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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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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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What I didn’t know about Rank: Morrissey wanted the title to be “The Smiths in Heat” but Rough Trade wasn’t too happy about that choice. So Morrissey, the clever asshole that he is, chose “Rank” which apparently is shorthand for the Cockney slang “J. Arthur Rank” – meaning “wank.” Either the management at Rough Trade didn’t realize or thought it was hilarious and went all in on the joke.

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The Smiths “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” from “The Queen Is Dead” released 35 years ago today, June 16th, 1986. One of the greatest songs from the greatest album ever, one that shaped my teen years and defined the summer of ‘86. The 12″ single promo of “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” has the song on both sides; it was released prior to The Queen Is Dead (and matches the cover of the LP exactly, just more faded) but the actual radio single wasn’t released until ‘92 when it hit #25 in the UK, years after The Smiths had broken up. The song is considered one of The Smiths best: NME ranks it as the 12th greatest song of all-time. The ‘92 single cover differs significantly from the promo copy:

Back to The Queen is Dead! The album made it to #2 on the UK charts and #70 in the US. After the intro clip of uber-British chant “Take Me Back to Dear Old Blighty,” the album launches into the rollicking title track “The Queen Is Dead” and from there only grows with lyrical and musical perfection. My absolute favorite is “Frankly Mr. Shankly” – when Johnny Marr launches into his dense signature jangle at the 0:39 point I get, to this day, literal shivers. “Cemetry Gates” is another favorite, bouncing along to lyrics that decry plagiarism while invoking a blend of a (dreaded) sunny day and the dark sorrow of a cemetery in a way that is so only-Morrissey (who else can include lyrics like “ere long done do does did, words which could only be your own, you then produce the text from whence was ripped some dizzy whore, 1804″?). “Bigmouth Strikes Again” is utter brilliance. And no one does despondency as beautifully as Morrissey: “I Know It’s Over,” “Never Had No One Ever” and the epic “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” were all part of the soundtrack my teenage angst and heartbreak but also to a glorious time of my youth, with all its ridiculousness, pettiness, beauty and fun.

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David Bowie & Morrissey “Cosmic Dancer” 2021/1991. Parlophone Records. 7″ single, originally recorded on February 6th, 1991 in concert at the Inglewood Forum in Los Angeles. This track was available only as a bootleg up until last year when Morrissey officially released it as a digital download; the 45 rpm single just released last week on vinyl. “Cosmic Dancer” is, of course, a cover of the fabulous T. Rex song written by Marc Bolan. I love that the acoustic guitar in the performance sounds almost exactly like the intro to “Space Oddity.” Side B is Morrissey only covering The Jam’s “That’s Entertainment” re-recorded in 2020; he originally recorded “That’s Entertainment” in 1991 as the b-side to “Sing Your Life” (also on Kill Uncle). The ‘91 version of “That’s Entertainment” features Carl Smyth from Madness.

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Meat Is Murder is The Smiths’ second studio LP; it went to #1 in the UK and to #110 in the US and Rolling Stone ranked it among the top 500 albums of all-time (#295 in 2003). So many great tracks! I love the two singles The Smiths released form Meat Is Murder: “Barbarism Begins At Home” (Italy and Germany in ‘85, the UK in ‘88) and “That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore” (#49 UK), which is one of my favorite of the ultra-miserable Smith songs (and there a lot of those) and supposedly one of Johnny Marr’s, too. I spent a lot of hours in ‘86 wallowing in teenage misery to that song. I also love “The Headmaster Ritual,” “I Want the One I Can’t Have,” “What She Said” (a great Smiths rocker), “Nowhere Fast” and the title track “Meat Is Murder.”

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