Extra Track (and a tacky badge)

ET(aatb) 15: RTT194 "Ask"

2012-02-24T09:57:00.002-05:00

"Ask"

Rough Trade RTT194
Produced by John Porter, mixed by Steve Lillywhite
* Produced by Morrissey and Marr, engineered by Stephen Street
October 1986

Tracks:

1 Ask (single version)

2 Cemetry Gates *
3 Golden Lights
4 Ask ("album" version)

Source:

1-3 from "Ask" (RTT 194CD, fall 1988)
4 from The World Won't Listen (ROUGHCD101, February 1987)

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:

The band's second single as a 5-piece, this breezy strummer is yet another clear fan favorite. I wonder what buck-toothed Luxembourgian lasses thought, however... Great guitar interplay between Johnny Marr and Craig Gannon, you hear all sorts of wicked guitar effects including fake seagulls done on guitar. Had John Porter had his way, it would have been even more amazingly tracked, though - Morrissey had Steve Lillywhite mix it without the map detailing the hundreds of guitars on the track.

"Cemetry Gates" as legend has it was written in about 3 minutes by Marr in his kitchen, and suddenly they had the song. Not much more needs to be said; it too is a classic and deserves all the exposure it can get.

Regarding "Golden Lights"... Err, is this the Smiths? Perhaps the most wretched track in the catalogue; Moz sounds ridiculous and this insipid Twinkle cover doesn't really rate at all. Porter says its initial incarnation was much better before Lillywhite got his hands on it.

As to the "album mix" of "Ask": There is no technical "album mix" because the song was never taken from an album. The single (and original) version drops in at 3:05, whereas that released on the various compilations stretches an additional 13 or so seconds to 3:18. As detailed as I am, I've not taken the chance to lay the two versions atop each other and find those spare 13 seconds. Anyone who can find them, let me know!

ET(aatb) 14: RTT193 "Panic"

2012-02-23T08:32:00.000-05:00

Zip File (29 MB)

"Panic"

Rough Trade RTT193
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

Source:

All tracks from "Panic" (RTT 193CD, fall 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:

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.

A petition to release the Porter "Sheila Take A Bow"

2012-02-17T00:08:00.001-05:00

I've created a petition, for shits and giggles, encouraging Rhino/Warners (and Morrissey and Marr) to release the John Porter recording of "Sheila Take A Bow" (as found on the stellar Demos and Outtakes 2xLP bootleg) as a single.

Sign it!

Spread the word too. Who knows, perhaps we'll effect change in Smithdom.

ET(aatb) 13: RTT192 "Bigmouth Strikes Again"

2011-11-13T21:46:00.002-05:00

Zip File (44 MB)

"Bigmouth Strikes Again"

Rough Trade RTT192
Produced by Morrissey and Marr
Engineered by Stephen Street May 1986

Tracks:

1 Bigmouth Strikes Again

2 Money Changes Everything
3 Unloveable

4 Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others (Australian unique edit)

Sources:

1 from The Queen Is Dead (ROUGHCD96, June 1986)

2 from The World Won't Listen (WEA 450991898-2, November 1993)

3 from The World Won't Listen (ROUGHCD101, January 1987)

4 from The Queen Is Dead (Australia - Festival D30108, 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:

And, they're back.

Legal issues having held the band out of the public eye for the greater part of a year, the public thirst for new Smiths product was reaching fever pitch (or so we would have it).

Rough Trade supremo Geoff Travis wanted "There Is A Light" as the lead track premiering the upcoming LP The Queen Is Dead. Johnny wanted this. Johnny won. It's all one could hope for for the first new Smiths record of the year, with Moz throwing up lyrics about Walkmen and melting hearing aids and featuring blisteringly triumphant Marr guitars. Johnny called this single his "Jumping Jack Flash" moment, and it's not hard to see why. Another absolute classic in the canon, and great for drunk singalongs with friends and whisks involved (don't ask...).

"Money Changes Everything" was the second instrumental released by the band, and while not terribly phenomenal (or terribly poor), it is perhaps of greater import that Bryan Ferry would re-christen this as "The Right Stuff" and work it up with Marr post-breakup. It is one of the few Smiths tracks not to see CD release on official Rough Trade product, hence the sourcing from the lesser WEA disc.

According to Simon Goddard, "Unloveable" was short-listed for the LP but left off to include the last-minute-composition "Vicar in a Tutu". Frankly, they shouldn't have bothered, because this wipes the floor with "Vicar". Another classic composition, perhaps featuring the most bleakly ironic Moz lyric "I wear black on the outside, because black is how I feel...on the INSIDE" married to a cloyingly pretty Marr guitar figure. That this was the extra track on the 12" is shameful, but then again, many of this band's all-time classics were the so-called "extra track" on the 12". Such is this band's sheer genius.

The Australians, forever unique they shall be, decided that the reverse fade intro on the closingThe Queen Is Dead track "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others" just wasn't their cup of tea, so they chopped the fade intro and did a weird doubling edit of one of the intro phrases at approximately 0:14 into the song. I have no earthly idea why, because I can't imagine the hordes of cries pleading to "fix" the intro of the official "Some Girls..." track. But if nothing else it gave the world a slightly rare curiosity, which is why we chose to feature it here. That all said, this is perhaps Analog Loyalist's favorite piece of Smiths music ever. There is something about the guitars, the emotions within, that really gets into me. There's also no chorus figure to speak of, or, is the entire song a chorus? More Marr genius, I guess. That Moz had to throw this lyric on top just makes the juxtaposition that much greater.

ET(aatb) 12: RTT191 "The Boy With The Thorn In His Side"

2011-11-10T00:43:00.001-05:00

Zip File (32 MB)

"The Boy With The Thorn In His Side"

Rough Trade RTT191
Produced by Morrissey and Marr
Engineered by Stephen Street
September 1985

Tracks:

1 The Boy With The Thorn In His Side
2 Rubber Ring ->
3 Asleep

Source:

All tracks from "The Boy With The Thorn In His Side" (RTT 191CD, 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:

The classic single, as it was meant to be heard.

One of the most satisfyingly beautiful melodies ever captured by Johnny Marr, the title track is a clear favorite in the discography. What many people don't realize is that the common version, that on the LP The Queen Is Dead, is muchly embellished from the simpler single version (extra synthetic strings, some guitar overdubs, etc.). Now (even in this blog!) I've been known to be wrong before, but as best as I can determine the only place to get the original single mix was on the actual, you know, single. None of the compilation appearances of this track was the single mix, they all featured the LP version. I can't speak for the recent Rhino singles boxes, but I suspect they too feature the LP mix.

The November 1988 Rough Trade CD single also thankfully featured the single mix, which is what we have here. It's a tossup as to which version is better; the LP mix fits better on the album, but as a standalone track I think I prefer the simplicity of this one.

This same November 1988 Rough Trade CD single is (and I think remains) the only CD source for the wonderful Rubber Ring -> Asleep segue, where the two tracks gracefully segue together. We maintain this segue here. Johnny maintains that the only way to fully appreciate the two pieces of music is to hear them of a piece and I agree: the entirety of the Rubber Ring / Asleep piece is one of the most poignant, beautiful segments of music in the catalog.

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

2011-11-08T09:05:00.004-05:00

Zip File (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.

Reissue! Repackage! Re-evaluate the (masterings)!

2011-10-16T22:35:00.001-04:00

Unless you've just emerged from a cave, I'm sure everyone is aware of the recent activities in Smithsworld regarding catalog remastering.

I've had a chance to audition the 7-disc CD box set and in a word, they're stunning. Johnny Marr has talked about how one of the goals was to strip the garbage off laid on the tracks in their 80s CD masterings, and while I'm not entirely sure what he means by that, if he means revealing detail previously obscured, he succeeded. For the most part, the 2011 masterings (by Marr and Frank Arkwright) are revelatory. Even in comparison to original Rough Trade vinyl - and I say that as the Analog Loyalist.

These are, of course, modern masterings. But by no means are they a brickwall travesty - they are limited, as one would expect, but not ridiculously so. For the guitar detail revealed in these, I'll take some gentle mastering compression/limiting any day.

Here's a case in point: "Is It Really So Strange?" taken from the 1987 ROUGHCD 255 Louder Than Bombs, and the same track from the new box set's issue of the same album. (Volume level of the ROUGHCD 255 version has been matched to the new issue, for better comparison.) Marr's twangy descending guitar part, starting at approximately 0:15, is nearly obscured on the 1987 mastering but gloriously clear here on this 2011 mastering.

So I post the obvious question: while my blog mate and I are committed to finish what we've started, do you think we should carry on with sourcing from Rough Trade product, or start lifting from these new Marr/Arkwright masterings?

Please comment. Have you heard the new box set? Do you like the overall sonics? Do you like what we've already posted better than the same tracks in their 2011 mastering guise? Is the box set version better than any given track we've done so far (obviously only tracks that are common to both)?

My opinion, as objective as I can be, is that for the most part what we've posted so far is in the same ballpark as the 2011 masterings.

ET(aatb) 10: RTT181 "Shakespeare's Sister"

2011-09-29T00:19:00.001-04:00

Zip File (31.3 MB)

"Shakespeare's Sister"

Rough Trade RTT181
Produced by The Smiths
March 1985

Tracks:

1 Shakespeare's Sister
2 What She Said
3 Stretch Out And Wait ("UK version")

Sources:

1, 3 from The World Won't Listen (ROUGHCD101, February 1987)
2 from Meat Is Murder (ROUGHCD81, April 1985)

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 amazingVulgar Picture treasure trove of sleeve artwork scans (with permission).

Notes:

Interestingly enough, rather than pull a track from the then-new LP, the band chose a new track instead as the single release.

"Shakespeare's Sister" I've written about previously. My thoughts remain - in my opinion the weakest track in an otherwise stellar singles discography, and the relatively poor chart performance reflected the common opinion being of a similar note.

"What She Said" - pulled from the then-current LP Meat Is Murder - is a strong, powerful, near-metallic Marr tour de force. Always a live favorite, one can make the argument that this track itself would have made a better single than the actual single track itself, with "Shakespeare's Sister" being the B-side.

"Stretch Out And Wait" - appended with the "UK version" suffix here to differentiate it from the alternate version first released on Louder than Bombs and subsequently the RTT171 CD single of "Barbarism Begins At Home" - is the original version of this track. A classic track that, again, shows the band's penchant for burying their very best tracks on the back side of the 12", where your average punter may fear to tread. Maybe this was intentional? A form of secret Smiths society whereby only the initiated know the pure depth and quality of their deep catalog? Only the band knows.

ET(aatb) 09: RTT176 "How Soon Is Now?"

2011-06-29T22:06:00.002-04:00

Zip File (49.4 MB)

"How Soon Is Now?"
Rough Trade RTT176
Produced by John Porter and The Smiths
Early 1985

Tracks:

1 How Soon Is Now?
2 Well I Wonder
3 Oscillate Wildly
4 How Soon Is Now? (USA 7" Phil Brown edit)

5 The Headmaster Ritual (USA 7" Phil Brown edit)

Sources:

1 from "William, It Was Really Nothing" (RTT 166CD, Fall 1988)
2 from Meat Is Murder (ROUGHCD81, April 1985)

3 from The World Won't Listen (ROUGHCD101, February 1987)

4, 5 from "How Soon Is Now?" (USA Sire 9 29007-7, summer 1985)

(4, 5 re-edited by Analog Loyalist from original full-length versions)

"Well I Wonder" is easily amongst my (and fans all over) top Smiths songs of all time. Oddly it was also the only main track of theirs never to be performed live, barring the obviousStrangeways album and the odd B-side. Gentle acoustic, forlorn lyrics, the gentle washing of the rain. Brilliant work and well deserved of its early release here (some two weeks prior to the actual Meat Is Murder LP release, if Simon Goddard has it right).

"Oscillate Wildly" was the first (of an eventual three) instrumental track released by the band. Credited to Morrissey/Marr, Morrissey obviously didn't contribute to the record but was in full favor of it. Amongst my friends in the late 1980s, this was THE track to play on piano once you learned your way around the keys a bit.

The two 7" edits closing out this post, Phil Brown edits of "How Soon Is Now?" and "The Headmaster Ritual", are unique to an American 7" on Sire that never saw wide release. While we were given fairly clean transfers of this 7" to work from, I chose to re-engineer the edits from the original full-length tracks so as to better maintain sonic consistency throughout the release. The "HSIN?" edit is wonky and at times jarring, but it's exactly as it was in the original Phil Brown edit, and is unique for that alone. "Headmaster" is done brilliantly: precise, surgical trimming of the track down to its essence and would have made a fantastic "radio edit" had the label(s) chosen that route. I find myself listening to this edit more than the full-length version!

ET(aatb) 08: RTT171 "Barbarism Begins At Home"

2011-06-29T21:50:00.002-04:00

Zip File (43.7 MB)

"Barbarism Begins At Home"
Rough Trade RTT171
Produced by The Smiths
January 1985 (UK promo 12" and foreign territory commercial release only)

November 1988 (UK commercial CD single)

Tracks:

1 Barbarism Begins At Home
2 Shakespeare's Sister
3 Stretch Out And Wait ("US version")
4 Barbarism Begins At Home (edit)

Sources:

1 from Meat Is Murder (ROUGHCD81, April 1985)
2-4 from "Barbarism Begins At Home" (RTT 171CD, 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 amazingVulgar Picture treasure trove of sleeve artwork scans (with permission).

Notes:

Here is where we have to begin taking some liberties with the discography. While this actual "RTT 171CD" itself wasn't issued as a commercial product until November 1988, "Barbarism" was released as a promo (and a commercial single in some territories outside the UK) in early 1985 to promote the then-upcoming Meat Is Murder LP. What is hard to determine, due to Rough Trade's casual bookkeeping, is the actual release order (and that the territories often released material on their own schedules). I cannot for the life of me determine which was made generally available first: this promo/commercial 12", or RTT 176 "How Soon Is Now?". So I made the executive decision to go numerically in the catalog, by RTT catalog number instead.

Some nominate "Barbarism" for the best Andy Rourke bassline in existence; while I would agree that it's fantastic, I think Rourke's talents are displayed in better fashion on other tracks. What is more interesting about this record is that - considering we are dealing with Morrissey - it is so utterly un-Smithlike in its very being. The full-length track is an extended funk workout showing off the power of the band in a fashion not seen again until 1986, while the edit is a quick and dirty summation of the track.

"Shakespeare's Sister" - which we'll see again in a couple singles - is perhaps the quirkiest recording in the catalog. I think it suffers from "throw it all in the mix" syndrome; there are no "hooks", no catchy motifs, that draw the listener in. It's too condensed and blurred to really sustain impact, and the record-buying public agreed in that it was basically a non-starter in the charts. I might go on to say it's a forgettable song; I never find myself having the urge to throw it on and listen unlike the majority of other tracks in their stellar catalog.

"Stretch Out And Wait" is called the "US version" here for no other reason than to separate it from the actual B-side version used for the then-upcoming "Shakespeare's Sister" single release. It's a different mix and vocal recording that first appeared in 1987 on both The World Won't Listen and Louder Than Bombs, and was also used for the late 1988 RTT 171CD release.

we interrupt this blog to present...

2011-04-25T23:48:00.000-04:00

Have no fear, the next installment is imminent.

That said, intrepid followers will note that a recent upgrade of sorts - to put it lightly - of the legendary Troy Tate 1st LP sessions has emerged via smithstorrents.co.uk, courtesy Soundsville Paul (one of a few hardcore followers/tapers of the band in the UK during their heyday), who presumably obtained a copy close to the master from one of those legendary "friends of the band".

Most of the tracks have been available (in lesser fidelity) over at smithstorrents, but a key unreleased take of Accept Yourself was part of this latest batch.

I wanted to highlight it here, because it's entirely fitting with the spirit of the program, and in retrospect would have been a nice "extra track" to one of the previously-addressed singles.

So without further ado, here is the Analog Loyalist April 2011 mastering of the unreleased (err, unleaked until this past weekend) second take of "Accept Yourself", only previously known via Simon Goddard's mention of it in his book The Songs That Saved Your Life:

"[two different attempts at 'Accept Yourself'], the second version being particularly impressive with its staccato rock 'n' roll piano punches during the pre-chorus breakdowns, Morrissey's doubled vocal and some enlivening falsetto shrieks."

The "falsetto shrieks" and doubled vocal (and piano) simply have to be heard to believe, while the piano sorta fits, the vocal additions are laughable!

Accept Yourself (FLAC)
(speed-corrected, and general cleanup)

ET(aatb) 07: RTT166 "William, It Was Really Nothing"

2011-03-10T08:38:00.002-05:00

Zip File (52 MB)

"William, It Was Really Nothing"
Rough Trade RTT166
Produced by John Porter
July 1984

Tracks:

1 William, It Was Really Nothing
2 How Soon Is Now?
3 Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want
4 How Soon Is Now? (withdrawn alternate mix)

Sources:

1-3 from "William, It Was Really Nothing" (RTT 166CD, fall 1988)
4 from "William, It Was Really Nothing" (Italy, Virgin VINX71 12" single, 1984)
(thanks to Steve)

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:

If this record was all the Smiths ever released as a band, they'd be legendary. This 3-track 12" collects three, easily, of the best songs ever written and performed by the band.

"William, It Was Really Nothing" is all a modern pop single isn't. There's no chorus, really - or should it be said the chorus lasts for 2/3 of the song? It's a hair over 2 minutes long, it's quick and to-the-point. The entire song nearly sums up Johnny Marr's passion for guitars. A real gem.

"How Soon Is Now?" - well, there's nothing I can add about this song that isn't already legendary. It's a shame this was initially wasted on a B-side, though the label did come to its senses (far too late, it must be said) eventually and properly released this some months later as an A-side in its own right.

"Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want" - the final track on the original single - is, along with "How Soon Is Now?", a contender for many fans' favorite Smiths track of all time. The late American "Brat Pack" movie director John Hughes loved it so much, he used it twice in his 1980s films - both as the Smiths original, and as a cover by the Dream Academy. Many had their first exposure to this track via the Pretty In Pink soundtrack LP (including yours truly), and it only grew from there.

The Italians, when given the masters for their own local release of this 12" single, somehow got their reels confused and initially released a highly unique rough mix of "How Soon Is Now?" instead of the final, approved take. While it doesn't start off terribly different (the guitars are mixed differently, but that's about it in the first quarter of the song), it quickly devolves into a most unique version. Moz gets to exercise his moaning organ a bit, and there's a great bit where the band comes to a complete stop with Moz clearly saying "OK?" to producer John Porter, and then a few seconds later the track fades back up to the final closing. There are other vastly different instrumental sections in the latter third of the song that make this a great listen as well. When made aware of their error, the Italians quickly corrected it before too many records hit the shops, and replaced it with the final, approved take.

ET(aatb) 06: RTT156 "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now"

2011-03-06T01:03:00.009-05:00

Zip File (49.4 MB)

Track 6 M4A (10MB)

"Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now"
Rough Trade RTT156
Produced by John Porter
March 1984

Tracks:

1 Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
2 Girl Afraid
3 Suffer Little Children
4 Girl Afraid (live in Glasgow 2 March 1984)
5 This Night Has Opened My Eyes
** new **
6 Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now (12" extended mix)

Sources:

1-3 from "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" (RTT 156CD, November 1988)
4 from NME Department of Enjoyment cassette (NME011, 1985, via the bootleg CD Asleep)
5 from Hatful of Hollow (ROUGHCD76, December 1985)
6 re-edited from 1 based on link shared by a reader

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:

The first Smiths single that earned them their "depressive" tag. Nothing spectacular about this; Marr's summery retro composition of the title track belies the subtle moping humor of Moz's lyric (which was written during a miserable first visit as a band to America for a New Years Eve gig in December 1983). "Girl Afraid" is a better track; in my humble opinion it's lasted better than the A-side. "Suffer Little Children" is simply a reprise of the same track on the debut LP, no more, no less. Due to the exposure this track received because of the relative high chart placing of this single, however, controversy arose due to its subject matter (the Moors Murders) despite the track having been available for some time as the final track on the debut LP.

Track 4 was taken from the bootleg CD Asleep, part of the Chelsea label's vaunted collection of otherwise-unavailable-and-rare outtakes, BBC sessions, and rare compilation tracks. It's raw and rough, but a nice version of the song.

Track 5 was/is the only officially available version of this track, recorded as part of a Peel Session for the BBC in September 1983, and was first made available on record as part of November 1984's Hatful of Hollow compilation LP. The studio version (from June 1984) was yet to be recorded at the time of the "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" single release, and did not surface until December 2010 as part of the legendary Demos and Outtakes double LP bootleg.

*** addendum ***

Thanks to a kind reader who supplied a link to an actual rip (mp3 only) of an actual original-pressing 12" with the rare extended version of "Heaven Knows...", I've uploaded Track 6, a recreation of the same. Really it's only the "In my life..." segment repeated, but it's good to have nonetheless. Link here!

Font?

2011-03-02T08:05:00.002-05:00

Does anyone know what font was used for the bold song titles on the Sandie Shaw Hand In Glove and Smiths Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now and William It Was Really Nothing sleeves?

See here.

I was able to fudge it for Hand In Glove but after hours of work I'm giving up on Heaven Knows and I'm going to have to reset the type. I can get close, but can't get it exact, and none of my usual resources are able to identify it.

This is what I get for wanting to show the correct track listing (a la New Order Recycle), as opposed to just faithfully replicating the original sleeve (a la Joy Division Recycle).

ET(aatb) 05: RTT130 "Hand In Glove" - The Sandie Shaw Single

2011-01-26T23:50:00.003-05:00

Zip File (35 MB)

"Hand In Glove" - The Sandie Shaw Single
Rough Trade RTT130
Produced by John Porter
February/March 1984

Tracks:

1 Hand In Glove
2 I Don't Owe You Anything
3 Jeane
4 Hand In Glove (rare alternate mix)

Sources:

1-3 from "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" (WEA YZ0003CD2, October 1992)
4 from The Smiths (Tokuma Japan 35JC-102, September 1984)

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:

Allow me to preface this with two basic incontrovertible facts: 1) I am not English, and 2) I am not a fan of 1960s English bubblegum pop.

To me - a Yank in the frozen tundra of the Great Lakes - this single is frankly an oddity in an otherwise nearly blemish-free catalog. I have no idea of the cultural import this single had at the time; were Brits driven to the record stores in teeming mad droves at the news a faded Sixties pop diva was replacing Morrissey on a 12"? I'm trying to think of an American analogue to this: Perhaps if Cher had quit, or dropped out of the limelight, after "I Got You Babe" and then 30 years later fronted Green Day for a single. Regardless, to me, this record has always had a big question mark superimposed on top of it. I frankly didn't get it when I first heard it, and I still don't get it now.

That said... Marr goes poppy on these new arrangements, and I have to say his simple, breezy take on "Jeane" perhaps is the quintessential backing for this song. When I reach for the acoustic to strum Marr, I often return to this arrangement. I don't think the "Hand In Glove" musical re-statement is better or worse than the classic; it's different, and Marr had to do something to match the tune (and also that for "I Don't Owe You Anything") to Shaw's vocals.

Track 4 came from an unnamed co-conspirator, ripped from a copy of the relatively (very) rare original September 1984 Japanese CD pressing of the debut LP; it along with three other tracks were unique bonus tracks on this CD. I do not believe this mix is available anywhere else; if anything, it's even more Marr-riffic than the common mix.

English readers, please enlighten me as to why I should give a Shaw for the existence of this record.

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

2011-01-26T00:55:00.003-05:00

Zip File (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.

Mastered stereo Demos & Outtakes posted over at the other blog...

2011-01-07T00:12:00.000-05:00

The Power of Independent Trucking - mastered stereo rip *a MUST have*

60-80% of the tracks show no evidence of vinyl lineage. The others it's been minimized as much as possible.

Until we get our hands on the Warner Strategic Marketing CDs these came from, it's the best we're going to get. Download and enjoy!

Please note that punters may choose between Tate/Warners "Reel Around The Fountain" takes - the version posted here yesterday, vs. the version posted in the set over at the other blog just now, for their own RTT136-A sets as each has a slightly different EQ profile. I myself prefer the one in the demo set because I just finished mastering it tonight to match the overall tonal quality of the demo set in its entirety, but others may prefer the one posted yesterday. Up to you! Or you can put both in your RTT136-A bundle - it's your choice!

My co-host and I expect our regularly-scheduled programming to resume in imminent fashion.

RTT136-a Reel Around The Fountain NEW VERSION

2011-01-05T00:18:00.000-05:00

I've mastered the Warners-sourced Troy Tate final mix of "Reel Around The Fountain", bagged and tagged it for the blog, and updated the original post with the link to the new version.

I suggest discarding the previous Track 01 and dropping this in its place. This version sounds direct from Warners master half-inch tape. (I am keeping the original link alive with the now-redundant version in place, for cataloging purposes, but new listeners need to grab both the original zip file and the new version of Track 01.)

This should give punters an idea as to the quality of the recent Demos/Outtakes 2xLP bootleg, and what can be wrung out of it with patience and platinum ears.

Onward we go.

News! followup - part II

2011-01-03T20:11:00.000-05:00

Friends of the program have ripped another copy of the recent 2xLP bootleg featuring the now-famed studio outtakes and premix/unmixed recordings... and it's full glorious stereo.

Watch the other blog for possible cleanup postings, and with this new transfer, upcoming posts here may reflect/include some of these new findings.

One thing I'm now deeply considering is updating the RTT136-A fileset with this new transfer of the Tate "Reel Around The Fountain" final mix. It clearly supersedes our previous source and despite other speculation to the contrary (I still refuse to accept that, given the confirmed existence of RT-pressed test pressings featuring the Peel version of the track as the A-side, RT would pay the Beeb licensing fees for a still-minor band's 2nd single without an LP out as well), I remain convinced the final in-the-shops version of the withdrawn RATF single would have been Tate's recording.

ET(aatb) 03: RTT136 "This Charming Man"

2010-12-27T00:08:00.003-05:00

Zip File (68.4 MB)

"This Charming Man"
Rough Trade RTT136
Produced by John Porter

(except 2 produced by Troy Tate)

(tracks 6-7 remix Francois Kevorkian @ Right Track Studios, New York)
October/December 1983

Tracks:

1 This Charming Man (Manchester)
2 Jeane
3 Accept Yourself

4 Wonderful Woman

5 This Charming Man (London)

6 This Charming Man (New York Vocal)

7 This Charming Man (New York Instrumental)

8 This Charming Man (Single Remix)

Sources:

1-4 from "This Charming Man" WEA YZ0001CD1, 1992
5-8 from "This Charming Man" WEA YZ0001CD2, 1992

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 amazingVulgar Picture treasure trove of sleeve artwork scans (with permission).

Notes:

As production was running up on the soon-to-be-abandoned "Reel Around The Fountain" single, the band was still busily writing new material. In a 24-hour timespan Marr came up with two classic tracks, shortly before a September 1983 Peel Session: "Still Ill" and "This Charming Man". Chuffed with the quality of these two new tracks, the band recorded them for the first time for Peel, and upon hearing "TCM", Rough Trade supremo Geoff Travis immediately new what the next single should be.

This was John Porter's first production with the band. It was also the first recording with Marr laying a million guitar tracks down on the recording; one can argue that had Porter not worked on this record, the Smiths - and specifically Johnny Marr - would not have ultimately received all the acclaim now given.

There are "Manchester" and "London" versions (we'll discuss "New York" in a moment) because immediately after the Peel recording session, the band and Porter attempted to record the single in a London studio. Not happy with the results, and with Geoff Travis wanting a more Northern sound, the band regrouped in Manchester a week later and re-recorded the whole thing. So the "Manchester" version became the well-known single, and the "London" version appeared on the 12" as a B-side. "Accept Yourself" and "Wonderful Woman" both came from the London sessions, while "Jeane" was a remnant from the Troy Tate sessions (apparently always being tagged as a B-side track).

New York producer Francois Kevorkian was then handed the multitracks to follow U2's lead in making "New York" versions for club airings; hence the two "New York" variants. While one may laugh at the ultimate dancefloor usefulness of these tracks, allegedly Morrissey and Marr despised them and blamed Travis for releasing this against their wishes. I don't buy it for a second, but that's revisionism for you. More reconstructions than remixes, I don't mind either NY variant, but as far as the canon goes, they're eminently disposable.

Tracks 3, 5, 7 and 8 are no longer officially available, as they last saw release on the now out-of-print 1992 WEA singles.

Artwork

2010-12-27T00:03:00.003-05:00

I've fixed the typo on the sleeve for Hand In Glove. For future reference, all the artwork files are uploaded to my Flickr stream, so you can grab them there. Click on the image you want to replace, and go to actions > view all sizes > original, then click download.

Handy hint: you can often get a sneak peek at what's coming if you check Flickr. The artwork goes up there before the files go online.

News! followup

2010-12-21T22:50:00.001-05:00

I was going to post this a comment to the News! post, but felt it was long enough and of interest enough to bring it forward to its own piece...

To address some supposed doubts as to this material, really, all you have to do is visit the Moz Solo website linked in the original post, download the material (it's in the very first post in the thread) and listen. That should erase all doubts - and for even better truthiness (thanks Colbert!), do so with a copy of the Simon Goddard Songs That Saved Your Life at hand.

For those without said book, here's a track-by-track rundown of this amazing bootleg...

1 The Hand That Rocks The Cradle (John Porter monitor mix)
Not much different from the final LP version, a monitor mix is a rough-and-ready mixdown done at the recording desk, mainly used by the band (and producer) to see what needs tightening/redoing (if anything) prior to the final mixdown.

2 Reel Around The Fountain (final Troy Tate mix)
Pretty self explanatory, the main difference between this blog's version and the bootleg version is the subtle guitar intro.

3 Rusholme Ruffians (early electric version, July 1984)
Goddard says the band originally attempted this in July 1984, several months prior to the main Meat Is Murder sessions. The very first July 1984 take stretched to nearly 7 minutes long (ding!), was much more rough/ready, and much more skiffle/rockabilly (ding!) than the final MIM track. Moz's vocal is really rough around the edges, it doesn't sound like he's fully worked out the melody or his phrasing, and the lyric itself isn't as tight as it would become. Based on this it can only be assumed the version here is the very same first take mentioned by Goddard.

4 The Queen Is Dead (original full-length unedited version)
Well, if the subtitle doesn't nail it down... the final album mix had several instrumental sections edited out at the last minute by the band and Stephen Street, as they felt it went on a tad too long. This is the full-calorie version.

5 Sheila Take A Bow (original John Porter recording, January 1987)
One of the more famous episodes in Smiths session history, this song was originally produced by John Porter, signed, sealed and delivered, ready to go. Then for whatever reason the band had a rethink, decamped to another studio with Stephen Street, and re-recorded the song (sampling some of Porter's guitar work in the process, to save time - which miffed Porter, understandably, since they never asked for permission). This original version is much more jangly, with Porter on emulated sitar, while the final Street take is all T.Rex'ed out. Honestly, I'd have to say I prefer the Street version, though that could be due to familiarity more than anything else (as I usually love Porter's stuff with Marr).

6 This Night Has Opened My Eyes (unreleased studio recording, June 1984)
The only released version of this song was recorded in September 1983 for a Peel session, at the BBC. For whatever reason the band chose to record a full-blown studio version in June 1984 during the William, It Was... sessions, but never did anything with it (it was meant to be a B-side along with the July '84 Rusholme Ruffians recording, backing a proposed-yet-binned Nowhere Fast single which also was recorded in June/July 1984). If anything, time gave Moz a chance to get a bit more confident with his vocal, but it's not significantly different overall. Still a nice find though...

7 I Misses You (unreleased instrumental, edit, December 1984)
Recorded during the final mixdown sessions for the Meat Is Murder LP. Goddard surmises that this may have even featured a Moz lyric at one point, but this is only supposition. A track that the band binned, honestly while interesting as any "new" Morrissey/Marr track might be, it would be moreso with a Moz lyric and is mostly forgettable.

8 Ask (probable first-ever take, 9 June 1986)
A very early, if not the first if Goddard's correct, run-through of this track missing most of the chiming/jangly guitars. This is a basic rough-and-ready bash it out take recorded by John Porter, with Marr and Gannon going at it on the rhythm guitars and Joyce getting all frenetic on drums. Wisely, a lot was tightened up as the session progressed; alas, this isn't the hoped-for "pre-Steve Lillywhite mix" fans hoped for (which sadly, according to Porter, doesn't exist because he never actually got the opportunity to mix it before Lillywhite got his hands on it and didn't understand the complex web of guitars Porter had built up).

9 There Is A Light That Never Goes Out (early take, September 1985)
A very early run-through with a relatively-confident Moz vocal, though it does feature the subsequently-omitted defining lyric "there is a light in your eye and it never goes out" during the final refrain. Missing most of Marr's overdubs, musically it sounds like a rough monitor mix of the basic Marr/Rourke/Joyce instrumentation, with the added synthetic string bits on the Emulator.

10 Is It Really So Strange? (unreleased studio take, June 1986)
Another track which has its only released version being a BBC session version, the known-and-loved release variant was recorded in December 1986 for John Peel at the BBC. Interestingly though, they did have a fully-recorded, mixed, release-ready take in the can, recorded during the Panic sessions in June 1986. For whatever reason it remained binned, to the point when it came time to select B-sides for the Sheila single in spring 1987, the band went to the (admittedly superior) Peel recording rather than the June 1986 studio take. This version is a bit more shimmery than the common version, and Marr's guitar is a bit more rhythmically choppy than the BBC take.

11 Frankly, Mr Shankly (unreleased Stephen Street "trumpets" recording, November 1985)
The story has it that when this song was recorded during the main sessions for the Queen Is Dead LP, with Street, there was a technical problem with the master reels for this track, necessitating an emergency call to John Porter to engineer an 11th hour re-recording in December 1985. What wasn't discovered (at least publicly), until Goddard dug it up, was that the "technical problem" was a bizarro trumpet part on the track. It does introduce an additional element of hilarity, but the final Porter recording nails it.

12 Shoplifters Of The World Unite (instrumental)
Goddard doesn't go into much detail into this track's session history, unfortunately. It's an instrumental, with some additional Marr-riffic guitars that are either obscured or wiped from the final recording, presumably due to Moz laying down his vocals on top. I do like Rourke's bass on this version however.

13 Girlfriend In A Coma (early take, January 1987)
While in studio with Street in January 1987 re-recording Sheila, the band took the time to lay down a couple takes of this track (prior to the main Strangeways sessions in April 1987). What sets this apart from the Strangeways version is the pronounced reggae-ness of the instrumentation (no, there aren't any steel drums). Goddard says the first two takes of this from the January '87 sessions featured this Jamaican interpretation, which we have here, and Moz's vocal is a bit rough around the edges (of course he'd tighten it up later on).

14 Death Of A Disco Dancer (first take, April 1987)
The find of the lot, in my book. This is markedly different from the final LP version, in that you can a) hear the song actually being structurally formed as it progresses, and b) Moz is audibly excited at the suspense and greatness of the track, this being the band's first run-through of it in studio, as per Goddard. All the musicians are in perfect synch with each other, you can just feel the bond between the members, as the song plays out. It's for things like this that I love the behind-the-scenes aspect of the recording business. If this were the only track leaked, I'd be happy.

15 Paint A Vulgar Picture (early take, April 1987)
Goddard says that this track went through several run-throughs before the final LP version, with entire Moz verses being chopped out. This doesn't feature the "missing Moz" which was compensated for by Marr's solo over that section on the LP version, but it does feature some unheard Mozwork with the title itself part of the lyric. If I read Goddard right, this take we have here would have been one of the very earliest ones.

16 Heavy Track (unreleased instrumental, April 1987)
Apparently this was recorded at the very beginning of the Strangeways sessions, before Moz turned up at the studio. It's the most musically different Smiths track of any of them, for all intents and purposes it sounds like Zeppelin (I can imagine Robert Plant wailing on top of it). Nothing shocking, nothing you'll kill yourself for not hearing over the past 23 years, it's still a nice one to have.

Whether or not any of this shows up on the blog, it's nice to have something *interesting* to discuss about this band, rather than more complaints from Moz about how every penny he makes goes to that useless waste Joyce.

News!

2010-12-20T22:38:00.002-05:00

I'm certain many of our following is aware of the big news of the day in Smithdom.

This is the real deal, folks. From a collector's standpoint, these are nearly all the outtakes and alternate unreleased mixes everyone drooled about while reading Simon Goddard's excellent book.

From an audiophile perspective, though, I'm not sure where these fit within the defined constraints of this blog. While I am as excited as any of you are to hear these, and they ARE revelatory, they are sourced from mono bootleg vinyl. The story is these ultimately came from Warner Strategic Marketing, on CDs, a few years back. I would kill to get a CDR dub of those WSM CDs, and I can only imagine how pristine THOSE sound (and hopefully stereo!).

The vinyl capture is also somewhat compressed/clipped, big no-no's in my (admittedly anal) arena. While less of a bugaboo to my audiophile ears than the mono aspect, of course if I had my way - fat chance - someone with a thousand-dollar rig would re-transfer the vinyl at a more reasonable level to avoid undue clipping/compression.

Those are my nits and my nits only, though. What is the collective mindset on using some of these (like the original unmixed, unreleased John Porter-produced "Sheila Take A Bow" version) as bonus material in our little project? Should I see what I can get from these vinyl rips, or let them exist in their own domain out in the wild, and hope some little birdie drops CDRs of the Warner Strategic Marketing discs in my lap?

Any reader who wishes to take me up on said offer - to work from the actual CDs (or CDRs) as-sourced from Warners, and has source material to contribute, please drop me a line at analogloyalist AT gmail DOT com.

Update

2010-12-16T09:23:00.004-05:00

Hi folks, just a quickie. I'm sorry for the delay in getting further artwork finished. I'm sure most of you (and you blog host Mr. Analog Loyalist) are getting antsy. I do want to see this project through to completion, as this is a labor of love, but unfortunately it's not my day job, and sometimes life intervenes. I'll try and make some solid progress over the next few days.

Sydney

2010-11-18T01:25:00.002-05:00

I've been in New Zealand and Australia for some DJ gigs which is why there's not been another single uploaded - I have to complete the artwork (note: I know I also have to correct a date on the artwork for Hand In Glove, too).

I was pleasantly surprised to find this display a couple of days ago in Egg Records, 3 Wilson Street, Newtown, Sydney. I didn't use my flash in the store, but you get the idea.

I didn't buy any of them...I've mostly been scouting for OOP Split Enz, Crowded House, and Severed Heads releases. :)

updatey-ness II

2010-11-07T23:02:00.000-05:00

My erstwhile partner in this endeavour will be out of commission for a bit, due to commitments elsewhere, so those hoping for an update may have to wait a bit longer. All is set for our next posting but the artwork, which my erstwhile partner was hoping to have done before his other commitments begin, but it's just as possible there may not be a new set until after Thanksgiving (in the USA that is, or the last week of November for you rest-of-worlders).

Thought I'd give fair warning before the snipes begin ;) though I am hopeful we can have our next set up real soon now, before my erstwhile partner leaves for his other commitments.

I may as well put out the casting call for the outliers that we are seeking. Now, I do have fairly high quality versions of the below, but I may as well see if any readers can top what I have already at hand:

1) "How Soon Is Now" from the September 1984 Peel Session
2) "London" / "Half A Person" from the December 1986 Peel Session

Even without sourcing direct from Peel's master reel, I am certain our followers will be pleasantly surprised by what we are able to do with the current sources I already have. But... and it's a big but... if anyone has copies of the above that are either straight from the original broadcasts, on high-quality (and distortion/static free) tape, or *salivating* from the BBC reels themselves, please let your voice be heard!

Reel Around The Fountain - update

2010-11-02T23:50:00.000-04:00

It's been brought to my attention by a loyal reader that the actual 7" test pressing of this unreleased session indeed contains one of the BBC session recordings as the A-side. This reader, who is one of the lucky few actually owning one of the roughly 25 copies pressed, states the version on the 7" test pressing is the same as the Peel Session version on Hatful of Hollow.

So I stand corrected. I remain unconvinced that the ultimate plan was not to issue the final version with all-Tate recordings, but alas, we will never know...

In the meantime, with Hatful well in print and available to most readers, I'm not redoing the fileset to include that Peel track. I'm keeping our version as a known fake single, or, rather, a mockup.

Reel Around The Fountain - FIXED ARTWORK

2010-11-01T22:22:00.000-04:00

Grab it here.

ET(aatb) 02: RTT136A Reel Around The Fountain (withdrawn Troy Tate single)

2010-10-31T22:05:00.008-04:00

Zip File (45 MB)

Zip File #2 (Warners-sourced Tate "Reel Around The Fountain)

"Reel Around The Fountain"
Rough Trade RTT136 (-A for this blog)
Produced by Troy Tate
Summer 1983 (not released)

Tracks:

0 Reel Around The Fountain **new pristine Warners source** --- see below
1 Reel Around The Fountain
2 Jeane
3 Accept Yourself

4 Wonderful Woman

Sources:

0 from the new double LP bootleg featuring unreleased mixes/demos, sourced from Warner Strategic Marketing product
1, 3-4 from a tape containing the alleged "Final Mixes" of the abandoned Troy Tate 1st LP sessions
2 from "This Charming Man" WEA YZ0001CD1, 1992

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:

Summer 1983 saw the band repair to Elephant Studios, Wapping with Teardrop Explodes guitarist Troy Tate handling production duties of that "critical" first LP. As any fan knows, this session ultimately was abandoned, with the recordings scrapped and restarted with John Porter in Manchester that fall.

While the Tate project was still active, the plan was for the Smiths' 2nd single to be the Tate recording of "Reel Around The Fountain", backed by "Jeane". (Some think they were planning on releasing one of the BBC session versions of "RATF" as the single; however, Simon Goddard, in the wonderful book Songs That Saved Your Life, states otherwise - that it was the Tate recording that was planned for use. I trust Goddard on this one.) This got as far as the test pressing stage, at which point Johnny had come up with "This Charming Man" and Rough Trade decided that "TCM" would be the 2nd single instead.

Print ads were placed promoting the Tate "Reel Around The Fountain" single release, and as far as can be determined, the actual single was to be a 7" only. We are using the Tate recordings of "Accept Yourself" and "Wonderful Woman" as the extra tracks, to give an idea of what a Tate 12" would be like using the same songs ultimately used for the "TCM" 12" (coming up later on the blog).

This is a great fake single. I love the rawness of the Tate recordings; Tate managed to capture Mike Joyce's drums like no other producer did - besides the odd BBC session - in the band's entire recording career. They thunder! They boom! The band, in my humble opinion, committed a great error in binning the Tate recordings. We can only hope that someone, somewhere, decides to un-bin these and officially release them, in pristine condition. Until then....

******** UPDATE ********

Late December 2010 saw a surprise "release" of a double LP vinyl bootleg entirely comprised of unreleased, sometimes unmixed, rough takes, monitor mixes, etc from various Smiths sessions dating from the initial Troy Tate summer 1983 debut LP sessions, to the final album sessions with Stephen Street in spring 1987. Among this material was the final, as far as Warners knew, mix done by Tate of "Reel Around The Fountain". Needless to say a pristine, spectacular stereo transfer of this was sourced and used here.

I probably shouldn't, because it only raises expectations of a full release of the entire Tate session knowing Warners has it in this quality, but here's the mythical Track 0 (zeroth track?) as it really should replace entirely our original Track 1. You've never heard Tate's "Reel Around The Fountain" in this quality, and if I hadn't mentioned its lineage from vinyl, one would think I nicked the Warners half-inch master and went from there.

Mr and Ms Warners, may we have the rest of this session too, please? It would make an excellent Christmas 2011 gift, just like the one a couple weeks ago!

ET(aatb) 01: RT131 Hand In Glove

2010-10-31T21:42:00.003-04:00

Zip File (28.9 MB)

"Hand In Glove"
Rough Trade RT131
Produced by The Smiths
May 1983

Tracks:

1 Hand In Glove (original single version)
2 Handsome Devil (live)
3 Hand In Glove (live at Brixton Ace 29 June 1983)

Sources:

1 from Hatful of Hollow Rough Trade CD ROUGHCD76
2 from Handsome Devils WEA France promo CD PRO 2005 _ 2, 1992
3 from "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" WEA YZ0003CD1, 1992

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:

The Smiths' calling card. Thundering out of the gate with one of the band's most "wall-of-sound" tracks, this record sounded nothing of its time in comparison to other 1983 records. Recorded with Joe Moss' money at Stockport's legendary Strawberry Studios (while the band was still seeking a record deal), and with the band handling basic production duties, Rough Trade released this on spec when handed a copy of the finished record. As they only recorded "Hand In Glove" at Strawberry, they dug into their not-very-deep vault for the B-side, a stomping take on "Handsome Devil" recorded live at the Hacienda in February 1983.

Morrissey was still bemoaning this record's relative chart failure a year after release, begging gig-going punters to keep buying it.

The Smiths never sounded this raw again. While I never used to rate "Hand In Glove" (though always loved "Handsome Devil"), I have developed a growing fondness for this take ever since having to (repeatedly) audition it while working on the audio segment of this endeavour. I think this was the perfect first release for this band - immediately sounding the consummate studio band on the A-side, and a storming live entity on the flip.

The bonus track here, "Hand In Glove" recorded live at the Brixton Ace, was initially a radio promo track sent out by Rough Trade on cassette in late summer 1983, and finally saw official release on the long-deleted WEA "There Is A Light..." CD single in 1992. Not necessarily a stellar version or recording, nonetheless it's a key track in the archives and for that reason belongs here.

You will have to forgive me if you are looking for meaningful insight on Morrissey's lyrics, for these or any other tracks we may be featuring. I was always drawn to this band by Johnny Marr's guitars, and Andy Rourke's unparalleled bass work. I always thought the Moz as a bit of a character, never reading anything more into his lyrics than just that, they being lyrics because the band didn't want to only record instrumentals. So in discussing the songs, I'll tend to stick to what I can speak of best, usually the music.

updatey-ness

2010-10-27T20:18:00.000-04:00

Tap tap - is this thing on?

Ahem.

Things are still very much ongoing. The audio is ready to roll, the artwork's been sourced, we're in the last stages of the bundling process. Expect the first post imminently.

Do readers want a roadmap of our intended project, or do people just wish to be surprised about what we'll post?

welcome

2010-08-09T21:15:00.000-04:00

Soon here be found Smiths singles - lovingly packaged, mastered and presented by the fans behind New Order and Joy Division Recycle.

Watch this space!