ET(aatb) 04: RTT146 "What Difference Does It Make?"

[Link removed 20 November 2012] (43 MB)
"What Difference Does It Make?"
Rough Trade RTT146
Produced by John Porter
January 1984

Tracks:

1 What Difference Does It Make?
2 Back To The Old House
3 These Things Take Time
4 What Difference Does It Make? (7 inch edit)
5 What Difference Does It Make? (Troy Tate abandoned version)

Sources:

1-3 from "What Difference Does It Make?" RTT146CD, 1988
4 edited from same
5 from a tape containing the alleged "Final Mixes" of the abandoned Troy Tate 1st LP sessions

Restoration:

Gentle EQ as needed, a smidgen of tasteful noise reduction as required, and very cautious, gentle peak limiting

Artwork for this, and nearly every other release we'll be featuring, was sourced from the amazing Vulgar Picture treasure trove of sleeve artwork scans (with permission).

Notes:

This, the band's third single, delved a bit deeper into their songwriting history for the title track. While the prior "This Charming Man" was a relatively brand-new song at the time it was released as a single, "What Difference Does It Make?" was amongst the first batch of songs Morrissey and Marr composed together, back in late 1982.

Featuring an immediate, grabbing guitar motif, this track was recorded initially for John Peel (and obtainable on Hatful Of Hollow), and then subsequently re-recorded both by Troy Tate (for the abandoned first LP sessions), and finally John Porter (what we have here as the A-side, and, later, as featured on their debut LP). The Peel version is more of a stomper, with a loose, heavy groove laid down by Mike Joyce. Most "experts" on the Smiths prefer the Peel version, and I count myself firmly in that camp. It just has more "oomph", more power, it's just a better take on the song. The Porter/A-side version, featured here, is just "eh". I don't think the groove was quite captured in this take, and the guitars sound strangely neutered.

But, it is what it is.

The B-side tracks are infintely more interesting. "Back To The Old House" is a re-worked, re-arranged variant on the acoustic Hatful Of Hollow/BBC session version, and "These Things Take Time" most definitely should have wormed its way into the debut LP tracklisting. I know that I'm the most inept that ever slept, indeed.

We've chosen to bonus this single with a Tate recording of the title track. It's not as crystalline as the Tate "Reel Around The Fountain" single fantasy, but it's an interesting, and welcomed, re-interpretation of the song. It's notably in a different key than the Porter version, and Marr chirps right along on a harmonica in rhythm with his own guitar track.

It's hard to spice up conversation about this single. I've never really rated it as a stunner in the band's catalog, but there you are. Far more interesting are the various cover combinations, with the Terrence Stamp sleeve, then the Morrissey faux-Stamp sleeve, then Stamp with the band's name, Morrissey with the band's name, etc and etc and etc. I'll let our co-host, if he so chooses, carry on with that part of the discussion...

Update from 50 Pound Note - ugh, I simply cannot seem to get through the artwork for one of these singles without a typo slipping through. It's annoying. The RTT number on the CD face was incorrect, so you may grab the fixed one here.