Our vinyl edition came with a two-sided poster: one side with the album cover and the other with the liner notes by author and musician Willy Vlautin.

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Marr’s performance on Tuesday night was filled with many many other great moments as he flawlessly mixed old Smith songs  (“The Headmaster Ritual,” “Bigmouth Strikes Again,” “There is a Light That Never Goes Out,” “Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me”), new solo material (“Hi Hello,” “Easy Money”) and some covers (most especially one of the encores, his amazing rendition of Depeche Mode’s “I Feel You”).

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Even 30 years later, Surfer Rosa sounds and feels fresh and revolutionary. Soooo many amazing tracks: the killer tension of “Bone Machine,” the weird guitar and vocal edges on “Break My Body” and “River Euphrates” and the breakneck punk pace of “Broken Face” and “Vamos.” The musical density offset by the sweetness of Kim Deal’s vocals on “Gigantic” is perfection. “Tony’s Theme” has always been a favorite (especially of friends of mine named Tony). And then there’s the gorgeous “Where Is My Mind?” which regained popularity (notoriety) with its inclusion many TV shows, commercials and movies – most notably 1999′s Fight Club – and is considered the Pixies signature song, with prominent use of “loud-quiet-loud” composition.

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The Smiths “This Charming Man” 1983. Rough Trade records. 12″ single remixed by Francois Kevorkian, Side A “This Charming Man New York (vocal)” and Side B “This Charming Man New York (instrumental).” So upbeat so sad so vivid so British.

The single reached #25 in the UK in 1983 and then #8 in 1992 after its re-release. I love this quote about the track by NME’s Paul Morley: It jangles and crashes and Morrissey jumps in the middle with his mutant choir-boy voice, sounding jolly and angst-ridden at the same time. It should be given out on street corners to unsuspecting passers-by of all ages.

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Disclosure: I do not like Pere Ubu but it’s my husband Joe’s birthday today and he really likes them so I’m giving this live recording a full listen. AllMusic’s John Dougan writes “it is a warts’n’all snapshot of their career…[it’s] of a very lo-fi quality – I’m talking portable cassette recorder quality. But that doesn’t mean it impossible to enjoy the music; quite the contrary, the grubby sound enhances what were probably grimy, claustrophobic gigs.” Well, I’m going to disagree a little about the “enjoy” part, but Pere Ubu does occupy an important place in the evolution of post-punk art rock, placing an emphasis on dissonance, anti-melody and aural experimentation. “30 Seconds Over Tokyo,” Pere Ubu’s debut single from 1975, appears on the LP, recorded in ‘77 at Pirate’s Cove in Cleveland, where, according to the album’s back cover notes, the band played nearly every Thursday for a year. I do like the bass line, but at certain points the live version totally dissolves into a frenzy of high-pitched whining noise, punctuating the destruction conveyed by the song’s lyrics:

Flew off early in the haze of dawn
In a metal dragon locked in time
Skimming waves of an underground sea
In some kind of a dream world fantasy

Sun a hot circle on a canopy
‘25 a racing blot on a bright green sea
Ahead, the dim blur of an alien land
Time to give ourselves to strange gods’ hands

Dark flak spiders bursting in the sky
Reaching twisted claws on every side
No place to run, no place to hide
No turning back on a suicide ride

Toy city streets crawling through my sights
Sprouting clumps of mushrooms like a world surreal
This dream won’t ever seem to end
And time seems like it’ll never begin

30 seconds
And a one way ride
30 seconds
And no place to hide
30 seconds over Tokyo

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