The Miracle of the Smiths

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?

lol Alba

i don't consider it the smiths w/o rourke, his bass playing was crucial to the band!!

I hope they reunite to play "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others" then promptly leave the stage.

i'd say that 'girlfriend in a coma' is one of their best singles but i fear the inevitable 'no it isnt' response

hating Strangeways is maybe DJPs most befuddling opinion, at least for me

Maybe they'll get Flea to dep?

lord probably just pisses me off...a band is a band!

Why would it 'not be Rourke'?

I can understand why it might 'not be Joyce'...

Anyways, at some point they are going to get so bored with denying rumours that they will stop doing it, then it'll be all 'ooh it's imminent' sigh..

hope this doesn't happen.

also rourke and joyce are one of the best ever rock rhythm sections and it would be megashit if they weren't both involved.

hating Strangeways "Domino Dancing" is maybe DJPs most befuddling opinion, at least for me

Hasn't Marr been getting less and less interesting since the first electronic album though

you mad, Dusk was after Electronic

Of course this is a terrible idea though

the ways of DJP are strange

?? dan loves domino dancing! he always says its the piper at the gates of dawn of the pet shop boys

The problem isn't so much that they'll thrash through songs or Strangeways-ify them so much as they will play them exactly as they were. As a young Smiths fanatic, I heard enough bootlegs to know that the bootlegs weren't worth hearing: the songs were played professionally and identically every time, wherever they were (the only variation came with the freedom Marr got with the inclusion of Craig Gannon, who I guess will not be invited). That said, this would be the only reunion I'd pay to see (while knowing I was getting fleeced).

i was wondering why the Smiths thread was so busy today. i hope this doesn't happen as i have already seen the Smiths twice before, selfish i know.

i really don't care if they do this or not. we already know they're civil enough to plausibly pull the big cash grab, and none are above hawking the smiths songbook when they perform in their own combos. i love a lot of smiths stuff, but not romantically enough that mozz doing "there's a light" at the end of a show with marr would be sadder for me than mozz doing "there's a light" at the end of a show with anyone else. if anything i approve of morrissey not being able to perform new originals between smiths numbers.

Not happening, apparently.

breaking news from 1991 there

it's dated 1-oct-2012 so heyz.

I mean it's been no more likely now than at any time since the court case

It can't be for the money, La Mozzer has sold out both his Sydney shows in a couple of days. And tickets were over $100!!

That's the thing, if he's making a fortune singing smiths songs now why bother inviting anyone on stage who thinks their opinion matters?

funny that i heard this whole rumour story first on Stuart Maconie's show on bbc 6 this week, he wrote what is still still one of my fave quotes about them in 1993;

"It must be funny being U2. Imagine. You're the world's biggest group. Your every move receives the full glare of popular scrutiny, your every utterance is scanned for meaning and import, you can sell-out concerts across the globe, get world leaders on the phone and have million queue to buy your records. And yet in your heart of hearts you know that you weren't a patch on The Smiths. And this doesn't only apply to U2. It goes for Guns 'N' Roses, Nirvana, Bruce Springsteen and every other colossus of modern rock. Each in their own way have good things to offer but, let's be serious, they weren't The Smiths, were they?"

I like that quote too, but at the same time it makes me squirm a little in the same way that the title of this thread does. I don't believe that in the hearts of Axl, Bruce or even Bono there has even been trace of regret that they weren't the Smiths.

I'd've agreed with it, once

maybe Bono, wrt Ian Mac

I don't really get what people think they'd see or experience that's more than the sum of Morrissey singing Smiths songs (as he's done over the past decade or more), plus Johnny Marr playing the songs in his sleep, looking up and smiling every few songs. Crowd cheers as if it's a moment. The whole live Smiths thing once relied on the nervous energy of those two secretly digging each other musically and stylistically, pleased to be friends...

Then again, I feel that way about all reunions. Pixies the worst example. I find the whole authenticity thing for audiences - *these* are the people in the flesh that once made this music - a bit depressing vis a vis people (young or old) that really want to be on stage together, making new music, liking each other, having fun, no heavy history hanging over it all...

Amen.

Not happening, apparently.

Craig Gannon switches his mobile phone alert back to "silent"

Craig Cannon rues paying £10 top-up mobile phone credit.

If anyone is actually interested, this is what Craig Gannon's up to nowadays.

http://oticons.com/roster/92-craig-gannon

he was known as 'the 5th Smith'

Selling himself a bit short there!

Also, he looks like Luis Suarez.

New Smiths demo tape unearthed and online

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39qb3Q5mTmk&feature=youtu.be

i have had major smiths fever the last few weeks, brought upon by snagging nice copies of the S/T and Louder Than Bombs LPs. looking forward to going back through this thread and understanding the miracle a little better.

oh man, a vintage nabisco OTM within one post of the OP, this is great

(I should have said 'rehearsal tape', not demo, I think)

did you post a link there, pinefox? i can't see it, maybe because i'm in germany where 90% of music on youtube is blocked?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=39qb3Q5mTmk

i have had major smiths fever the last few weeks, brought upon by snagging nice copies of the S/T and Louder Than Bombs LPs

this pretty much describes my week as well!

thanks, nice rehearsal tape which beams me back almost 30 years. i think i heard them first in 1986. this sounds pretty mellow compared to the hatful of hollow versions. in may 1983 i had just started my military service. does morrissey sing reel around the mountain there? that's a very nice version of it, lovely guitar.

I think what made The Smiths so unique more than anything, was Morrissey's voice, how he had such a melodramatic way of singing and at times almost sounded like an opera singer which was pretty unusual in mid 80s Indie. That, and his unique style of lyric writing.

That said, Johnny Marr was a top guitarist. Maybe not the most original, as mentioned he wasn't the first to do that whole jangly style, but he still wrote some pretty damn memorable riffs, and some which are very intricate. There's a video somewhere of James Dean Bradfield from the Manics, a very skilled guitarist himself, attempting to play This Charming Man and getting frustrated over constantly fucking it up.