Not the first time Uncle Skinny has thought something was a hoax then been shown up is it?

It's not a fake.

Almost certainly a hoax,Thats never Morrissey in the hat and sunglasses.

Although I like the cover, it's probably the one I am most confused by. Ever.

While I like the single (and the cover, even though I thought these shirts went out with "Parker Lewis Can't Lose"), it seems to be me that Morrissey is obviously trying to counter the racism charges by trotting out MLK (it's obviously MLK, given the word "dream" and I've seen that picture before).

I just don't know what to feel about it. On the one hand, I think it's great that he is at least making efforts to incorporate racial harmony in his iconography. On the other hand, it seems to be a cynical and easy ploy, akin to an oil company running an "environmental" advertisement so the greens will get off their backs.

Personally I don't think Morrissey is racist. I think he is nativist and has misguided views on "English culture" But I'm an American and are culture isn't as ancient...on the other hand, he is at least the son of an Irish immigrant, so why should he care about "Englishness." Should whites be allowed to immigrate to England, while Bengali individuals and people who don't speak English can not...

Difficult issues this one.

I really like that shirt.
If he was wearing a belt he'd look like he was trying to dress like me.

What a lovely shirt. Ooh lovely. I love it.

I think Moz is trying to embrace change. No more duff yellow numbers hopefully.

Totally contrary to morrissey solo policies always fakes!

i like this much better than any of the last 12 or so covers. i like it

thetexasbloke

Refreshingly out-of-the-ordinary. I'm glad for the confirmation that this artwork is the real McCoy.

Special thanks to Uncleskinny for also providing the link to the poster artist in the Forums:

http://blogs.laweekly.com/lurker/pastes/mbw-on-mlk/ [laweekly.com]

According to the link, the posters were seen in LA in memorium of the assasination of King in April. The never-seen Morrissey photo was probably one of the outtakes from Hot Press. Some may remember Morrissey in that fabulous shirt standing next to an advertisment featuring a kitten.

Some of the more cynical may believe that this shot is some kind of ploy on Morrissey's part to dispel allegations of racism. I believe he (and along with myself) thinks this is a great example of the kind of diverse street art you can see in LA and he just wanted to feature it on a single.

Great job, MBW, whoever you are.

Another eye captivating picture of Morrissey, loving the new /YOR/ covers, he's really handsome.

His distressed denim and hideous shirt makes him look like a cabbie from Glendale.

This is quite a Christmas gift :)

Well, certainly better, sexier, than him in a Santa Claus outfit. And... where's the belly?! Gone, gone, gone! Sagging face? It suits him, makes him more masculine. Grey hair? It would make his blue eyes stand out more - not that I see any grey hair in this picture. Have you ever seen a more seductive ageing handsome devil? Lovely outfit, lovely look in the eye.

I think this scenario (the background) is not the Paris from France, but the Paris from the... Midwest? Where they filmed "From Paris to Texas"?

I like the way he evokes Martin Luther King. Casually, without preaching, using just a telling image.

I get it. Stop. How many black people are at your concerts anyway?

His mouth is smug and uneven; all the small lines have been Photoshopped away leaving only the deep ones; the fonts are a clashing nightmare and he's squinting so hard his eyes are nearly shut. What are you all getting that I'm not?

Somebody stole Timothy Dalton's wax figure from the museum and put it on the cover of a Morrissey single.

Criticizing Morrissey's aesthetics has become far too easy. I almost feel as if his horrid taste has become a style in and of itself, and is nothing more than a priggish wind-up.

However, common sense dictates that he has merely lost the plot, and is suffering from the same artistic handicaps that most people do as they age.

The style of shirt that he is wearing went out with the neo-hippy fad that was prevalent throughout the early to mid-nineties. It was re-awakened in the early 2000's as a prop for hipsters, and other abusers of irony, but it makes absolutely no sense on Morrissey, regardless of its expiration date.

He even had the audacity to wear the "Vicar" v-neck sweater and white t-shirt combo a few years back that went out of style in the late nineties. He's simply out of touch.

When you've based your entire career around highly calculated, aesthetic choices, then you should expect some critique when you become the drunken aunt with a week's worth of variations on a leopard print blouse.

Above all, it's the subtle, and sometimes not so subtle racial pandering that is the most disappointing development. I don't believe for a second that Morrissey honestly relates enough to the average person to give a shit about racial harmony. He's a loner. Ultimately, it doesn't affect him.

From suddenly adoring Latinos while displaying disgust about virtually everyone else, to the horrible song "Mexico" that was his most obvious plea for approval, to name-checking obscure foreign artists in order to seem cultured, Morrissey has simply lost his cool. I can't trust his taste anymore.

It's okay. He's created a sufficient body of work, but let's not pretend that his persona still makes any sense.

much better than the YOR sleeve! Im really digging this one!

I don't think it's Banksy, nor Shepard Fairey, but the blend of street art with Moz prowling kitten-like in H&M-like fashion around it is very appealing, imho. The font (I now agree it's deco ;) certainly evokes turn-of-the-century Parisian art. Layered with the image of an idealistic Black male intellectual (is it really MLK?), I agree it draws a strong connection with early 20th century Paris and America today (though I think we have a bit of catching up to do overall still). And this just shows "Paris" can be anywhere. Echo Park is a bit more welcoming, imo, but it's definitely bohemian and historically as free-thinking and activist as it is today (with a new batch of young expatriates).

So I have a dream...to pin and mount Moz like a butterfly. You truly have much to declare with your jeans, my dear.

in this pic - seriously imagine him in a grubby overcoat! A terrible cover. What's with the tan? Moz looks more and more like a washed-up old queen by the day. Sad. There is no longer any connection between this man and the cool poster child of Your Arsenal and Vauxhall and I.

Whether its fake or not he's absolutely stunning in this picture, anyone who doesnt agree id get yourself down to specsavers sharpish

GORGEOUS

Where's your gold chain, Mr. M?

-An American Somewhere-

Every new release story, every mention of Morrissey’s upcoming album is just an excuse for more of all your brutish revolting comments. Are there really so few Morrissey fans on this site? Are any of them still alive or have there died. Here is an announcement of his Paris single which will bring with it some additional new songs through the b-sides as well as bringing us all that much closer to the release of YOR, which from reading the lyrics sounds like it will be amazing.
However seems very few here looked at the lyrics as apparently the font used for them was not acceptable and it didn’t contain any pictures to mock. The least Morrissey could have done was to have scribbled in the margins so he could have been further psychoanalyzed by all of you, as you all know plenty about being psychoanalyzed, lobotomized, electro shock-osized, the only shame being that they didn’t have you beaten down senseless with the shovel they used to have you on your way to died.
So again it’s criticism now of Morrissey’s shirt selection and his use of MLK on the single cover. All very significant and indicative of the quality of the songs. Very imperative and important to comment on these things, we think it’s essential really you brain dead fuck-ups, your just doormats and victims who have to use busses to get around because you cretins own nothing, you don’t own any horses and lets face you don’t have any property in your name and you don’t know anything about taxes, you’re just belligerent ghouls who never went to schools, uneducated, illiterate monsters who can’t even love Morrissey, you people are pathetic wastes of space and your brains don’t even work properly, you disgust us, we love Morrissey’s shirt and he looks gorgeous especially in the picture with his new record company in Tennessee, we hail from Tennessee, that’s right we are southerners and what are you gonna do about you disgusting piles of rubbish, we’ll tell you what you’re gonna do, you’re gonna do nothing because that is all washed up rag hags are, nothing, that’s what you represent, nothing, to care about these things, to rant and mock all these things. Because truly that is what matters, it’s album covers, and album shirts and album fonts that music is all about. I mean Morrissey should have sung:
But don’t forget the album sleeves
That made you cry
And the fonts that should have made you died
Mike should have called That’s How People Grow Up That’s How People Throw Up as he wants to vomit all over you mental pig faces
What the hell was he thinking caring about actual songs.
Yes it’s understood you won’t be able to pay for the single, you have to download everything for “free”, you’re probably the people you have to stand in back of in stores with 75 coupons and we have to wait for you broke bitches and low lives so you can save your five dollars.
We see that night of the living died are still here with your dysfunctional beaten up broken brain dead brains with your never ending listless useless wretched rants.

You broke, stranded, woebegone empty headed and empty pocketed vandals. Come to think of it, you people won’t even be allowed into hell - you’re just rotting corpses on your way to be died , ya know?

are selling very well

antwerpen and rotterdam sold out, it was totally
mees about the german dates

faking to sell one, you sell one, you go further where and than it goes all wrong

not that I'm going to Cologne or Offenbach
[near the Dutch border] or Berlin and Bremen

what about the French, Guillaime?

Damn! He looks good in those jeans!

Hurrah!

everyone that posts on here(including myself) are primarily idiots... and I'm not even white(or latino as is the conclusion that most jump to when there is a non-white Morrissey fan)! Merry Christmas to all of you in the most non-politcally correct way possible. Jesus Luvs U.

Waaaay too much going on here. Weird photo of Dr. King (whimsical, of course, that's probably what Moz liked about it... but strange nonetheless) combined with the frilly Art Deco/60s neo-psychedelic "Morrissey" type, Art Nouveau title copy, that constipated look on Morrissey's face, juxtaposed with that crazy paisley shirt taken from Prince's "Under The Cherry Moon" wardrobe from 1986... just a little too much, IMO.

Vietnamese Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh, who was friends with Martin Luther King has recently written, via attachment to an email circular (not online),

"A letter to all my spiritual children, as the year comes to an end.

[from] Still Sitting Hut, December 5, 2008" -

of which part is an interesting little recollection about the civil rights leader and his dream:

"... The sangha body is a beautiful community of four integral parts – monks, nuns, laymen, laywomen – "realizing harmony, awareness and liberation…". The civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had hoped to build a community like that: a community that has happiness, brotherhood, and also the capacity to fight for the social good. He called it the "beloved community." It's a pity that he was assassinated in Memphis when he was 39 years old, and that particular beautiful dream of his was never realized. We are more fortunate: we are able to build sanghas everywhere, so that every place will become our homeland. ("The Sangha body is everywhere; my true home is right here.") We have been able to continue, and to realize, the aspiration of Martin Luther King: cultivating brotherhood in our daily practice, living joyfully and helping others.

I remember the last time I met Dr. King, in Switzerland, at the "Pacem In Terris" conference organized by the World Council of Churches in 1968. Dr. King stayed with his assistant on the 11th floor in the big hotel where the conference was taking place. I stayed on the ground floor with just one lay assistant. Dr. King invited me to have breakfast with him so we could talk. Because I was busy with a press conference, I was half an hour late, but Dr. King had kept my breakfast warm. In that meeting, I had the opportunity to tell him: "The friends in Vietnam really support you, and they see you as a living bodhisattva." He was very happy to hear that. Every time I think back on that meeting, I feel glad I was able to tell him that, because a few months later he was assassinated..."

is it me or is that the silhouette of a gun over MLK? it would make sense after all