[Link removed 20 November 2012] (29 MB)
"Panic"
"Panic"
Rough Trade RTT193
Produced by John Porter
* Produced by Morrissey and Marr, engineered by Stephen Street
July 1986
All tracks from "Panic" (RTT 193CD, fall 1988)
Produced by John Porter
* Produced by Morrissey and Marr, engineered by Stephen Street
July 1986
Tracks:
1 Panic
2 Vicar In A Tutu *
3 The Draize Train
3 The Draize Train
Source:
Restoration:
Gentle EQ as needed, a smidgen of tasteful noise reduction if required, and very cautious, gentle peak limiting.
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:
Certainly anyone with a passing interest in this endeavour knows the story by now: Bassist Andy Rourke comes down with a rather nasty cold, is booted out of the band, gets arrested for buying too much cold medicine, and in a fit of empathy is subsequently re-invited to the fold. In the meantime onetime Aztec Camera Craig Gannon is brought in by Johnny Marr to replace Rourke on bass, though Gannon says this is fabrication; according to him, he was brought in specifically to beef up the guitars.
Meanwhile, this silly thing called Chernobyl happens in April 1986. Moz is listening to the Beeb one morning late in April, and the storyline that morning was a discussion of the Chernobyl tragedy immediately followed by the non-sequitur "I'm Your Man" by Wham!. Enraged, he pens a strident attack on radio. Marr marries it to a glam stomper, and "Panic" is born.
This session - featuring John Porter producing, and the band recording "Panic" and instrumental track "The Draize Train" - is Gannon's first studio outing with the band. "Panic" is a fan favorite; the refrain "Hang the DJ" is amongst the most memorable bits in the band's catalog. For a Manchester band, the virtual English travelogue in the lyric doesn't reach Cheshire or Greater Manchester, oddly.
"Vicar In A Tutu" assumes its rightly position as a B-side, even though it was just released on the LP The Queen Is Dead only a few months prior. Yes, we know this song has its cheerleaders, but to the Analog Loyalist it's not anywhere close to the band's peaks.
"The Draize Train" was the third - and last - instrumental released by the band. A highly percussive affair, this track was built up around a Linn drum and sounds it (and there's no problem with that!). It's one of Marr's best instrumental performances, in a catalog full of them; its later appearance on the live set Rank really makes the song shine. RT boss Geoff Travis so loved this song he pleaded with Moz to write a lyric, which obviously Morrissey declined. It's a shame; while I don't hear an obvious vocal melody on this track, I wouldn't have put it past Moz to find one that would be perfect.
Great news - thanks very much. Appreciate all you have done here.
ReplyDeleteYes!
ReplyDeleteWelcome back. What a complete gem.
Does anyone know if Morrissey came up with the titles for the instrumentals? With it's animal testing connotations, I have to think "The Draize Train" was his, but seems odd he would give a song a title without coming up with the words.
ReplyDeleteI think "The Draize Train" was Marr's title. I believe he was vegetarian at the time. He's vegan now. Hope that helps.
Deletethanks for the info... I wonder if JM named the others too. I always assumed JM would give tracks more "musical" titles like "Click Track"
DeleteExcellent stuff, once again. Is it wrong that I was disappointed there was no scan of the stickers included?
ReplyDeleteOnce again, brilliant stuff. Too long this time..... was starting to think it wasn't going to happen!! Thank goodness it has.
ReplyDeleteThank you
Excellent post, welcome back.
ReplyDeleteQuickly, many of us didn't notice it at the time, but the Les Paul years were firmly upon us by the time Panic and The Draize Train were committed to vinyl.
Wasn't there an aesthetic surrounding Smithdom, that would have blanched at such a 'rockist' symbol being wielded without care, especially publicly? It should hold true that it ain't what you play, it's the way that you play it. And the man can play whatever the fuck he likes, but the Barcelona 85 concert as an example, Miserable Lie on the Les Paul....doesn't anyone see something wrong in that?
GaryC
The stickers are scanned and available at Vulgar Picture. They've been nice enough to let us source the artwork from all their hard work, and I don't make any changes - the stickers there are the same source file I would have bundled into the download here.
ReplyDeleteI don't think JM was using LPs from the Queen is Dead onwards. The pics that stick in my mind are Marr using a different axe on virtually all TV appearances, and a custom made Tele or Strat for gigs.
ReplyDeleteJM got the les paul because wanted a particular sound out of it which he got by coil tapping one of humbuckers. He has specifically said on
camera during the tributes to LP when he died that he wanted to do something different with the LP, basically to subvert it's rockist appeal. I salute the Paul I've owned a couple and they are very versatile pieces of equipment.