ET(aatb) 16: RTT195 "Shoplifters Of The World Unite"

[Link removed 20 November 2012] (51 MB)

"Shoplifters Of The World Unite"

Rough Trade RTT195
Produced by Johnny Marr
* Produced by Morrissey and Marr, engineered by Stephen Street
** Produced by John Porter
January 1987

Tracks:

1 Shoplifters Of The World Unite

2 London *
3 Half A Person *
4 You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby ("UK version") **
5 You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby ("US version") **

Sources:

1-4 from The World Won't Listen (ROUGHCD101, February 1987)
5 from Louder Than Bombs (ROUGHCD255, November 1988)

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:

Second guitarist Craig Gannon ceased to be a Smith at the completion of the band's 30 October 1986 gig at Manchester's Free Trade Hall, though he wasn't to find out for a week or so afterwards. Thankfully for him, the band had stockpiled some tracks recorded with his services in the month or two previous to his dismissal.

"Shoplifters Of The World Unite" was not one of them, though the track initially shortlisted as the A-side for RTT195 was (more on that later). "Shoplifters", recorded shortly after Johnny Marr's near-fatal car crash in November 1986, is the only Smiths track credited to Marr alone with regards to production; it's a stunning look back at (and update of) the swampy vibe that lifted "How Soon Is Now?" to greatness, and a portrait of a band that is truly locked-in on all cylinders. Morrissey's contribution led Rough Trade to promote the record with absurd "Shoplifter" carrying bags at participating record shops.

"Shoplifters" was, for various reasons, a last-minute substitute A-side for "You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby" - a wonderfully classic Smithsian Marr jangle-a-thon that easily sits in this writer's short list of "Best Smiths Songs Ever". Produced by John Porter, "You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby" was recorded in October 1986 with Gannon contributing second guitar, and got so far through the release schedule that artwork proofs are in existence with this as the lead track on RTT195, and a so-called "pressing error" actually saw this song surface in January 1987 in "Shoplifters" sleeves - ahead of its release on February's The World Won't Listen compilation as the exclusive "new track". Two mixes of this track exist, one on ROUGH101 and one on (initially US/Canada only) Louder Than Bombs, and the mixes are different enough to warrant both included here. The US/Canada mix seems a bit more refined, with audible extra effects on Morrissey's vocals and slightly different guitar lines. The EQ on the US/Canada version was really shitty, so I matched it with the ROUGH101 version and it virtually leaps off the platter now. It's truly a stunner.

"London" is perhaps - along with "What She Said" - the hardest track in the band's catalog. A Marr tour-de-force if there ever was one, the song is off from the word go on a hurtling trip from Manchester to Euston station.

"Half A Person" is a track 99.9% of other bands would trumpet as their "Best Song Ever" and re-re-release it over and over again on countless compilations, reissued singles, etc. For The Smiths, it's just another Extra Track on the 12", and a track that, according to Marr, was written in the staircase at the studio where it was recorded. I was sixteen, clumsy and shy when I first heard this song myself, and while I was not a backscrubber, or staying at YWCAs, or even in London, the song struck an immediate chord in me and was the first song that truly cemented my love of this band.

Back to "You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby": I remember reading an interview with mastering engineer Frank Arkwright and Johnny Marr at around the time the Sound Of The Smiths compilation came out, a few years back, and Arkwright had mentioned that removing the varispeed effect from the song's master gave the song an entirely new life. (What he meant was that the master was keyed to play faster/higher pitched than normal, and in fact what saw release on both the UK and US/Canada compilations of the day was this unnaturally higher pitched/faster variant.) Intrigued, I slowed the track down to concert A440 pitch, and it really does feel and groove like a new song. 25 years of exposure to the wrong-speed version still means the "correct" version sounds "wrong", but "wrong" doesn't mean "worse". I can't listen to the original versions these days as Morrissey now sounds like a chipmunk in comparison (the re-pitched, slowed-down version is much more in Morrissey's natural baritone, and the drums sound appropriately "oomphy" for lack of a better term).

- Analog Loyalist