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QUOTE (Noonan McKane @ Nov 16 2004, 03:50 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> I love it. I have since I first heard it. I can take the point about the way it's produced, how spare it all sounds, how mechanical and detached, but one has to remember the musical climate it was released into, in 1984. I recall some of the music papers sneeringly dismissing John Porter as a 'carpetbagger'; an opportunist hastily getting the latest 'darlings of the underground' down on tape ASAP before they went out of fashion. But I can't possibly agree. I mean, have you ever heard "Rio" or "Seven And The Ragged Tiger" by Duran Duran? How long must those overdubs have taken? I think Porter's treatment of The Smiths' debut was very much considered, and was very deliberate in being a reaction to the aforementioned production values, which even yet are popularly held as being 'that eighties sound'. (I just thought: Isn't one track produced by someone else, Troy Tate out of The Teardrop Explodes? Is it? Can't be arsed going to check. You can fill me in)
Anyway, I find it very difficult to fault. I still find it incredible to think that the British right-wing press were able to convince the public that The Smiths were maudlin, depressed and uninspiring when the singles used to plug their debut LP were "Hand In Glove" and "What Difference Does It Make"; the latter of which could leap out of pub jukeboxes and go about it's business easily as effectively as "Jumping Jack Flash" or "Cum On Feel The Noize" could.
I was always intrigued by the fact that "The Hand That Rocks The Cradle" seemed to consist of just one, very long verse; And I was made slightly uncomfortable by Morrissey's (apparent) ad-lib: "...and your mother she must never know..", coming, as it seemed to, immediately after his direct quoting of Al Jolson: "Climb upon my knee, sonny boy. Although you're only three, sonny boy. You're mine..."
It was "Suffer Little Children", though, which had The Sun and The News Of The World foaming at the mouth. With it's lyrical content describing the worst, most
awful crimes ever committed in this country, and containing as it did, actual quotations from one of the perpetrators of those crimes (shades, again of The Rolling Stones "Midnight Rambler"), Morrissey was ACTUALLY libeled, on more than one occasion, in the aforementioned papers, not simply of condoning sexual offences, but of actually BEING a former sex offender! Amazingly, no one sued anyone.
"Suffer Little Children", whilst being uncomfortable listening, and hardly what one may term 'entertainment', is, nonetheless, inspired by a book about the moors murders entitled "Beyond Belief", which is written in a theoretical, first-person-narrative style "by" Myra Hindley. It's very harrowing to read. For Morrissey to make an artistic comment on it was brave and innovative. The hook-line he penned for the song; "Oh, Manchester, so much to answer for....." has since entered the public conscienceness......
PS. Another wee point: I see some of you listing "This Charming Man" as a song from "The Smiths". It isn't actually on the debut, and was only added, by Warner Bros, to the CD. It was one of those great "stand-alone" singles, that all the great bands tend to have ("Jumping Jack Flash", "Hey Jude") which isn't on any album, and even the 'Hatful Of Hollow' version is a radio session version. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
You really should write for a living. Actually, for all I know, you already do...
As for This Charming Man, I had no idea about that, I really thought it was no the original album. Couldn't find any info through Google, so then I tried eBay...
This one says it's on there...
<a href='http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=43708&item=4051682049&rd=1' target='_blank'>http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...4051682049&rd=1</a>
This one says it isn't...
<a href='http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=43708&item=4051682049&rd=1' target='_blank'>http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...4051682049&rd=1</a>
Well, you know better than I do, having been there and all that. You learn something new everyday I suppose, even if it is random Smiths trivia <!--emo&:ph34r:-->

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