: Tommy Gunnarsson
: The Smiths& Morrissey Every Album, Every Song
: Sonicbond Publishing
: 9781789526158
: 1
: CHF 4.40
:
: Musik
: English
: 144
: DRM
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: ePUB

Ever since their debut single was released in 1983, The Smiths have influenced musicians worldwide with their jangly guitar pop, infectious melodies and front man Morrissey's passionate lyrics. During their relatively short lifespan from 1982 to 1989, the quartet released four iconic albums and a host of singles. In 1988, less than a year after the last Smiths album, Morrissey embarked on a solo adventure that's still ongoing, with thirteen studio albums and a regular supply of singles, plus several live albums.
This installment of the On track series examines this vast back catalogue in detail, from The Smiths' debut single 'Hand In Glove' in 1983 to Morrissey's vinyl single release of a live version of 'Cosmic Dancer' in 2021, which he recorded with David Bowie back in 1991 - and all the songs from all the albums and singles in-between. Combining facts and trivia with personal views and memories, this is a rollercoaster ride through the highs and lows of Morrissey's long career, making it the perfect listening guide for both old fans and discoverers of his music for the very first time.


Tommy Gunnarsson has been a music journalist for 25 years, writing primarily for Swedish publications, but is also a regular contributor to the UK based web magazine Pennyblackmusic since the early 00s. He bought his first single at the age of seven in 1985 (Limahl's 'The Neverending Story'), and he first discovered The Smiths in the mid-1990s. He attended Morrissey's first ever Swedish gig in Gothenburg in 1997, and a few years later he co-founded the Swedish and Nordic Smiths and Morrissey fan club Unloveable Boxers and was the president during its lifetime. He lives in Stockholm with his two children.
Chapter1

The Smiths (1984)


Personnel:

Morrissey: vocals

Johnny Marr: electric guitar, acoustic guitar, harmonica

Andy Rourke: bass guitar

Mike Joyce: drums, tambourine

Paul Carrack: piano, organ (on ‘Reel Around the Fountain’, ‘You’ve Got Everything Now’ and ‘I Don’t Owe You Anything’)

Annalisa Jablonska: voice (‘Pretty Girls Make Graves’ and ‘Suffer Little Children’)

Caryn Gough: sleeve layout

Morrissey: sleeve concept

Joe Dallesandro: cover star

Recorded at Pluto (Manchester), Strawberry (Stockport), Eden (London), Matrix (London)

John Porter: producer (except ‘Hand in Glove’), remixer (‘Hand in Glove’)

The Smiths: producers (‘Hand in Glove’)

Playing time: 45:36

Label: Rough Trade

Release date: February 20th 1984

Highest chart position: UK: 2

After releasing their acclaimed debut single ‘Hand in Glove’ in 1983, the pressure was surely on for the four members of The Smiths. Their label Rough Trade had extremely high hopes for their newest find, and pop fans all over the UK thought that their upcoming debut album would be something really spectacular. And they had every reason to believe so. The songs were there, the band was good, and gaining a reputation as a live act. But it didn’t turn out quite as everyone expected.

After signing with Rough Trade, the band released the debut single and were soon preparing to enter the studio to record their first full-length record. The label boss, Geoff Travis, suggested that they might use Troy Tate (former guitarist with The Teardrop Explodes, whose frontman Julian Cope would later have a few minor hits of his own) as their producer, and since the band hardly had any experience in the studio, they thought that it sounded great. Sadly, the recordings they made with Tate (fourteen songs in all) were deemed to be too bad to release – they just didn’t seem to capture the band’s energetic live sound in a good way. After a remix was considered, the tapes were thrown away – though they have been released on unofficial bootlegs every now and then. Morrissey and his bandmates instead asked John Porter (who they met while recording a session for the BBC) to save the day. While his recordings was more acceptable, the recordings are far from great. Listening to the album now, it sounds really dense, quite far from the energetic live recordings available from the same period. Even Morrissey thought that it wasn’t good enough to put out, but since the recordings had been more expensive than planned, he had no choice. Being Morrissey, however, he went on to describe the album as a ‘landmark in the histor