The Smiths - Rank

 

Although recorded in 1986, the live album "Rank" was only released in 1988, a year after The Smiths had split up, and the concert it was taken from had earlier been part of a broadcast on BBC Radio One. The title apparently comes from J Arthur Rank, which is Cockney rhyming slang.....

I'm not really sure why I bought the album as there was little in the way of new songs on it, just live versions of songs I already had, and my memory was that these were mostly faithfully adhered to, without any of the extended guitar solos, improvised jamming or dare I say it, tedious drum solos, which are often associated with live albums. 

The bass line in "Rusholme Ruffians" was accused of being stolen from Elvis' "His Latest Flame" and the live version on "Rank" begins with the first two verses from the Elvis song, before seguing into the rockabilly "Rusholme Ruffians". 

The instrumental "The Draize Train" was the only other track I didn't previously have, being a B-Side to "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others", which was only released as a single in Germany 

Of the lesser know tracks "Is it Really So Strange ?" was the B-side to "Sheila Take A Bow" whilst "Rubber Ring" and "London" were on "The World Won't Listen" compilation. There were five songs from "The Queen Is Dead" album, three from "Meat Is Murder", one from "The Smiths" plus two non-album singles. I don't think I played the album very often.

Listening to the album again I can safely say that this would not be a good introduction for anyone new to The Smiths' material, and they would be much better off sticking to the studio versions. The main issue with "Rank" is that musically it is just electric guitars, bass, drums and voice, and apart from the exception of "I Know It's Over", played at the same fast pace, and generally has a tinny sound. There is none of the rich variety of the studio albums eg acoustic guitars, keyboards, harmonica etc and some of Morrissey's histrionic yelps, exaggerated crooning, growls and squeals are rather irritating. Furthermore the production values make it sound like it was recorded in a toilet.

In summary, "Rank" is an album best avoided......

Track Listing :

Side One :

1. The Queen Is Dead
2. Panic
3. Vicar In A Tutu
4. Ask
5. His Latest Flame/Rusholme Ruffians
6. The Boy With A Thorn In His Side
7. Rubber Ring/What She Said

Side Two :

1. Is It Really So Strange ?
2. Cemetry Gates
3. London
4. I Know Its Over
5. The Draize Train
6. Still Ill
7. Bigmouth Strikes Again

Released : 1988
UK Chart Position : 2 

The Smiths - Strangeways, Here We Come

 

"Strangeways, Here We Come" was the fourth and final studio album by The Smiths, and was released after the group had disbanded. I purchased it shortly after it came out, and the sticker shows I paid £5.49.

Although I thought there wasn't a bad song on the album, I didn't think it was nearly as good as either "The Queen Is Dead" or "Meat Is Murder". That said I really liked the two slow, gloomy ballads, "Girlfriend In A Coma" and "I Won't Share You, which are still two of my all time favourite The Smiths' songs. However, looking at the tracklisting now, the only other song I could remember was "A Rush And A Push And The Land Is Ours".

Side one opens with "A Rush And A Push And The Land Is Ours" which is piano driven and has a jaunty beat that is almost a tango. Morrissey produces an impressive growl before singing the chorus and interestingly it is a rare Smith's song without any guitar. "A rush and a push and the land that we stand on is ours. It has been before and it will be again".

" I Started Something I Couldn't Finish" begins with glam rock guitar, bass and drums similiar to "Panic". There are more growling vocals, saxophone and handclaps."Hair brushed and parted, typical me, typical me, typical me. I started something and now I'm not so sure."

"Death Of A Disco Dancer" is very slow and the guitar playing reminded me of The Beatles' "Dear Prudence". It has a long outro with synthesizer and rinky-dinky piano, heavy drumming and menacing guitars.

The tempo changes with the brilliant "Girlfriend In A Coma" which has a great bass intro, some pleasant plucked guitar, and big strings for the chorus. The music is gloriously upbeat despite the subject material and the lyrics are suitably cryptic in that the singer is either a genuinely concerned loving boyfriend, or an abusive one who put her in the coma and is about to finish her off. "There were times when I could have murdered her, but you know I would hate anything to happen to her" & "Do you really think she'll pull through, let me whisper my last goodbyes I know its serious".

The upbeat "Stop Me If You Think You Have Heard This Before" has a rare but short guitar solo at the end the end. "And so I drank one, it became four. And when I fell on the floor it became more".

Side two begins with crowd noises over a sad piano for the two minute intro of "Last Night I Dreamt Somebody Loved Me". Its a low-paced string-driven ballad about loneliness that drips emotion, and lyrically feels similar to "I Know It's Over".

"Unhappy Birthday" has a toe-tapping beat in the vein of "Frankly, Mr Shankly" with a lively bass and strummed acoustic guitar. "I've come to wish you an unhappy birthday, because your evil and you lie. And if you should die I might feel slightly sad but I won't cry"..."From the one you left behind".

"Paint A Vulgar Picture" has a jangly upbeat guitar and a whimiscal solo but the song is a cynical view on a record label's explotation of the death of one their stars. Ironically one of the major topics that Morrissey brings up here is the repackaging of old material and selling it off to make more money off the fans, something The Smiths became renowned for doing after their split ! "At the record company meeting, on their hands a dead star. And, oh, the plans they weave. An, oh, the sickening greed".

"Death At One's Elbow" is the only rockabilly track on the album, with more great bass, harmonica and train-like drumming. "Oh Glenn, don't come to the house tonight".

"I Won't Share You" is a beautiful song to end the album and as a sign-off for The Smiths, with just a gentle lyre, sounding a lot like an acoustic guitar, and the vocal, which is one of Morrissey's finest. There is a hint of harmonica right at the death, "Has the Perrier gone straight to my head, or is life sick and cruel instead ? Yes ! No, no, no, no, no, no".

Overall, "Strangeways, Here We Come" sounded much better than I was expecting but remains my least favourite of the their four studio albums.

Track Listing :

Side One :

1. A Rush And A Push And The Land Is Ours
2. I Started Something I Couldn't Finish
3. Death Of A Disco Dancer
4. Girlfriend In A Coma
5. Stop Me If You Think You Have Heard This Before

Side Two :

1. Last Night I Dreamt Somebody Loved Me
2. Unhappy Birthday
3. Paint A Vulgar Picture
4. Death At One's Elbow
5. I Won't Share You

Released 1987
UK Chart Position : 2

Singles :

Girlfriend In A Coma ( No 13 - 1987 )
I Started Something I Couldn't Finish ( No 23 - 1987 )
Last Night I Dreamt Somebody Loved Me ( No 30 - 1987 )

The Smiths - The World Won't Listen

"The World Won't Listen" was the second compilation album from The Smiths that I purchased whilst they were an active band. It was a collection of the band's singles and B-sides from between 1985 to 1987, plus "You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby" which was initially intended to be a single but passed over for "Shoplifters Of The World Unite", and the near-single "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out", that was ultimately rejected for "Bigmouth Strikes Again".

Intriguingly, all the singles were on Side One, whilst the experimental B-Sides were on side two, which meant that once I had bought the album, I mostly played Side One, as at the time I thought most of side two was forgettable. 

I had already purchased the "Ask" single, plus "Bigmouth Strikes Again", "The Boy With A Thorn In His Side" and "There Is A Light There Never Goes Out" were on "The Queen Is Dead" album. "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore" was included on the "Meat Is Murder" album.

However, this was the first time 4 of the singles had been available on an LP, but the sticker on the cover promotes the inclusion of "Panic", "Ask" and "Shoplifters Of The World Unite", which all reached the Top 20 in the UK, whereas the other three singles were only Top 30.

From the singles on this compilation album, "Panic" remains my favourite. Remeniscent in places of T-Rex's "Metal Guru", I love the drumming leading to the chorus, in which some children provide backing vocals. "There's panic on the streets of Carlisle, Dublin, Dundee, Humberside. I wonder to myself"

"Ask" has a jaunty guitar intro, train-like drumming, a chuntering harmonica and a gorgeous pre-chorus "Spending warm summer days indoors, writing frightening verse to a buck-tooth girl in Luxembourg".  "If it's not love, then its the bomb that will bring us together".

"Shakespeare's Sister" is fast paced with hints of rockabilly but has a short, slow dreamy interlude before the rhythm returns. "I thought that if you had an acoustic guitar you were a protest singer".

"Shoplifters Of The World Unite" has more T-Rex hints, this time "Children Of The Revolution". There is a tender rising chorus and a wonderful but brief guitar solo. Some friends would rename the first word of the title as "Shirtlifters", but Fatbear usually thought of "Bad spellers of the world untie" " 

"Bigmouth Strikes Again" has a fast acoustic guitar intro, a drum burst then the first verse. The female sounding backing vocal is actually Morrissey but was credited to Ann Coates. Ancoats is apparently a surburb of Manchester ! "Now I know how Joan Of Arc felt, as the flames rose and her Walkman started to melt".

Although "The Boy With A Thorn In His Side" is about a boy being misunderstood, it has perhaps the most joyous music recorded by The Smiths, and I love the extended outro. "How can they hear me says those words and still they don't believe me ? And if they don't believe me know now, will they ever believe me ?".

"There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" is a song that has been interpretated as both being a depressive anthem or a hopeful testament of live. Fatbear's take is on the latter ! The song has a driving acoustic guitar and bass and a glorious chorus  "And if a double decker bus crashes in to us, to die by your side is such a heavenly way to die. And if a ten tonne truck crashes into us, to die by your side , well the pleasure, the privilidge is mine". 

Of the B-sides, the best is the gentle piano ballad "Asleep" which in parts reminds me of Depeche Mode's "Somebody" whilst "Rubber Ring" rounds off the collection in a jolly manner, with a sing-a-long "Oh, la da dey, la da dey, la da dey, la da dey" chorus. Another of the better B-sides is "Stretch Out And Wait", which is a slow acoustic song with a tender vocal. "How can you consciously contemplate when there is no debate, no debate, so stretch out and wait".

Of the two instrumentals, "Money Changes Everything" is quite funky and Bryan Ferry added some lyrics to become his 1987 single "The Right Stuff", whereas "Oscillate Wildly" has a music hall style piano intro before becoming something that could have been the theme music to a 1960s TV series.

"London" starts as if it will be The Beach Boys "Sloop John B" but after a few seconds becomes a frantic punkish song, whilst the slow and mounful "Unloveable" and the toe-tapping "Half A Person" were labelled as "mope music". "Sixteen clumsy and shy, I booked myself into the YWCA. I like it here can I stay ?".

"That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore" is another mostly acoustic song that starts nicely and the bass is also prominent. However, the psychedelic guitar in the outro is probably the low point of the album.

It was probably a good decision to not release "You Just Haven't Earnt It Yet, Baby" as a single as it isn't a particularly strong song and sits much better as just a B-side.

Listening again to "The World Won't Listen", overall it was a lot better than I was expecting. Whilst many of the singles are great songs, several of the B-sides sounded much better than I remembered !

Track Listing :

Side One :

1. Panic
2. Ask
3. London
4. Bigmouth Strikes Again
5. Shakespeare's Sister
6. There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
7. Shoplifters Of The World Unite
8. The Boy With A Thorn In His Side
9. Money Changes Everything

Side Two :

1. Asleep
2. Unloveable
3. Half A Person
4. Stretch Out And Wait
5. That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore
6. Oscillate Wildly
7. You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby
8. Rubber Ring

Released 1987
UK Chart Position : 2

Singles : 

Shakespeare's Sister ( No 26 - 1985 )
The Boy With A Thorn In His Side ( No 23 - 1985 )
Bigmouth Strikes Again ( No 26 - 1985 )
Panic ( No 11 - 1986 )
Ask ( No 14 - 1986 )
Shoplifters Of The World Unite ( No 12 - 1987 )