As this is very obscure band, there is next to nothing online but I did find this live performance “Where the Wild Things Are” (not on Living in the Mirror) from ’87 at the now gone but not forgotten and also infamous O’Cayz Corral (Madison):

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We’ve only seen Eleventh Dream Day perform once (to my knowledge), in May 2019 when they opened for The Dream Syndicate here in Milwaukee. I got the setlist from the show (on a styrofoam plate) and confirmed none of the songs performed that night were from this first EP (but it still was a great show).

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The Dream Syndicate at the Back Room, 2019

Steve Wynn at Ursa, 2021

We saw The Dream Syndicate perform in May 2019 and they played a few songs from the album, including “That’s What You Alway Say,” the title track, and “Halloween.” After the show I accidentally got the chance to have a fairly extended chat with frontman Steve Wynn at the merch table (I was actually there to purchase the opener’s record): we discussed the different cover variants in the printings of The Days of Wine and Roses over the years. Then in September 2021 we saw Wynn perform solo at a small boutique in our neighborhood, which was intimate and amazing; he played some Dream Syndicate songs and told many stories about his time with the Dream Syndicate as well as other bands and recording experiences from the past 40 years.

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Johnny Marr quit The Smiths not long before the release of Strangeways (quickly followed by Morrissey’s announcement of a solo career) and it’s easy to project a requiem quality onto many of the songs. “Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me” has the tempo of a funeral dirge, complete with dramatic strings. Loss and death permeates “I Won’t Share You” and “Death at One’s Elbow” (though the latter is accompanied by a rather gleeful harmonica) and bitterness about endings drips from Morrissey on “Unhappy Birthday.”

For a variety of not very good reasons, Strangeways is my least-listened to Smiths album. Even though its release was just slightly one year after The Queen is Dead – which I was utterly bonkers for the summer of ’86 – in not untypical teenage style I had pretty much moved on from The Smiths into harder stuff and ignored the LP for years.

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The Mod Violets at Puddler’s Block Party, July 30th 2022

The Mod Violets is according to their own description “Musically complex, [with] lyrically deep songwriting and a crack rhythm section.” I agree! One of my favorite lines comes from the song “Mirror” – “Let me be your mirror [nice Velvet nod there] so I can show you the hippest chick that’s in this one-horse town.” Musically the bulk of the songs are extra jangly, super-melodic with lots of good harmonization; as their name suggests, they are heavily influenced by 60’s sounds so there’s a fair bit of garage and psychedelia swirling around. My top tracks include the opener “Playground,” the twangy psychedelic rocker “Not Come Back,” the extra-hallucinogenic and exotic “Control” and the soaring, harmonic loud-quiet-loud “In Your Window.”

And just because I can, here’s a shot from the Block Party that really is peak Bay View: our friend John (who played later that evening with Two and a Half Stars) and local personality The Milverine (google it).

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So many of my favorite Smiths songs! From Record 1, Side A: “Sheila Take a Bow” (1987, #10 UK; its video a Top of the Pops performance because Morrissey didn’t show at the scheduled video taping), “Shoplifters of the World Unite” (’87, #12 UK) and one of its b-sides “London.” From Record 1, Side B: “Panic” (1986, #11 UK) and its anthemic chorus “hang the dj,” “Shakespeare’s Sister” (1985, #26 UK), the perfect Johnny Marr jangled “William, It Was Really Nothing” (1984, #17 UK), “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now” (1984, #10 UK), and “You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet, Baby” an unreleased single that supposedly was inspired by a record exec’s answer to Morrissey’s question about why the Smiths hadn’t been made a larger priority at their label. From Record 2, Side C: “Ask” (1986, #14), “These Things Take Time” (b-side to “What Difference Does it Make?”) and “Rubber Ring” (b-side to “The Boy With the Thorn in His Side”). From Record 2, Side D: The Smiths’ first ever single “Hand in Glove” (1983, #3 UK), “Stretch Out and Wait” (b-side to “Shakespeare’s Sister”) and “Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want” (b-side to “William, It Was Really Nothing”). The only bummer track on the double album set is “Golden Lights” (b-side to “Ask”), a sappy and saccharine little swinger that really could have been left off. However, its appearance (and the ensuing eye-rolling) on The Simpsons makes it all worth it.

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