In "How Soon Is Now", I suppose the clip of Marr showing Morrissey a thing or two on guitar stemmed from Grant. New info for me there. When I first saw that, I thought it explained the guitar note we hear on the Oxford show tape from March 1985 (that I still have on cassette via WLIR's Sunday night concert series) https://youtu.be/bL9ElxDmznc?si=21fBx_ce-cGjS39k&t=485 unless Johnny and Grant had some sample geared up at the time to make up for the inability of recreating Johnny's wall of guitars live. One more clip I'd point to is the very last song the foursome played live before a paying audience...their last attempt to show all the magnificence of "Hand In Glove" which they apparently long thought didn't get quite the reception it deserved. https://youtu.be/fWU57uFzWR4?si=1hNQPdEkaOzZ6vUp&t=3464
Hey Patrick, OK, you win the Smiths Nerd award! I was at Oxford and no, Morrissey did not play guitar; they were clearly flying in the slide part you reference, which would be eminently doable given that it was "flown in" as a sample on the song in the first place. (PS: There is WAY better audio of Oxford on YT.) It seems ver appropriate that things ended with "Hand In Glove." I tried my best to just do one song a-piece on my Top 12, so did not include its first airing back at the Hacienda as I wanted to show the fun clip of Sandie Shaw for a moment of light relief, but it may well be the only Smiths song that has footage of its debut and its final airing? Thanks!
I seem to recall that Johnny Marr took a far amount of camcorder footage during the recording of ‘Strangeways…’. , I wonder if that will ever see the light of day...
Thanks for this. When The Smiths were at their heyday, I was popping out babies and the only music I heard was Sesame Street , but I'm totally fascinated by them now. Thanks!
Ha ha! Very happy to be of assistance. I have many gaps in my own musical database and some of that are also attached to years of parenting, when the CD player seemed to be dominated by Teletubbies and the VHS by Thomas the Tank Engine! So glad you get to catch up later in life.
I’ve fallen down that Smiths YouTube rabbit hole more times than I care to remember. That Hacienda footage is incredible, it feels like you’re standing on the side of the stage. Looking at Johnny on the Tube footage, I have to ask was there a cooler looking bloke on the planet?
The one clip I return to regularly is London / Miserable Lie from their last gig at Brixton.
Hey Paul, to your first point, no not unless you are considering him on the TOTP William footage, but in terms of playing live while looking that cool, straight up No.
I can understand the attachment to the gig you were at, i.e. Brixton. (I was at Kilburn, unaware of course that it would become Rank.) But I do prefer the footage from Nottingham, where Johnny is a) not smoking a cigarette and b) not hammering the chords in front of Mike and c) Morrissey is dancing freely, not with the mike stand as at Brixton. I also like how the camera captures the view from above and almost behind them and as such, you can SEE the kids down the front having the time of their lives! Any which way, "London" was brilliant on stage and on record.
Is it the same bunch of worn out limp flowers in that back pocket of his in all 12?
I love the appearance of Elvis Costello's guitar in the "William" video. What's the story with that?
You are the second person to ask me - someone else spotted it during my presentation last weekend. And the answer is... I Don't Know!
Hahaha! And you call yourself a Smiths biographer! ;-)
In "How Soon Is Now", I suppose the clip of Marr showing Morrissey a thing or two on guitar stemmed from Grant. New info for me there. When I first saw that, I thought it explained the guitar note we hear on the Oxford show tape from March 1985 (that I still have on cassette via WLIR's Sunday night concert series) https://youtu.be/bL9ElxDmznc?si=21fBx_ce-cGjS39k&t=485 unless Johnny and Grant had some sample geared up at the time to make up for the inability of recreating Johnny's wall of guitars live. One more clip I'd point to is the very last song the foursome played live before a paying audience...their last attempt to show all the magnificence of "Hand In Glove" which they apparently long thought didn't get quite the reception it deserved. https://youtu.be/fWU57uFzWR4?si=1hNQPdEkaOzZ6vUp&t=3464
Hey Patrick, OK, you win the Smiths Nerd award! I was at Oxford and no, Morrissey did not play guitar; they were clearly flying in the slide part you reference, which would be eminently doable given that it was "flown in" as a sample on the song in the first place. (PS: There is WAY better audio of Oxford on YT.) It seems ver appropriate that things ended with "Hand In Glove." I tried my best to just do one song a-piece on my Top 12, so did not include its first airing back at the Hacienda as I wanted to show the fun clip of Sandie Shaw for a moment of light relief, but it may well be the only Smiths song that has footage of its debut and its final airing? Thanks!
I seem to recall that Johnny Marr took a far amount of camcorder footage during the recording of ‘Strangeways…’. , I wonder if that will ever see the light of day...
There's a thought. Well I wonder, indeed.
Thanks for this. When The Smiths were at their heyday, I was popping out babies and the only music I heard was Sesame Street , but I'm totally fascinated by them now. Thanks!
Ha ha! Very happy to be of assistance. I have many gaps in my own musical database and some of that are also attached to years of parenting, when the CD player seemed to be dominated by Teletubbies and the VHS by Thomas the Tank Engine! So glad you get to catch up later in life.
I had my babies in 77, 81, 84 and 88. No CD players, but plenty of kid cassettes got played in the car.
I’ve fallen down that Smiths YouTube rabbit hole more times than I care to remember. That Hacienda footage is incredible, it feels like you’re standing on the side of the stage. Looking at Johnny on the Tube footage, I have to ask was there a cooler looking bloke on the planet?
The one clip I return to regularly is London / Miserable Lie from their last gig at Brixton.
https://youtu.be/dNbiB1G7890?si=HRZGqpMWjq0XGhTK
I’m somewhere down the front having the time of my life.
Hey Paul, to your first point, no not unless you are considering him on the TOTP William footage, but in terms of playing live while looking that cool, straight up No.
I can understand the attachment to the gig you were at, i.e. Brixton. (I was at Kilburn, unaware of course that it would become Rank.) But I do prefer the footage from Nottingham, where Johnny is a) not smoking a cigarette and b) not hammering the chords in front of Mike and c) Morrissey is dancing freely, not with the mike stand as at Brixton. I also like how the camera captures the view from above and almost behind them and as such, you can SEE the kids down the front having the time of their lives! Any which way, "London" was brilliant on stage and on record.
Cheers.