his current role in the band. And without Boz, probably no functioning band.
 
I reckon blikey blood fek'll. Blob should of been thrown out years ago when the California Son moved back home to Moz Angeles in 1989 for good and all the Brittish foreigners were eventually fired, but he has been kept in the band as the only foreigner because an all American band would not sell merch and tickets in foreign countries because foreigners equate music with nationalism. Also, Blob can't buy a house in Moz Angeles because he can't afford to and anyway he is way too fat to live in LA and he knows that c*** tit tossey wacker chipper curry northern base inn n nn nn n n nn n nn n n it.
 
Boz also had 2 additional tracks on the deluxe LIHS, and the other tracks that were given away for free (Blue dreamer's eyes, By the time..., I understand why people laughed, Brow of my beloved) were all Boz compositions.

So he filled the void left by Alain's departure as a songwriter, at least for a while.

But he was completely absent on Dog on a Chain, his place being taken by Manzur & Lopez. I don't know what to make of it because Boz strikes me as an irregular contributor of song material throughout the entire Morrissey career. He co-wrote half of V&I, but had only 1 composition on Southpaw. Then he co-wrote again a third of YATQ, but was absent from all B-sides in that era and from ROTT.

So my personal view is that Boz goes through periods where he is less prolific as a songwriter. I think it is funny to call him the warehouse managers, but I share your views on his current role in the band. And without Boz, probably no functioning band.

Boz had two co-writes on Southpaw ("The Teachers Are Afraid Of The Pupils" and "Reader Meet Author"). Speaking of Teachers, I'm surprised it's been twenty years since it was last played live in its shortened version.

I think the Maladjusted era must have been the roughest for Boz. Not only was he competing with Alain and a new co-writer in Spencer, but his glorious composition "I Know Who I Love" was scrapped entirely, "Kit" was never properly finished, and his only single co-write ("Satan...") was a massive dud in the charts. I'm just glad they were able to record "I Can Have Both" which is in my top 5 favorite Morrissey/Boorer compositions.

Boz re-emerged on the later Quarry-era b-sides ("The Slum Mums," "The Public Image," "Noise Is The Best Revenge," and the unreleased "I'm Playing Easy To Get") and only had a single co-write during the Ringleader sessions with "Christian Dior."
 
is his title not musical director.maybe his sound isnt what M is looking for these days.
 
is his title not musical director.maybe his sound isnt what M is looking for these days.
I think that’s it. Boz’ stuff is more traditional, and Moz hasn’t really been that interested in making traditional pop-rock music in a long while. Which is mostly a damn shame.
 
Boz also had 2 additional tracks on the deluxe LIHS, and the other tracks that were given away for free (Blue dreamer's eyes, By the time..., I understand why people laughed, Brow of my beloved) were all Boz compositions.

So he filled the void left by Alain's departure as a songwriter, at least for a while.

But he was completely absent on Dog on a Chain, his place being taken by Manzur & Lopez. I don't know what to make of it because Boz strikes me as an irregular contributor of song material throughout the entire Morrissey career. He co-wrote half of V&I, but had only 1 composition on Southpaw. Then he co-wrote again a third of YATQ, but was absent from all B-sides in that era and from ROTT.

So my personal view is that Boz goes through periods where he is less prolific as a songwriter. I think it is funny to call him the warehouse managers, but I share your views on his current role in the band. And without Boz, probably no functioning band.

He's being doing plenty of other stuff too.........solo work, production etc, gigs with the Polecats.
 
Slow news day and I found myself thinking about the songwriting dynamics of the solo band - particularly how much Boz Boorer seems to have slid sharply down the hierarchy in 20-odd years. I like Boz and I know he’s the solo stalwart, the reliable pair of hands etc - but look at his album co-writes since Maladjusted:
  • Maladjusted (original not reissue) – 3
  • Quarry – 4
  • Ringleader – 0
  • Years of Refusal – 4
  • World Peace - 5 (9 on the Deluxe)
  • Low In High School – 4
  • Dog on a Chain – 0
It’s not a great trajectory. Two albums with no Boz tracks at all and the rest, he gets a third of the album at most. He used to compete fiercely with Alain in the ‘Lads’ days and he’s still submitting songs for consideration, so what happened? Even at times when you might expect Boz to become more prominent as a writer (i.e after Alain left), he was just overshadowed again by new collaborators like Tobias and then Manzur.

It makes me wonder what Moz privately thinks of BB’s songwriting ability - and what Boz thinks about so much of his stuff being 'passed over'. It often feels like as time passes, Boz is less and less involved with the creative part of the band and more involved with the logistics and the technical aspects of directing the musicians, supporting producers, sorting out tour stuff, etc. Has he become the warehouse manager of the Moz world?

Martin is a talented motherf***er. Your post is dismissive.

But you already know that.
 
Slow news day and I found myself thinking about the songwriting dynamics of the solo band - particularly how much Boz Boorer seems to have slid sharply down the hierarchy in 20-odd years. I like Boz and I know he’s the solo stalwart, the reliable pair of hands etc - but look at his album co-writes since Maladjusted:
  • Maladjusted (original not reissue) – 3
  • Quarry – 4
  • Ringleader – 0
  • Years of Refusal – 4
  • World Peace - 5 (9 on the Deluxe)
  • Low In High School – 4
  • Dog on a Chain – 0
It’s not a great trajectory. Two albums with no Boz tracks at all and the rest, he gets a third of the album at most. He used to compete fiercely with Alain in the ‘Lads’ days and he’s still submitting songs for consideration, so what happened? Even at times when you might expect Boz to become more prominent as a writer (i.e after Alain left), he was just overshadowed again by new collaborators like Tobias and then Manzur.

It makes me wonder what Moz privately thinks of BB’s songwriting ability - and what Boz thinks about so much of his stuff being 'passed over'. It often feels like as time passes, Boz is less and less involved with the creative part of the band and more involved with the logistics and the technical aspects of directing the musicians, supporting producers, sorting out tour stuff, etc. Has he become the warehouse manager of the Moz world?

Also, you have no idea how the creative world works.

You join a band or you join a band with an already known singer-songwriter.

The best tracks end up on the album and singles, irrespective of who wrote them.
 
I ran into Boz outside out a show in 2006 and the person I was with asked him point blank why Ringleader didn't contain any songs of his. He made a face and replied, "I'm still writing them, he's just not picking them."
 
Also, you have no idea how the creative world works.

You join a band or you join a band with an already known singer-songwriter.

The best tracks end up on the album and singles, irrespective of who wrote them.
I'm aware of Morrissey's process when it comes to choosing material (which has never changed) - and I never said that Boz wasn't talented. He wrote some of my favourite Moz songs of all time. Try again.
 
You should give WP another spin. I've been critical of Morrissey since Years of Refusal, but I really did like it as a whole album.
 
I wonder if the lack of songwriting credits even bothers him that much these days? I'm sure there was a time years ago (when he and Alain were very competitive), that publishing royalties for a co-write with Morrissey were worth a lot of money, especially for whoever got the hit single. Given the dire sales figures for the last couple of Moz albums (plus the almost non-existent radio plays etc), I doubt there's much cash in it now. All the money Moz makes is in the live area, and it wouldn't surprise me that as credited 'musical director' (whatever that means), Boz gets a bigger slice of that pie that the rest of the band anyway.
 
As musical director, Boz gets told the pool of songs ahead of the tour, cajoles each member into learning their respective part, and does the vocals during rehearsals on Morrissey's behalf.
 
Obviously the fact that Boz had no songs on I Am Not a Dog on a Chain is striking, but other than that I don't see any consistent "slide down the hierarchy".

Vauxhall and I was the only album where he almost contributed half of the tracks, but he has otherwise always contributed a much lower ratio.

Even if you go back to that 1995 to 1997 period, Alain wrote all of the tracks on the non-album singles and then Boz only had 5 of the 19 tracks that made the two albums.

I think he deserved to have so many songs recorded during the World Peace is None of Your Business period, and some (eg. Staircase at the University and Art-hounds) are real highlights.
 
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