''World Peace Is None of Your Business'' is the tenth solo studio album by English singer
Morrissey
Steven Patrick Morrissey (; born 22 May 1959), known professionally as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. Since then ...
, recorded in February 2014 and released on 15 July 2014. It was produced by
Joe Chiccarelli
Joe or JOE may refer to:
Arts
Film and television
* ''Joe'' (1970 film), starring Peter Boyle
* ''Joe'' (2013 film), starring Nicolas Cage
* ''Joe'' (TV series), a British TV series airing from 1966 to 1971
* ''Joe'', a 2002 Canadian animated ...
and was distributed by record label
Harvest
Harvesting is the process of gathering a ripe crop from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper. On smaller farms with minimal mechanization, harvesting is the most labor-i ...
. The album entered at number 2 on the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...
and peaked in the US at number 14 on the
''Billboard'' 200.
Recording and cover
''World Peace Is None of Your Business'' was recorded at La Fabrique in
Saint-Rémy-de-Provence
Saint-Rémy-de-Provence (; Provençal Occitan: ''Sant Romieg de Provença'' in classical and ''Sant Roumié de Prouvènço'' in Mistralian norms) is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Southern France. Loc ...
in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
during February 2014 in a studio where Nick Cave had also worked.
The album's cover features an image of Morrissey crouching down and offering a pen to a
chocolate Labrador.
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
Nancy Sandra Sinatra (born June 8, 1940) is an American singer and actress. She is the elder daughter of Frank Sinatra and Nancy Sinatra ( Barbato), and is best known for her 1966 signature hit "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'.
Nancy Sinatra ...
next to Morrissey performing the song in
spoken word
Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of ...
.
On 20 May a second spoken word video was then released for the album's second single, "
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
". Purchasers who pre-ordered the album received a free mp3 download of the song. 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
Pamela Denise Anderson (born July 1, 1967) is a Canadian-American actress and model. She is best known for her glamour modeling work in ''Playboy'' magazine and for her appearances on the television series ''Baywatch'' (1992–1997).
Anders ...
.
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. The spoken word video had previously leaked online on 18 May. In addition to the four singles, "Kick the Bride Down the Aisle" debuted live prior to the album's official release.
On 7 July 2014 a four-track 10" vinyl EP was released, featuring the four singles, for
Record Store Day
Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...
.
Release and promotion
''World Peace Is None of Your Business'' was released on 15 July 2014 by record label
Harvest
Harvesting is the process of gathering a ripe crop from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper. On smaller farms with minimal mechanization, harvesting is the most labor-i ...
.
A Deluxe Edition was also released with more material. Of these other 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. The four spoken word videos are available in audio form on a Japanese deluxe version, as well as the other 18 tracks.
In 2021, Morrissey himself appeared to rank the album as the best of his career.
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.
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". 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. The album was still officially available for digital download via
online music stores
A digital music store is a business that sells digital audio files of music recordings over the Internet. Customers gain ownership of a license to use the files, in contrast to a music streaming service, where they listen to recordings without ...
; but stopped getting supported after the drop.
Reception
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 which indicates 'Generally favorable reviews".
In political magazine ''
National Review
''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief i ...
'' and in a review titled "World Summit"
Armond White
Armond White (born ) is an American film and music critic who writes for ''National Review'' and ''Out''. He was previously the editor of '' CityArts'' (2011–2014), the lead film critic for the alternative weekly ''New York Press'' (1997–201 ...
wrote that "Morrissey challenges pop and political orthodoxies."
Alexis Petridis
Alexis Petridis ( el, Αλέξης Πετρίδης; born 13 September 1971) is a British journalist, head rock and pop critic for the UK newspaper ''The Guardian'', as well as a regular contributor to the magazine '' GQ''. In addition to his mus ...
concluded a four of five star review for ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' with "Not as great as you might have hoped, but far better than you might have feared, a little more reliant on others than a man who ended his Autobiography claiming that "I have never had anything in my life that I did not make for myself" might care to admit, ''World Peace Is None of Your Business'' may be as good as it gets at this stage in his career, which is good enough." In a more mixed review for ''
Clash Magazine
''Clash'' is a music and fashion magazine and website based in the United Kingdom. It is published four times a year by Music Republic Ltd, whose predecessor Clash Music Ltd went into liquidation.
The magazine won the Best New Magazine award in ...
'' Benji Taylor wrote "though the bleakly beautiful is still there, the flashes are sporadic."
''Pitchfork'' gave an average rating saying, "At times the intricate arrangements come across as a means of covering up unmemorable songwriting".
In Truck & Driver's regular music reviews, Shaun Connors concluded one of five star assessment with "Lyrically, with his self-absorbed anti-views so all-prevalent in the alternative universe Morrissey inhabits, is it any surprise this collection of rants to
admusic covers such cheerful events as a bullfighter dying and a student’s suicide? Maybe the latter listened to this
album once too often…"
Track listing
Personnel
*
Morrissey
Steven Patrick Morrissey (; born 22 May 1959), known professionally as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. Since then ...
– lead vocals
Additional personnel
*
Boz Boorer
Martin James "Boz" Boorer (born 19 May 1962 in Edgware, Middlesex, England) is an English guitarist and producer most known for his work founding the new wave rockabilly group the Polecats; and later for his work as a co-writer, guitarist and m ...
– guitar, QChord, clarinet, sax
*
Jesse Tobias
Jesse Tobias (born April 1, 1972) is an American guitarist who is the lead guitarist and co-writer for Morrissey since 2004. Tobias first gained fame during a brief tenure with the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1993, although he was replaced by Dave ...
– guitars
*
Solomon Walker – bass guitar
*
Matt Walker – drums, tubular bells, percussion
* Gustavo Manzur – keyboards, piano, organ, synths, trumpet, accordion, flamenco guitar, didgeridoo, QChord, backing vocals
*
Kristeen Young
Kristeen Young (born 1975) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Young began playing piano as a child. She has released seven studio albums. Young has also sung with several artists including David Bowie ...
– backing vocals
Technical
*
Joe Chiccarelli
Joe or JOE may refer to:
Arts
Film and television
* ''Joe'' (1970 film), starring Peter Boyle
* ''Joe'' (2013 film), starring Nicolas Cage
* ''Joe'' (TV series), a British TV series airing from 1966 to 1971
* ''Joe'', a 2002 Canadian animated ...
– production, mixing
*
Ken Sluiter
Ken or KEN may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Ken'' (album), a 2017 album by Canadian indie rock band Destroyer.
* ''Ken'' (film), 1964 Japanese film.
* ''Ken'' (magazine), a large-format political magazine.
* Ken Masters, a main character in t ...
– mixing
*
Bob Ludwig
Robert C. Ludwig (born c. 1945) is an American mastering engineer. He has mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists including Led Zeppelin, Lou Reed, Qu ...
– mastering
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications and sales
! scope="row" , United States
, , , 25,000
References
External links
Official sitefor ''World Peace Is None of Your Business''
Morrisseyon MyPlayDirect
{{Authority control
2014 albums
Morrissey albums
Harvest Records albums
Albums produced by Joe Chiccarelli