The Smiths – Hand In Glove
Versailles
Paris, France
12/1/84
It’s Friday, and what better way to kick off the weekend than a half-nude Morrissey prancing around a Parisian stage back in ’84. They played a handful of tracks from the yet to be released “Meat Is Murder” LP at this show, but I decided to feature one of my favorite Smiths tracks from their self-titled debut.
Download: The Smiths: Hand In Glove (Live Video)
Reading all the hub-bub about Johnny Marr touring with The Cribs has caused me to revisit his legendary days with The Smiths this past week. I’m sure he has a lot of reasons for not doing a Smiths reunion, but if I can think of one band that could probably pull off a good reunion show, it would be them. This track comes from the demos of The Smiths first self-titled LP. This track didn’t make it on the record but it can be found in it’s finished form as a B-side to the “This Charming Man” single.
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Download: The Smiths – Jeane (Demo)
The Smiths – Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others
Brixton Academy
London, England
December 12, 1986
As a guitar player, there are other guitarists out there that inspire me and then there’s guitarists that are so good that I think I should just hang it up. Johnny Marr is in the latter category. Watching him play “Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others” with such ease and without making a mistake is almost infuriating. This was the first time and the last time that The Smiths played the song live. After this Brixton Academy show they made a few television appearances, but never performed together as The Smiths again.
Download: The Smiths – Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others (Live Video)
When I bought my first guitar, I was dead set on learning how to play Smiths songs. Not an easy task. I started with The Queen Is Dead and slowly figured out most of the songs. Then I moved on to “The Smiths” record which was unbelievably difficult. To this day I still haven’t learned how to play all the songs. Johnny Marr is an amazing guitarist and that’s evident even in this early demo for the song Handsome Devil.
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Download: The Smiths – Handsome Devil (Demo)
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