As part of a webcast by the band in 2007, this isn’t a new video but one I thought I’d post nonetheless. A spirited rendition of a Smiths song I’ve held near and dear for years in The Headmaster’s Ritual. A wonderful track in which Morrissey lays his old Catholic school to waste. There are some unforgettable lines throughout the song starting with “Belligerent ghouls run Manchester schools, spineless swines, cemented minds”. As a former student who found squeezed the wringer of the Catholic school system here in New York, I know all too well of how draconian the adminstrations can be and how relentless they are in molding young, impressionable minds with their programming.
Classic song by a legendary band covered by another band still writing their own legacy. Can’t get any better than that.
The Smiths – “Jeane”
This Charming Man (1983)
Rough Trade/WEA
“Jeane
I’m not sure what happiness means
But I look in your eyes
And I know
That it isn’t there”
Call me biased. It’s fine. I can take it. It’s of my opinion and should be recognized as incontrovertible fact that when you’re talking about the quality of b-sides, no one did it better than the Smiths. In their brief five year career which included nineteen singles, it’s pretty easy to see that each and every b-side was a thing of immaculated crafted beauty. Granted, one may quibble over the production of the early singles but there can be no debate over just how brilliant the songs were.
Case in point, I bring you quite possibly my favourite Smiths b-side and to take it a step further, one of my favourite Smiths songs ever, Jeane. Originally a song to appear on what was supposed to be the first Smiths record now known as the Troy Tate sessions, Jeane is a perfect primer into the essence of Manchester’s finest. The incomparable Johnny Marr’s melodic jangly guitar riffs, the most underappreciated rhythm section of the last thirty years in Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce providing the Motown-esque backdrop, topped off by the Mozzer’s kitchen-sink tale of a relationship gone horribly sour with no resolution in sight. Sadly, a treasure such as this lay hidden in a 1983 7 inch single on the back of the indie classic This Charming Man. Luckily it’s now readily available on the latest Smiths compilation, 2008’s The Sound Of The Smiths. Definitely worth picking up for the uninitiated and rabid disciples alike.
Where would music be without the Smiths…? I shudder at the thought.
It appears 2010 is going to be off to a smashing start just like 2009 appeared to. The Courteeners are back! Manchester’s new favourite sons following in the steps of the Smiths and the recently dearly departed Oasis are about to drop their long awaited second record entitled Falcon 22 February. It’s a good thing too as I haven’t stopped playing the debut, 2008’s St. Jude since I first bought it.
With news of the record on the horizon, the first fruits of said record has come early in the form of what could very well be the first single Cross My Heart And Hope To Fly. A song darker in tone than what we heard previously but showcases a greater depth. Bigger drums and the use of strings certainly prove to be the highlight of the song along with Liam’s strong vocals.
Fall in love with the Courteeners all over again just like I did. Listen to your heart’s content.
Look. This band needs no introduction. The band were a perfect blend of the Doors, Bowie and the last vestiges of punk. A lead singer who not only was cool but personified the word and gave it a new meaning and thus offering a blueprint for future frontmen to adopt and follow. A guitarist who knew very few rivals, if any. Add in one of the more underrated rhythm sections of the day and you get Echo and the Bunnymen. Beginning with the epic debut single Rescue to era-defining hits like The Cutter, The Back Of Love & Lips Like Sugar, the Bunnymen were always a band to be reckoned with. In fact, I’ve always been of the opinion that if it wasn’t for the more important and challenging bands such as Echo, the Smiths, the Sound, etc falling by the wayside in 1987, U2 never would have become the one-eyed monster they were to become. Echo were simply that good.
The band are back now with a new single called Think I Need It Too. It’s a slow burner but it’s a good one. It features the signature Will Seargeant guitar sound as it carries Ian McCulloch’s smoke-drenched vocals. It must be said that in his prime that very few could wail like Mac and the smokes over time have done quite a number to his vocals. That minor complaint aside, the single is the lead track taken from the brand new record The Fountain due out next week. Play it once, play it the rest of the day and groove. This is the sound of cool.
Newsflash: Pop music isn’t dead. Okay, I haven’t told you anything you didn’t know already. This is true although it does seem that for the last few years there’s been a certain antipathy, an outright refusal to accept that pop music doesn’t have to be what’s on the Billboard charts or on Top Of The Pops. It especially seems to be the case here in America where we Yanks simply refuse to make that distinction to a certain degree. Outside of the normal cultural hubs like New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, Philly…it seems that pop is still seen as something that is dispensale, frivolous and has a very short shelflife. We know better, don’t we?
May I present as another example of pop music that is neither the distilled and market tested trifle we hear on the radio or dispensable, Brooklyn’s The Mystic Underground. A electronic pop duo simply looking to write powerful manifestos about the simple things of life set to a dance beat. Influenced by the likes of the Smiths, Pet Shop Boys and Pulp, TMU marry wit and machines with tongues planted firmly in cheek. Evidence of this can be found in their recently released opus entitled It Really Shouldn’t Be This Hard. Much like anything in life, nothing ventured, nothing gained but pray tell must it be so difficult?
The band will be performing very soon at Fontana’s in New York City on the 24th of February and it sounds like it would be a swell time had by all. In the meantime, you can hear their works on MySpace or simply buy the record here. Do it…now!
“The boy with the thorn in his side
Behind the hatred there lies
A murderous desire for love
How can they look into my eyes
And still they don’t believe me ?
How can they hear me say those words
Still they don’t believe me ?”
Confession time.
Today’s classics post is all about my favourite band. Ever. If you know me personally or more importantly if you don’t, you won’t go very far without my making reference to this band every chance I get. In fact, I already did in the Courteeners post a few days ago. If you somehow missed that then look at the video above and it’s all you need to know about the band and, to a large extent, yours truly. The song The Boy With The Thorn In His Side taken from the record The Queen Is Dead and the band is The Smiths.
The pride of Manchester. A band whom many, including the great Tony Wilson (RIP), felt were responsible for the survival of the UK indie music industry. A band whom esteemed journalist Nick Kent compared favourably to the Beatles in regards to their potential lasting impact. They were also a band that featured the greatest lead guitarist of the time and most notably, the great rock icon we’ll know. I could go on but…I don’t want you to move on to another blog.
Look. The Smiths aren’t some obscure band you’ve never heard of. If you call yourself a lover of 80s music, English music, new wave, post-punk or at least somewhat tuned in to the sounds of the new new wave or ugh…Emo then by hook or by crook, the name has smacked you in the face at least once or twice. To me, they were the important band to come along in the last thirty years. Not Nirvana (UGH), and not U2 (GAWD!) and it’s not Radiohead (although I’d be willing to listen to arguments), it’s the Smiths. What made the band so good and so timeless was that fact they were the epitome of a “square peg” when you consider the time in which they came. The early 80s. You had all the new-fangled electronic pop bands around in OMD, The League, Heaven 17, Depeche Mode, Associates… You had the New Romantic craze in ABC, Ultravox, etc… Rock music, outside of the Jam was lacking to a certain extent. The Smiths were created out of a need to look back instead of ahead. Returning to the era of three minute singles that hit you quick but were stuck in your head. The ideal of four lads against the world, saving it one song at a time.
“I was delayed, I was way-laid
An emergency stop
I smelt the last ten seconds of life
I crashed down on the crossbar
And the pain was enough to make
A shy, bald, buddhist reflect
And plan a mass murder
Who said lied Id to her ?”
Alas, like all great things, the Smiths did come to a crashing end. What did them in? Something as pithy, miniscule but eternally damning as intra-band squabbling. With a major label contract with Warners in hand, the fallout of a bitter divorce from their label, Rough Trade and wondering where to go next after carrying the indie scene on your back for the better part of five years, It’s safe to say very few bands could survive the latter two and the pressure that comes with the former. The rest as they say is history but the music will never be. They were the Smiths and they still very much matter. After all, without them we wouldn’t have been graced with the music of a couple of influential bands in their own right….
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