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.
― Alba, Monday, 1 October 2012 21:34 (eleven years ago) link
strangeways is incredible wtffff also admittedly it's my least favorite smiths record. still a classic tho
― heiswagger (rennavate), Monday, 1 October 2012 21:34 (eleven years ago) link
Oh jeez, what if they write some new stuff?
― Ismael Klata, Monday, 1 October 2012 21:35 (eleven years ago) link
lol Alba
― set me on fire RAAAAH (DJP), Monday, 1 October 2012 21:35 (eleven years ago) link
i don't consider it the smiths w/o rourke, his bass playing was crucial to the band!!
― farte blanche (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 1 October 2012 21:46 (eleven years ago) link
I hope they reunite to play "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others" then promptly leave the stage.
― the ones that I'm near most: fellow outcasts and ilxors (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 1 October 2012 21:50 (eleven years ago) link
i'd say that 'girlfriend in a coma' is one of their best singles but i fear the inevitable 'no it isnt' response
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Monday, 1 October 2012 21:56 (eleven years ago) link
hating Strangeways is maybe DJPs most befuddling opinion, at least for me
― stop swearing and start windmilling (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 1 October 2012 21:58 (eleven years ago) link
Maybe they'll get Flea to dep?
― Pat Ast vs Jean Arp (MaresNest), Monday, 1 October 2012 22:04 (eleven years ago) link
lord probably just pisses me off...a band is a band!
― farte blanche (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 1 October 2012 22:13 (eleven years ago) link
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..
― Mark G, Monday, 1 October 2012 22:57 (eleven years ago) link
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.
― Jamie_ATP, Monday, 1 October 2012 22:59 (eleven years ago) link
hating Strangeways "Domino Dancing" is maybe DJPs most befuddling opinion, at least for me
― the ones that I'm near most: fellow outcasts and ilxors (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 1 October 2012 23:05 (eleven years ago) link
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
― ┐(´ー`)┌ (sic), Monday, 1 October 2012 23:07 (eleven years ago) link
the ways of DJP are strange
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Monday, 1 October 2012 23:08 (eleven years ago) link
?? dan loves domino dancing! he always says its the piper at the gates of dawn of the pet shop boys
― farte blanche (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 1 October 2012 23:08 (eleven years ago) link
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).
― Eyeball Kicks, Monday, 1 October 2012 23:40 (eleven years ago) link
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.
― Bee OK, Tuesday, 2 October 2012 05:01 (eleven years ago) link
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.
― da croupier, Tuesday, 2 October 2012 05:14 (eleven years ago) link
Not happening, apparently.
― daavid, Tuesday, 2 October 2012 05:20 (eleven years ago) link
breaking news from 1991 there
― ┐(´ー`)┌ (sic), Tuesday, 2 October 2012 06:01 (eleven years ago) link
it's dated 1-oct-2012 so heyz.
― Mark G, Tuesday, 2 October 2012 06:04 (eleven years ago) link
I mean it's been no more likely now than at any time since the court case
― ┐(´ー`)┌ (sic), Tuesday, 2 October 2012 06:10 (eleven years ago) link
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!!
― Don't Go Home With Your Hadron Collider (King Boy Pato), Tuesday, 2 October 2012 10:32 (eleven years ago) link
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?
― da croupier, Tuesday, 2 October 2012 13:07 (eleven years ago) link
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?"
― piscesx, Tuesday, 2 October 2012 15:43 (eleven years ago) link
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.
― Eyeball Kicks, Tuesday, 2 October 2012 15:48 (eleven years ago) link
I'd've agreed with it, once
― Ismael Klata, Tuesday, 2 October 2012 17:06 (eleven years ago) link
maybe Bono, wrt Ian Mac
― Mark G, Tuesday, 2 October 2012 18:28 (eleven years ago) link
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...
― paulhw, Tuesday, 2 October 2012 23:42 (eleven years ago) link
Amen.
― Alba, Tuesday, 2 October 2012 23:59 (eleven years ago) link
Craig Gannon switches his mobile phone alert back to "silent"
― Elvis Telecom, Wednesday, 3 October 2012 00:08 (eleven years ago) link
Craig Cannon rues paying £10 top-up mobile phone credit.
― Don't Go Home With Your Hadron Collider (King Boy Pato), Wednesday, 3 October 2012 09:59 (eleven years ago) link
If anyone is actually interested, this is what Craig Gannon's up to nowadays.
― Eyeball Kicks, Wednesday, 3 October 2012 10:06 (eleven years ago) link
http://oticons.com/roster/92-craig-gannon
― koogs, Wednesday, 3 October 2012 10:08 (eleven years ago) link
he was known as 'the 5th Smith'
Selling himself a bit short there!
Also, he looks like Luis Suarez.
― Ismael Klata, Wednesday, 3 October 2012 10:43 (eleven years ago) link
New Smiths demo tape unearthed and online
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39qb3Q5mTmk&feature=youtu.be
― the pinefox, Monday, 18 March 2013 19:23 (eleven years ago) link
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.
― ( ( ( ( ( ( ( (Z S), Monday, 18 March 2013 19:27 (eleven years ago) link
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)
― the pinefox, Monday, 18 March 2013 19:29 (eleven years ago) link
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?
― it's the distortion, stupid! (alex in mainhattan), Monday, 18 March 2013 21:04 (eleven years ago) link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=39qb3Q5mTmk
― Eyeball Kicks, Monday, 18 March 2013 21:10 (eleven years ago) link
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!
― sleeve, Monday, 18 March 2013 21:34 (eleven years ago) link
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.
― it's the distortion, stupid! (alex in mainhattan), Monday, 18 March 2013 21:56 (eleven years ago) link
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.
― Slash N Burn, Monday, 18 March 2013 22:42 (eleven years ago) link
at times almost sounded like an opera singer
lol, what operatic tradition is this?
― Heyman (crüt), Monday, 18 March 2013 22:44 (eleven years ago) link
<I>lol, what operatic tradition is this?</I>
When I first heard The Smiths at the age of thirteen the first thought that came to mind was that "this guy sounds like an opera singer." I dunno, maybe it's something that's stuck with me since.
That said, when I heard the singer's name was Morrissey I first thought that it was Neil Morrissey of Bob The Builder and Men Behaving Badly fame.
― Slash N Burn, Monday, 18 March 2013 22:49 (eleven years ago) link
on the rehearsal tape he is less of an opera singer, less histrionic than on the albums i find but he uses his falsetto a lot.
― it's the distortion, stupid! (alex in mainhattan), Monday, 18 March 2013 22:58 (eleven years ago) link
C'mon he's Rocky from Boon
― OutdoorFish, Tuesday, 19 March 2013 01:18 (eleven years ago) link
has morrissey ever talked about the singers who influenced him? i can't think of a single male vocalist who really sounds much like him.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Tuesday, 19 March 2013 01:29 (eleven years ago) link