The Miracle of the Smiths

I know, sorry :-(

i know that you knew, so that's ok ;-)

I appreciate the bands that reunite every once in a while but don't tour, like zep.

Ccr hasn't reunited yet, but could. Same with husker du, but they're far less likely than Smiths.

still baffled that the so called Complete box set is missing not only 5 of the original non album single tracks but that there is STILL after 3 decades no complete BBC/ Peel session stuff available. it's the 21st century, The Smiths are regarded as the 2nd best UK band since The Beatles yet there's a Smiths *Peel session* of How Soon Is Now that isn't on CD. i mean.. words fail me.

What are the 5 tracks?

Wonderful Woman
Work Is A Four Letter Word
Jeanne
I Keep Mine Hidden
The Draize Train

plus if one wanted a *complete* catalogue in the box you really ought to have the Kervorkian 'New York Mix' of This Charming Man, the live James cover of What's The World (from the B side of the CD EP of I Started Something..) and the alt version of Accept Yourself.

"Jeane", "Wonderful Woman", and the NY "This Charming Man" are on the deluxe The Sound Of The Smiths, along with "You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby" at its original speed.

indeed. remastered too. makes the exclusion even more baffling.

the only things I possibly do not know from this are

alt 'accept yourself'
Peel 'how soon is now?' - I don't think I had any idea that existed.

but I have feeling there might be one or two other Peel tracks?

once you start including live tracks, well how about
the very early 'handsome devil'
the late 'some girls are bigger than others' with alt lyrics
the Oxford Road Show tracks from 'that joke'

and what was it they contributed to that NME tape in 1985 ... was it just a live take of 'nowhere fast' or something?

According to Discogs they didn't contribute to an NME tape but a live version of 'What She Said ' featured on a 7" EP which was given away with poll winners issue.

The Peel session versions of London and Half A Person are better than the studio versions, and (as far as I know) are unreleased.

yeah the Peel London *flattens* the original and that's unreleased. the Nowhere Fast BBC sesh is also killer
there's a pretty neat summing up of all the Jensen/ Peel sessions, which ones were released and the differences between them on the Hatful.. Wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatful_of_Hollow

there was also this if we're getting *mega* completist re sessions; the Sandie Shaw BBC sesh of Jeanne and I Don't Owe You Anythng which i don't even think i've ever heard
http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/1408587/a/Cool+About+You%3A+Bbc+Sessions.htm
amazing that somehow *that* is on CD and some Smiths ones aren't.

Has anyone ever found anything much to redeem 'Never Nad No-One Ever'?

Dods, yes, I have that 7-inch - it also has a U2 'Wire' remix

It's best to think of it as a parody of a Smiths song. xp

it's a highly enjoyable prime slab of desperate melodrama served with just a hint of stalkery horseradish

Yeah, but sequenced right after the similarly paced (and far superior) "I Know It's Over," it really stops that album dead in its tracks.

it's starts again when you flip it over ;)

although i don't like cemetry gates much either. actually considering what a formative record this was for me there are rather a lot of songs that i dislike.

Never Had No One Ever is not really a song, it's basically a vamp. Its position immediately after I Know It's Over is usually considered a sequencing mistake, but I think it's probably deliberate - the similarity of keys and tempos mean I hear it as I Know It's Over's looser, offhand coda. In this way, it has the same function as the similarly paced (and similarly placed) ending to Death of a Disco Dancer on Strangeways. I enjoy myself listening to it, but I am easily pleased by this kind of thing (I could listen to someone going between Am and Dm all day).

While I'm here, I want to mention another good Smiths site that I haven't seen mentioned here; Smiths on Guitar. Here is the page for Never Had No One Ever. For some songs, the site has little more than the chords scanned from the sheet music, but for others it has some fascinating videos and quotes.

reunion is GO! .. allegedly.

first heard this from a pretty reliable source some months back, raised a quizzical eyebrow. seems like it could be on the cards after all (no Mike Joyce though).

hmmm...

There was a Rockpalast show broadcast on SkyArts recently but I watched skinny young ,orrissey dancing like a fawn in front of his admiring audience and thought to myself, he's not that guy anymore.

Johnny is still Johnny, sure.

but.

no mike joyce no creditbility

here it says yes joyce, no rourke
http://www.digitalspy.com/music/news/a409472/the-smiths-reunion-new-rumors-emerge-of-glastonbury-2013-comeback.html

54321 til morrissey denies all this?

really hope they don't do it

I hope not either. I don't like the idea of reunions, especially this one because it is solely motivated by money.

feel like if morrissey was actually desperate for $$$$ he'd do a "morrissey sings the smiths" tour w/o any of them before he'd do a reunion. could be wrong!

funny that it is like the holy grail of reunions. is anyone offering a bazillion dollars to talking heads to reunite?

i don't see how morrissey could possibly be hurting for money though?

if the smiths reunite i would sell my firstborn child to go see the show. not even joking

xp i dunno, maybe he invested heavy in some really sketchy vegan smoothie stands and lost it all?

"leafy, succulents and gruel"

(i got the quote wrong! shit)

There's been so much animosity on all sides I don't really see a good reason for them to reunite aside from money. Morrissey & Marr had always been vehement against the idea of a reunion until now. I could be wrong, but I don't understand the sudden change of heart.

The Stone Roses were at each other's throats for years prior so i guess it could mean they could still.. forgive and forget.
although finding it hard to imagine a Smiths-y equivalent of this photo

http://static.nme.com/images/gallery/StoneRoses02PR181011.jpg

Isn't/Wasn't the Roses tour kind of a clusterfuck, though?

After a reunion by The Police, I'm not ruling anything out. However, I don't see what possible good could come of a Smiths reunion either for the band themselves or the fans.

something about the smiths still feels special because they never did a reunion. i'd hate for them to muck up the purity of their brief almost-perfect career just because morrissey and marr decide they can tolerate each other long enough to make a few extra bucks.

I wouldn't want them to reunite because the last thing they did before they broke up sucks super hard and directly informed the direction Morrissey went with his solo career; no one wants to here Strangeways-ified versions of TQID songs

mm i'd wager Pink Floyd doing it means anyone can, although Moz's "The Smiths will end in murder" soundbite from around the mid 00's always kinda raised the bar for hateful
'it won't happen' band quotes.

interestingly the final time Joyce and Rourke played with Moz (at the one-off Wolves Civic Hall gig in 88) they were suing him *already*.

'strangeways' is amazing! their second-best after 'TQID.'

no it isnt

Hasn't Marr been getting less and less interesting since the first electronic album though? I'd be more worried about them thrashing through stuff that was never meant to be thrashed; turning every song into 'London'.

Yeah, nothing I've heard by Marr post-Smiths even resembles Smiths-era Marr. Even if he just got up there and accompanied Morrissey Boz Boorer-style, it wouldn't be as good as Boz.

actually if they "London"-ified everything I'd be interested but I assume they'd actually "Girlfriend In A Coma"-fy everything

Boz Boorer has the best name

i'll never understand ppl hating on strageways. it's good!

I was about to say I feel like I've been arguing with DJP for 10 years about the merits of Strangeways, but then I remembered that's because I have.

strangeways is incredible wtffff also admittedly it's my least favorite smiths record. still a classic tho

Oh jeez, what if they write some new stuff?