Morrissey's exceptional stature as a star stands out in both the worlds of popular music writing and studies. He is one of the few artists belonging to the post-1960s generation of Anglo-American ‘rock legends’ who has achieved a status which produces both academic and non-academic studies. Much print material has been dedicated to his works, career and cultural impact, not forgetting the ‘Moz-embracing’ fan-material circulated on Internet discussion sites, in articles and in interviews in newspapers and magazines.

In this connection, the pop market is flooded with standard and sub-standard releases relating to the glorious days of Morrissey and the Smiths (DVDs, special magazine issues, etc.), often reprinting familiar photos and news stories or exploiting the latest snippets of information from the people ‘who were there’ during the heyday of what many believe is the most important British band of all time.

However, Morrissey and The Smiths have also recently been the subject of many interesting books, from academic studies including Why Pamper Life's Complexities and Irish Blood, English Heart, to several academic theses around the world and Simon Goddard's encyclopaedic books about the man and his former group (Mozipedia and The Songs That Saved Your Life). This list of works can be extended by mentioning a book of essays edited by three Irish university academics attempting to explain the many complexities of Morrissey (Morrissey: Fandom, Representations and Identities), and The Pageant of His Bleeding Heart in which the author analyses Morrissey as a poet reaching the heights of Lord Byron and Philip Larkin, and the religious influences on his star status.

Therefore, Michael Bracewell's opening claim in this book that ‘one day there will probably be a Faculty of Morrissey Studies in more than one distinguished seat of learning’ (p. 3), is more than relevant nowadays. Nicholas Greco attempts to develop these studies by exploring the enigmatic and mystical nature of Morrissey's stardom (p. 4), suggesting that it could it be analysed through critical reception of the works of Morrissey, his celebrity figure, changing gender identity in music video, live and mediated performance and the musical world of Morrissey.

It is always admirable to see the book trying to solve the ‘Morrissey-mystery’ and seeking new angles on this ever-expanding Moz-bibliography. Greco starts this discussion of Morrissey's hugely significant contribution to popular culture by briefly reviewing his youth (pp. 17–18) (expanding this area of study might be one of those new approaches in Morrissey Studies), his ambivalent sexual orientation (pp. 17–22), and the racism connected to his celebrity. Presenting a bland description of nationality in music, he starts briefly to talk of Englishness and its effects on music and culture (pp. 27–32), the subject most often connected to Morrissey's career and its controversies. Most famously Morrissey's ‘desires’ arise from this background – England for him has always been ambivalently a place for hatred and a haven.

Remembering this, the reader cannot but think how closely the Morrissey mystery is connected to his background. However, supposedly being aware of the large body of work in Morrissey studies concentrating on this, Greco does not want to dwell on the question of nationality in the Morrissey enigma, and moves to the critical reception of his works. This in turn raises one of the most important problems in this book. Is it really necessary to swallow such a big bite of the Morrissey pie while trying to solve his mystery?

This question becomes more and more obvious when reading the oddly tedious listing of Morrissey's repertoire in the chapter on ‘Critical reception of the works of Morrissey’ (pp. 33–76), which cursorily comments on various Smiths and Morrissey songs; thus, on ‘Rusholme Ruffians’: ‘this song is a vivid account of life at the end of a country fair or carnival’ (p. 40) and ‘‘Ask’ seems to reflect the mood of the 1980s, where the threat of nuclear annihilation was close in people's minds’ (p. 45). When talking about one of Morrissey's most enduring songs, ‘Everyday is Like Sunday’, Greco says that ‘this song is commonly considered one of Morrissey's classics, though it is unclear why this might be’ (pp. 50–51). With this ill-considered comment he not only sets himself up as the target of vitriolic Morrissey fandom, but also raises the question of why this assessment is not debated. This style of analysis defines the overall sentiment in this chapter. What is the point of going so superficially through the large body of work of an artist, whose every song can be an opportunity to write a thesis?

By concentrating too much in this chapter on lyrics – taken at some points too literally – and randomly referring to ephemeral reviews of The Smiths and Morrissey albums, the author bizarrely overlooks the whole reality of popular music history and English culture and society of the 1980s – one of the real reference points when seeking answers to the Morrissey enigma. For example, when talking about Morrissey's song ‘Dagenham Dave’ (1995), Greco concentrates on analysing the lyrics and video that are centred on the main characters in the song, Dave and his women, Karen and Sharon (pp. 63–4, 115), and absolutely neglects the context in which the song was supposedly created. This is the actual place, Dagenham, near London, the birthplace of Morrissey's 1960s female idol Sandie Shaw, and a place famous for its Thatcherite-led upstart culture, aggressively despised by northerners like Morrissey. More focused and tighter analysis of chosen examples of the Morrissey enigma might have improved this chapter considerably.

The book improves after this, but still occasionally rambles somewhat aimlessly around themes most often related to the Morrissey mystery: gender, Morrissey's voice and desire, celebrity and masculinity. Most of us know that Morrissey has remained an anti-establishment and provocative figure, bringing controversial issues to the public since the mid-1980s, and his unspecified gender politics is part of his star appeal. Greco does not add much to the analysis conducted by Stan Hawkins in his recent works on Morrissey, male stardom and masculinity, but this study becomes more fascinating when Greco starts to analyse Morrissey's video ‘The Boy Racer’ (pp. 109–29). Here we find ideas (for example, themes of injury and violence in Morrissey's stardom, pp. 121–3, 187–90), which could have been a marvellous focus for a book like this. To pick up a couple of exemplary songs and videos reflecting the enigmatic celebrity and world of Morrissey, and try to resolve the mystery, ultimately admitting that it will remain a mystery, unnecessarily repeats the clichéd image of Morrissey's ambiguity.

Therefore, in many ways the book resembles a textbook for media and cultural studies courses while forgetting its main focus: to analyse the world and enigma of Morrissey. However, from the fifth chapter, the book further improves when it begins to examine in detail Morrissey's live and mediated performances. It introduces us to a Morrissey überfan Julia Riley (pp. 136–7), who follows her idol almost everywhere and has created an unique and mysterious relationship with him. But again, one expects a wider context when talking about this star–fan relationship. In this case, the reader begins to wish for some analysis based on recent fandom studies, provided both by popular musicology and cultural studies. Morrissey's live performances are analysed in the context of religious euphoria, by referring to live experience as the congregation of the Church of Morrissey (p. 130) and his performance rituals (worn shirt as relic, pp. 138–9), which are obvious references to the religious studies reading of the world of Morrissey. In this case, readers may wonder why the book is coyly suggesting that the Morrissey enigma can be analysed in terms of religion/religious experience, while not taking it as one of the main points of analysis. This situation is underlined when the author briefly mentions that ‘it is important to note that the lyrics of The Smiths are devoid of much reference to religion’ (p. 49).

After this Greco moves on to analyse Morrissey's mediated stardom in television and radio shows by choosing the American Craig Kilborn show (pp. 165–70) and BBC television and radio shows (Jonathan Ross, pp. 171–5; Janice Long, pp. 175–9) as his examples. Most Morrissey followers know his Tourette syndrome-like diatribes, Wildean witticisms and equivocations in interviews, and that is why it is rather unnecessary to go through three of them in a row in detail (pp. 165–79) without any comment. The seemingly random and vacuous linking, while not giving any comparative analysis of their role in different media and rock-cultural contexts (namely, LA late-night talk show, British prime-time Friday television show, BBC ‘indie’ radio show) does not improve the situation.

In the end, Morrissey's escape to Los Angeles and his interest in Hollywood star history suggests again another interesting avenue for further Morrissey studies. Additionally, his recent relocation to Rome, following in the footsteps of stars like David Bowie and Scott Walker in embracing Europeanism, puts the singer, whose past songs were famous for the absence of places outside ‘Old Blighty’, into another mysterious context. While Morrissey is now singing in truly 1960s Sacha Distel-style clichéd titles (‘I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris’) reflecting European romance, one can ask what is happening to his enigmatic stardom and its ambiguous meanings for Morrissey-dom.

In this connection, Greco suggests new avenues for the study of Morrissey, mentioning his association with a group of 20th-century poets and his use of voice as a vehicle for gendered desire. A reading of this book prompts the idea that Morrissey's life and career would make an instructive study in psychology. Maybe opportunities for this will proliferate, as the great man himself has promised to publish his memoirs in the near future.