My younger brother differs in opinion from myself on just how good The Smiths were. Personally I think they’re one of the most influential bands of the last 30 years and Morrissey (despite being an apparent racist twat) being one of the greatest frontmen of all time. My brother thinks they’re ”alright”. The difference is that I’m right and he’s wrong.
Just before Christmas a new double vinyl bootleg showed up via Basement Records in Manchester featuring a slew of previously unreleased demos as well as a couple of Johnny Marr instrumental tunes. Some of the songs even have different lyrics making them entirely new songs, but some of them have previously featured on other bootlegs, just before nobody really gave a shit.
Below are a couple of the demos with a blurb about each and why they’re kinda special (blurbs not written by me…..written by Analog Loyalist http://thepowerofindependenttrucking.blogspot.com / http://smithsrecycle.blogspot.com). For hardcore fans of The Smiths, you’ll either love this or complain that you’ve had these for years and they’re nothing new. You can grab the LP from eBay and listen to a few of the tunes below.
The Smiths – “The Queen Is Dead” (original full-length unedited version)
“Well, if the subtitle doesn’t nail it down… the final album mix had several instrumental sections edited out at the last minute by the band and Stephen Street, as they felt it went on a tad too long. This is the full-calorie version.”
The Smiths - “Sheila Take A Bow” (original John Porter recording from January 1987)
“One of the more famous episodes in Smiths session history, this song was originally produced by John Porter, signed, sealed and delivered, ready to go. Then for whatever reason the band had a rethink, decamped to another studio with Stephen Street, and re-recorded the song (sampling some of Porter’s guitar work in the process, to save time – which miffed Porter, understandably, since they never asked for permission). This original version is much more jangly, with Porter on emulated sitar, while the final Street take is all T.Rex’ed out. Honestly, I’d have to say I prefer the Street version, though that could be due to familiarity more than anything else (as I usually love Porter’s stuff with Marr).”
The Smiths - “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out” (early take from September 1985)
“A very early run-through with a relatively-confident Moz vocal, though it does feature the subsequently-omitted defining lyric ”there is a light in your eye and it never goes out” during the final refrain. Missing most of Marr’s overdubs, musically it sounds like a rough monitor mix of the basic Marr/Rourke/Joyce instrumentation, with the added synthetic string bits on the Emulator.”
(via Stereogum & Morrissey Solo)
