ET(aatb) 11: RTT186 "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore" AKA "Meat Is Murder Live EP"

[Link removed 20 November 2012] (137 MB)

"That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore"
Rough Trade RTT186
Produced by The Smiths
(live tracks mixed by Stephen Street)
July 1985

alternate:

"The Headmaster Ritual"
Megadisc MD 125295
Produced by The Smiths
(live tracks mixed by Stephen Street)
early summer 1985

alternate:

"The Headmaster Ritual"
Rough Trade RTT215CD
Produced by The Smiths
(live tracks mixed by Stephen Street)
November 1988

Tracks:

1 That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore
2 William, It Was Really Nothing (live)
3 Nowhere Fast (live)
4 Stretch Out And Wait (live)
5 Shakespeare's Sister (live)
6 Meat Is Murder (live)
7 Miserable Lie (live)
8 That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore (7" edit)
9 The Headmaster Ritual

Sources:

1, 9 from Meat Is Murder (UK: ROUGHCD81, April 1985)
2 from Westwood One In Concert New Rock (USA: Westwood One #95-40, September 1995)
3-4, 6 from "The Headmaster Ritual" (UK: Rough Trade RTT215CD, November 1988)
5 from "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore" (UK: Rough Trade RTT186 12" single, July 1985)
7 from Rough Trade Compilation (Canada: Rough Trade RTS1986 vinyl LP)
8 edited from 1
Intros and crossfades created from the 2009 Rhino CD Singles Box variant of "That Joke..."

Restoration:

Gentle EQ as needed, a smidgen of tasteful noise reduction if required, and very cautious, gentle peak limiting.
Crossfades and patching galore (see below).

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

Notes:

Summer 1985 saw Rough Trade (or the band) proposing a live EP based on the Meat Is MurderUK Spring 1985 tour: the 18 March 1985 Oxford gig was recorded by the BBC and tapes given to Rough Trade to use. Using the RTT186 catalog number, very limited test pressings of the 7" and 12" "Meat Is Murder - Live EP" records were cut. The tracklistings for the proposed releases were as follows:

7" (RT186): Meat Is Murder - Live EP

Meat Is Murder

Nowhere Fast

Stretch Out And Wait

12" (RTT186): Meat Is Murder - Live EP
Meat Is Murder

Nowhere Fast

Stretch Out And Wait

William, It Was Really Nothing

Miserable Lie

For unknown reasons this release was scrapped, with the decision made to pull "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore" off the LP as a single, with the live tracks from the Oxford gig used as the B-sides, and the whole package remaining under the root RT(T)186 catalog number. Left behind from the final official product were "William..." and "Miserable Lie", though "Shakespeare's Sister" was added to the package as a consolation gift of sorts. The final tally:

7" (RT186)

That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore (edit)

Meat Is Murder (live)

12" (RTT186)

That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore

Nowhere Fast (live)

Stretch Out And Wait (live)

Shakespeare's Sister (live)

Meat Is Murder (live)

Meanwhile, the Europeans via Megadisc decided to use an alternate sleeve with an alternate A-side, though kept the 12" B-sides, and released "The Headmaster Ritual" at roughly the same time. The alternate sleeve remains a classic sleeve in the canon, hence the reason for including it here.

In 1988 Rough Trade began releasing, in haphazard fashion, the band's 12" back catalog on CD single. The rarest of these - RTT215CD using "The Headmaster Ritual" as the "A-side" with 3 of the 4 live tracks from the RTT186 12" as B-sides ("Nowhere Fast" / "Stretch Out..." / "Meat Is Murder") - was quickly withdrawn as the cover star quickly protested use of the artwork, so only a handful made it out to collectors. Again, its rarity (and classicism as cover art) warrants its inclusion here.

Finally, in 2009 Rhino UK released a box set of the first ten or so singles as individual CD singles, and in the process used a new transfer of the Oxford live set as the basis for their release. How do we know this? The original Rough Trade 7" and 12" from 1985 was one of the most piss-poor edit hack jobs I've ever heard, with drumstick click-ins from the wrong song leading into the various tracks, really poor edit points, etc. While the proper click intros were restored on the Rhino CD, the outtros were faded out rather than edited into the next track. It too was a poor overall experience.

I repaired and enhanced the live selection with the help of an excellent team of co-conspirators, who not only lent their considerable collections to the endeavour, but their equipment as well. Basically, I used the raw audio sources as detailed up top in the tracklist descriptions, with the intros stolen from the Rhino CD, and patched it all together. We finally have a coherent, quality assemblage of the best versions available of the "released" live tracks, nicely crossfaded, source-matched, and pristine.

Yes I am aware of the existence of "What She Said" from this gig on an NME 7", and I have several transfers of this, but the quality (I blame the pressing, not those who kindly sourced them for me) did not lend itself to inclusion here, at least to our standards.

My quick take on the 7" edit of the title track: While I like the reverse fade at the end as preserved on the album track and full 12" version, it's a bit much for radio play and I agree with the reasoning behind editing it out for the 7". Not that it helped, I'm sure, as while a beautiful track, it's not exactly daytime Radio 1 stuff.