Welcome to... _________________________________________________ | \ | S T R A N G E W A Y S > |________________________________________________/ A forum for Morrissey and The Smiths. Volume 1, Issue #3 Date: Mon, 25 Feb 91 19:57 EST From: GGTZEUTSCHLE%AMHERST.BITNET%yalevm.ycc.yale.edu@ICS.UCI.EDU Subject: Me and my Smiths Hey, all! I'm a sophomore at Amherst College, 18 years old, born in France (Toulon, on the Mediterranean), raised in Connecticut (Windsor, just north of Hartford), and studying Political Science, hoping to (maybe) go on to a career in international law. Way back in '85, when I was a lowly high school freshman, a couple of my friends had some really weird taste in music. Their two favorite bands were the Dead Kennedys and the Smiths. I had only heard the DK's and didn't particularly like them, and foolishly assumed the Smiths were similar. Imagine my joyous surprise when, driving with one of them, he popped "This Charming Man" into the tape player! I was immediately hooked, and copied The Queen Is Dead, Hatful of Hollow (I don't know where it came from, but I don't have song titles, though most of them are also on other albums, and the sound quality is really bad ...) and Meat Is Murder. I even- tually got around to getting/copying Louder Than Bombs, The Smiths, and (when it came out two years later) Strangeways, Here We Come. My favorite is probably The Smiths, but they're really all great, even Strangeways. (I didn't figure it was worth the $25 to get The World Won't Listen on import LP or even more on CD, though I didn't get a CD player 'til last summer, with the result that I don't have any Smiths on CD :< ) I was most bummed when I heard that the true Fab Four had broken up ... and Viva Hate didn't do much to make me happier, nor did Bona Drag. I mean, they're not BAD, and Morissey's lyrics still have all their wittiness, but the music is much more boring ... I guess Morissey just can't write music as well as Johnny Marr. Speaking of which, though it's very different, The The's Mind Bomb is certainly worth getting, with some fine songwriting and guitar playing courtesy of Mr. Marr. There are some nasty racist implications in one of the songs (The Violence of Truth) but the album is otherwise very intense. Even a duet with Matt Johnson and Sinead O'Connor (yes, I still love her.) But I digress. I have high hopes for Kill Uncle, though I haven't heard it yet. Hopefully it will come into our radio station soon. (Being a DJ is SO cool!) Anyone else care to tell their Smiths stories? Greg Tzeutschler (GGATz. hereafter) "Hand in glove, the sun shines out of our behinds, no it's not like any other love, this one's different because it's us ..." [ As far as I know, Morrissey does NOT write his own music. If you look at the credits of recent singles, you'll see that people like Armstrong, Street and Rourke write the music. I agree...no one can really match Marr's musical abilities. =K= ] ------ Date: Mon, 25 Feb 91 17:47:42 -0800 From: "Michael A. Ramirez" I have seen the How Soon Is Now vid and it was pretty good. I heard that supposedly there is going to be a release of all of the Smiths videos on tape. There is Hulmerist, which is a bunch of Morrissey videos. I like them a lot. In other news I heard on LIVE 105 (Modern rock station in SF) that Morrissey's new album _Kill Uncle_ is supposed to be out March 5. I heard the new single (i forgot the name) and it sounds pretty good. That is all the news I have now... [ For those of you who don't know, the single's called "Our Frank" ] ------ From: kkawado@bonnie.ics.uci.edu Subject: Discography. There seems to be two "import" EPs missing from Nicole's list. The first is called "Stop Me" and comes from Japan. Here are the list of songs on the album: Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before Pretty Girls Make Graves (live) Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others (live) (verse added) Girlfriend In A Coma Work Is A Four Letter Word I Keep Mine Hidden (claimed to be Morrissey's favorite song) Sheila Take A Bow Is It Really So Strange? Sweet and Tender Hooligan There's also an import from the West Germany called "Stop Me" which has four of the above songs on it: Stop Me, Work is a Four Letter Word, I Keep Mine Hidden and Girlfriend in a Coma. Another import from West Germany is the "Sheila Take A Bow" mini-CD. This one has the following songs: Sheila Take A Bow Is It Really So Strange Sweet and Tender Hooligan Shoplifters of the World Half A Person Panic London A special note on the CD case says that all tracks were produced by Johnny Marr. These imports were licenced by Rough Trade so I don't think they are considered bootlegs. Any other opinions? On the topic of bootlegs, there's an album out called "Smith's Better Live than Dead". Thanks to Amy for sending me a copy. It's really a good concert. While in a local CD store, I happened to find the CD version of this concert. Does anyone know if there are any other stores that carry this album? The CD is supposedly very valuable since only 1000 were pressed. =K= ----- Date: 25 Feb 91 21:46:52 From: Michael.C.Massengale%mac.dartmouth.edu@ICS.UCI.EDU Subject: STRANGEWAYS: discography Thanks again Nicole! I wonder if we can now get a list of the domestic releases from somewhere. I know there's got to be some difference, because I have a 12" of How Soon Is Now (B-sides: How Soon Is Now? (edit) and Girl Afraid). Also, I'd like to know which singles are available on CD. There's obviously a bit of variation between the UK and US releases, and I know that Japan also has at least one disc exculsive to that country. Are there any other pressings of Smiths material that are unique to a certain country? And what about Canada - did they get Louder Than Bombs or The World Won't Listen and Hatful of Hollow? I hope that someone can answer these questions...with the answers, i may be able to find the true meaning of life :-)! Michael ----- Date: 25 Feb 91 22:07:04 From: Nicole.E.Nelson%mac.dartmouth.edu@ICS.UCI.EDU Subject: Strangeways I know that the Smiths did Three Peel Sessions. This Charming Man Handsome Devil Reel Aroung The Fountain Back To The Old House Still Ill What Difference Does It Make and This Night Has Opened My Eyes . I don't Know if They all have been released. About Marr and The Talking Heads. I have no idea when the next album is coming out. I just heard that he was working with them again. I know that Marr wasn't a vegetarian when the album was released. Yes Bona Drag was weak, that's because mostly because of EMI . They wanted to release an album in time for the Holiday seasion. Missing from the album is Sister, I'm A Poet. I do like the transition from November to We'll Never Marry. About The How Soon Is Now Video. It is sometime played on MTV during 120min or the alt. timeslot. Does anyone have the video package(not Hulmerist) released awhile back after The Queen is Dead. I think it was for Strangeways. For those Who don't Have Louder Than Bombs- Don't Buy it. You will Be better off with Hatful of Hollow and The World Won't Listen. Nicole [ Just out of curiosity, where did you hear about the other two Peel Sessions. I'd be very interested if you had a tape or something. =K= ] ----- Date: 25 Feb 91 22:14:34 From: Nicole.E.Nelson%mac.dartmouth.edu@ICS.UCI.EDU Subject: Re: Strangeways #2 What is the status of the relationship between Morrissey and Rourke,Joyce, Gannon? Nicole "Well I Wonder" ----- Date: Tue, 26 Feb 91 14:44 +1100 From: Douglas.Miller%vax1.viccol.edu.au@ICS.UCI.EDU Subject: Strangeways > From: kkawado@bonnie.ics.uci.edu > Subject: Strangeways - fan club info > > Michael and I wanted to know generally how distributed the Strangeways > members were distributed across the nation. I'm sure many others are > curious as well. We're going to try to keep track of the locations > everyone writes in from and see where Morrissey/The Smiths are most > popular. Please write in and tell us where you live. I'm from Melbourne, Australia. Please note that this list is distributed across the world (only just --- I counted only four non US addresses in the last header --- where are all the devotees from the UK?) not "the nation". While I'm on this particular hobbyhorse, I would request that everyone follows "international etiquette" when referring to "imports" and currency figures. > I've got two tapes: one of the KROQ interview with Morrissey last year > and one "concert vault" tape of one of their 1985-86 tour shows. If > someone would like to be in charge of copying and distributing them, > please let me know. Please don't send requests for them just yet. Another rarity that could be included on a tape project would be the Vini Reilly giveaway single "I know Very Well How I Got My Note Wrong". Has anyone managed to obtain this (and how much can I buy it from you for :-)? [ Anyone want to volunteer to start up a tape duplication project? =K= ] [ By the way, for those of us who don't know such as myself, what exactly is "international etiquette"? What are we doing wrong...I apologize if I've offended anyone overseas. =K= ] ----- From: kkawado@bonnie.ics.uci.edu Subject: Rourke, Joyce and Gannon and "Our Frank" Well, I assume you knew about the lawsuit Gannon had with Morrissey about some works that he didn't get credit for (and/or paid for). I'm not really sure about the details but I know this lawsuit held up Ouija Board from being released. (This is what my importer source said). The last I saw of Gannon and Joyce was on "Interesting Drug". Rourke occasionally writes some music for some of Morrissey's B-sides (such as "Girl Least Likely To", "Yes, I'm Blind", and "Get Off The Stage". Rourke plays on "Last of the Famous International Playboys", "Interesting Drug", and "November Spawned A Monster". There were no credits on the "Picadilly Palare" single but since he wrote one of the songs on the single, he might have played on it. I thought I'd post the lyrics to "Our Frank" since I'm listening to it now and I'm beginning to really get into it. Our frank and open/deep conversations/they get me nowhere/ they bring me down, so/give it a rest, won't you?/give me a cigarette/ God give me patience/just no more conversations. Give us a drink/and make it quick/or else I'm gonna be sick/sick all over/ your frankly vulger/red pullover/now see how the colours blend. Our frank and open/deep conversations/they get me nowhere/ they bring me down, so/give it a rest, won't you?/ now will you just give over/the world may be ending/but look, I'm only human. Give us a drink/and make it quick/or else I'm gonna be sick/sick all over/ your frankly vulgar/red pullower/now see how the two colours blend. Won't somebody stop me/from thinking all the time/ about everything/so deeply/so bleakly. I liked the title cut, but the two B-sides ("Journalists Who Lie" and "Tony the Pony") are not all that spectacular. =K= ----- Date: Mon, 25 Feb 91 22:42:50 PST From: lars%cs.uoregon.edu@ICS.UCI.EDU Subject: Strangeways About the Peel sessions, I don't know how many there were, but off "Hatful of Hollow", the following songs are all from the BBC Radio One John Peel Show: What Difference does it make? This Charming Man Handsome Devil Still ill This Night has opened my eyes Back to the Old House Real around the fontain Also off "Hatful of Hollow", the following songs are from the BBC Radio One David Jensen Show: These Things Take Time You've got Everything Now Accept Yourself As for Morrissey solo sessions, I think he did one, but refused to have it aired/released because he was mad at the studio staff at BBC. Here's a quote from a Morrissey interview, June 88: [On the first solo Radio One Session] "It was really awful, horrible. The engineers are quite accustomed to treating everyone like they were some insignificant, unsigned group from Poole. And that's how I felt on that day. I felt as though I'd never seen a record, let alone made one. So I found them a bit rude and I couldn't sing because I was so annoyed and angry. I think John Walters made a reference to it, saying I just didn't want it aired because I didn't think it was good enough, but the reason behind it was the situation at Maida Vale studio." The quote is taken from the book "In his own words, Morrissey", by John Robertson (Omnibus press, ISBN 0.7119.1547.4) which contains some interesting info. It's pretty much a bunch of excerpts from Morrissey interviews in the years 83-88. By the way, I think the compilation tape idea is great, I'll be willing to do the compilation/tape copying if there is any interest for this and if people send me material. Drop me a note (email) if you think you have something unusual/interesting to contribute. Here's a CD (single) that I haven't seen in any of the discographies yet (picked it up in Europe last summer): Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before/Work Is A Four Letter Word/Girlfriend In A Coma/ I keep Mine Hidden (LICD 9.00440, Line Records) -Lars lars@cs.uoregon.edu ----- From: Pete Ashdown Subject: Strangeways Date: Tue, 26 Feb 91 6:57:06 MST > From: Nicole.E.Nelson%mac.dartmouth.edu@ICS.UCI.EDU > Marr- has been picked up by the talking heads-again Errrr, no. It was The Pretenders who took on Marr for a while. I haven't heard of Marr rejoining them, I believe he's quite happy in The The. > From: Michael Arras > Someone once told me that at one time all of The Smiths were > vegetarians. After listening to Meat is Murder, I think that there must be > some truth to that. Can anyone confirm/discount a rumor that any of The > Smiths was at least at one time a vegetarian? If you don't think Morrisey is a vegetarian after listening to "Meat is Murder" there's not much else that can convince you. He is a very STAUNCH vegetarian. I don't know about the rest of the band though. [ Morrissey has been a vegetarian since he was a teenager (reference to interview at KROQ) although I can't account for the rest of the band. ] ----- That's it for another issue...I appears that there'll be enough info to have this post come out daily (or at least every other day). Thanks to everyone.