The Miracle of the Smiths

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.

at times almost sounded like an opera singer

lol, what operatic tradition is this?

<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.

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.

C'mon he's Rocky from Boon

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.

I always used to think there are male vocalists and there is Morrissey

I get proto-Morrissey vibes from Billy Fury:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae_ogriURVk

Yeah he loves Billy Fury

starting in on Fletcher's "There is a Light That Never Goes Out"

I see Morrissey is due to appear on a documentary about cups of tea, interviewed by Victoria Wood.

from a great post by dr. c 12 years ago:

By all accounts Morrissey's words would often appear in different places in the arrangement to where Marr had expected (verses became middle 8's, or Moz would sing across a transition...etc). This may account for the way that many Smiths songs don't have a normal structure or easily identifiable chorus, especially the earlier material. This lack of concern for (or lack of knowledge of..) conventional forms (on the part of Morrissey) helped a great deal to set them apart from the rest.

if i'm not mistaken this is very similar to how things worked, and/or didn't work, between michael stipe and peter buck.

That'd explain how "Call me when you try to wake her up" fits into 4 beats..

I must confess I was disappointed by his Thatcher quote. He must have spent half a life time preparing for that moment and it just wasn't as powerful as it needed to be.

The widely reported quote was apparently cobbled together by the press from a recent interview. Here is his actual statement (djh's point still stands):

The difficulty with giving a comment on Margaret Thatcher's death to the British tabloids is that, no matter how calmly and measuredly you speak, the comment must be reported as an "outburst" or an "explosive attack" if your view is not pro-establishment. If you reference "the Malvinas", it will be switched to "the Falklands", and your "Thatcher" will be softened to a "Maggie." This is generally how things are structured in a non-democratic society. Thatcher's name must be protected not because of all the wrong that she had done, but because the people around her allowed her to do it, and therefore any criticism of Thatcher throws a dangerously absurd light on the entire machinery of British politics. Thatcher was not a strong or formidable leader. She simply did not give a shit about people, and this coarseness has been neatly transformed into bravery by the British press who are attempting to re-write history in order to protect patriotism. As a result, any opposing view is stifled or ridiculed, whereas we must all endure the obligatory praise for Thatcher from David Cameron without any suggestion from the BBC that his praise just might be an outburst of pro-Thatcher extremism from someone whose praise might possibly protect his own current interests. The fact that Thatcher ignited the British public into street-riots, violent demonstrations and a social disorder previously unseen in British history is completely ignored by David Cameron in 2013. In truth, of course, no British politician has ever been more despised by the British people than Margaret Thatcher. Thatcher's funeral on Wednesday will be heavily policed for fear that the British tax-payer will want to finally express their view of Thatcher. They are certain to be tear-gassed out of sight by the police.

United Kingdom? Syria? China? What's the difference?

Morrissey
9 April 2013

the new smiths book is fantastic, loving it so far