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The Smiths

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CD :

The Smiths
Bigmouth Strikes Again
Rough Trade
RT 192

Cover Star . Renée Falconetti

Postcard :

Antonin Artaud
La Passion De Jeanne D'Arc
Carl Theodor Dreyer
1927

Use Hearing Protection

GMA

'The Smiths' formed six years after the start of the British punk rock scene, and perhaps projected into their way-of-being three elements from this cultural dynamic: a sense of make-do or DIY, a sense of commentating from outside of society (unemployment culture included), and a sense of opinion generated from polemical example.

Punk rock is today perhaps famous for its blanket nihilisms: “Anarchy in the UK”, “White riot”, “No future” - all with varied forms of the Vivian Westwood dress-sense. Aside this ultra-vivid self-created stigma, the late 70s musical/cultural movement of UK Punk had created lyrical and musical vignettes that stayed on record players and transferred to C60 chrome mix-tapes: “Easy germ free adolescence” ('X-Ray Spex' 78) plotted a closed 'existential' in the life of an individual; 'Lost in a supermarket' ('The Clash' 79) was another vignette, but this time describing a poetic angle into a modern life that many could relate to, and, as a third example - “Love comes in spurts” ('The Voidoids' 76) - featuring a lyric that uses 'childish' shock word-play and active double-meanings to register and parody existing lyrical convention, whilst describing certain truisms. It can be said that depictions of highly specific sentiments; unusual but collective views on the modern world and the shock use of words and their dynamic meanings became the terrain of the 'post punk', 'DIY' Manchester band - 'The Smiths'.

With the lyrical whit of their singer Morrissey, 'The Smiths' kept a punkist sense of polemical charge (“The Queen is Dead”; “Hang the DJ” and “Meat is Murder”) whilst systematically developing individual and social themes. If musical skills were often missing (or denied) during UK Punk, then the Post Punk years saw an overt return of musical virtuosity (hand in hand with groups higher on idea and form than musical technicity). One nest of guitar skills hovered around the New York City band 'The Voidoids' with Tom Verlain, Robert Quine and Richard Lloyd all important Post Punk guitar stylists (even if US 'Post Punk' arrived before UK Punk - for example 'Pere Ubu' 1975). Around 1980 in Manchester England, a man who could match 'Nick Drake' for reserve produced a low-key, but much listened to record titled “The return of the Durutti Column” (a Spanish civil war reference in the name and title) www.youtube.com/watch?v=pddox1SYHko. 'The Durutti Column's Vini Reilly's meticulous detailing of guitar melody was perhaps matched across the city of Manchester by the extraordinary guitar style of Johnny Marr – the principle co-songwriter to 'The Smiths', whose style became clearly visible as early as 'The Smith's' second single. Marr's sense of shimmering detailing is also clearly apparent in the example of this moving lens test.

Fireworks are of so many colours and effects, and the post punk DIY musical alternatives were varied. Despite their differences, there are a few bands that help to put 'The Smiths' into an early context. 'Vic Godard's Subway Sect' had perhaps started out as a British version of 'The Voidoids' ('Double negative' 1978 www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fsYYG_Qf0Q) and had evolved by 1981 into melodic anti pop www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cgzwQBtFaA an approach perhaps akin to the relationship between 'New Wave cinema' and traditional cinema. Again from 1981, the group 'Orange Juice' were inhabiting melody and lyric without the desire to provide 'expected' popularist results: www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmpNSpzx2wI. 'The Smiths' projected aside many groups, Dandyisms, deconstructions and observations and, with some of the lyrical landscapes of Morrissey, were one of the groups that held on longest to the polemical side of punk rock. With the guitar of Johnny Marr, they were also one of the groups that pushed furthest from initial DIY ethics into artistic, holistic and highly developed forms. By the release of 'The Queen is Dead' in 1986 they had refined their idiosyncrasies to such an extent that they had produced a record that could be compared against the very “classic” albums they were initially reflecting against.

Prolific songwriters, 'The Smiths' took subject to swathes of British youth, and were another input of inspiration for a new generation of musicians. Postcard, Pop Aural and Rough Trade layered under Creation, Domino and Sarah, and new bands evolved without a close proximity to Punk rock. Contemporary journalists (including ones associated with Manchester's Guardian), muse, relay and decree that it is now time to stop listening to the work of Morressey. The Smiths split in 1987, and in the decades since, Morrissey has remained loyal to his polemical approach to social subjects. I certainly never wanted to hang a DJ, but played the song. One of the tracks that we should apparently be boycotting is a recently released duet with Thelma Houston: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cB93OUF_sA

The track “Some girls are bigger than others' comes from the 1986 record and is a construction with the most minimal idea of verse, and thus arrives almost straight into the chorus, with a slightly detached and minimal refrain. The lyric takes a line that can be associated with both male machismo and the observational naivety of a small child: playing the idea straight as the thought of a young male adult faced by the enormity of mankind's diversity. By referring to the ice age, the lyric also points out that these differences come from the depths of the human race and are not a modern celebrity surface.

"From the ice-age to the dole-age, there is but one concern. I have just discovered; some girls are bigger than others... "

For the images in the lens test I replaced the 'girls' of the song with the animate 'bodies' of 'mother earth', as reflected by her waterfalls. The shots involve a variety of lenses and locations either side of the Pyrénées.

AJM 13.03.20

Press play and then 'L' and even f11. Escape and f11 a second time to return.

... Oia. Santorini. Greece. (The Smiths).

Have a look - Large and Dark to see if you can work out where this is.

There's something about the light in this shot... perhaps something about the light at this time of morning at this time of year... which is rather 'soporific' - hence the near-the ground angle for this shot as it's almost tempting to rest your head on the pavement and grab 40 winks...

... although no, don't do that, for the streets of London are not paved with gold but rather are awash with the effluvia of the Bright Young Things and the remains of the night before. Tooo much detail I'm sure.

The buildings here are all of the 'namelessly bland' variety which I think is a shame as the location should surely have warranted something more... inspiring, particularly given some of the more historic buildings in the vicinity. This said, we seem to be going through a period where architecture has to be "challenging" otherwise it's brushed off as being rather passe (see discourse passim) which is rather a shame as I think there's always a place for something a bit more subtle and intelligent for want of a better phrase..... so if this had been designed now it would probably bellow obscenities as you walk past and offer you a bout of arm wrestling.

I rather like the light high on the wall... and the reflections in the glass - nice contrasting colours which add interest.

The more immediate question is where is this - a question I haven't posed to Guess Where London for a while and one which I suspect will be answered post haste (they're a clever bunch you know...).

Enjoy

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Morrissey, Brixton Academy July 2009

I still find it a bit hard to believe this was actually an A-side, albeit in the Netherlands or wherever it was; can hardly think of any other 45s that start by fading in and out.

It sounds good slowed down to 33rpm.

Joyce studies

a real oddity of this odd record is that the sleeve doesn't even realize that 'Frankly, Mr Shankly' is on it. It was of course the B-side of 'Ask', with 'Golden Lights' on that 12-inch.

I'm now uncertain about whether there should be a comma, or indeed a full stop, in 'Frankly, Mr Shankly''s title. The record above evidently offers the full stop and no comma, though I don't think the record above is the most reliable source.

"and I'll send you mine."

Full vid here

While drinking at Dean's before the show,
we got curious as to what old and
newer songs the setlist would include
so Groovehouse and Imelda proceeded
to Google it (and I sat and
watched because my cellphone just
now discovered fire - read: it's old!) so
that we'd be somewhat aware of the order
of the songs he'd be playing that night.
We saw a few Smiths tunes peppered in amongst
the Moz stuff, but to my
disappointment no mention of
"There is a Light" *pout*

We had NOT seen SGABO on any
of the setlists online and this is why I
was so caught off guard at the beginning
of this video.

This was third on my list of Smiths songs that I would've wanted to hear
last night.

Pic by Ramiro e

♪♫ Some girls are bigger than others, The Smiths ♪♫

Left: the pipe dream
Right: the reality

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH18_dZIYOE

for FGR and Magazine Portraits

I don't actually want to look like the magazine picture. I'd look like a bobblehead.

Picture ripped out of a magazine and reworked in Photoshop. Originaaly a 'David Lynch' insert was to be included in this -for the pun (ho! ho!) but i wasn't pleased with the result and, after two hours trying, finally decided to trash DL and use only the picture of the girl. The picture was originally in b&w so i toned it up with some colouring. I'm not too happy with the result as i made a bit of a mess with the rubber but didn't notice till it was too late to rectify things. ( That's rubber as in eraser for all you dirty perverts out there).