The Smiths

Belfast Telegraph:

"Live gigs worth all the Troubles: Concerts by bands like The Smiths helped unite Northern Ireland during dark days of the past, says Joe Lindsay" - September 29, 2020

Excerpt:

"Particularly during the bad times here, it lifted you and kept you going. It was a ray of hope that got you out and into town and mixing with people at a time when you might not otherwise have done. It was an escape big-time," he added.

"Going to my first gig to see The Smiths at the Ulster Hall when I was 13, I had never seen anything like it and it absolutely lit me up."




Regards,
FWD.

In the "Dundee Courier" 'nostalgia' section (!) a trip down memory lane to The Smiths concert at the Caird Hall 35 years ago to-morrow.

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/nos...g-historic-smiths-gig-in-dundee-35-years-ago/

Interviews with a few fans, with the attendant legally-required footnotes and apologies du jour {í am sure these people do disagree with whatever they believe to be his 'right-wing views', but there obviously is the thought that if you go public with any sort of Moz luv now, even in the 'nostalgia' section, to avoid the risk of on-line abuse in the wonderful world of 2020, you have to deliver such as the following ~ “I’m not a supporter in any way, shape or form of Morrissey’s controversial comments, quotes and opinions over the intervening years and find them deeply offensive” }

Otherwise, a sweet piece. Would be interested in seeing the snaps of M. feeding grapes to the...

Rolling Stone has updated their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, and three of the Smiths albums previously listed have been dropped. Only The Queen is Dead remains, and, although it has moved up from its previous position to #113, it is shocking to see some of the albums that ranked better!

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UPDATE Sep. 23:

Posted by sfchow:

Not sure if this been mentioned, but Morrissey did submit his list of albums to RS

(scroll down; right above Stuart Murdoch!)

I wonder if any of Morrissey's votes made it into the final 500...

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Related item:

• Four Smiths albums in Rolling Stone's '500 Greatest Albums of all time' - Nov. 25, 2003

matt of the national grows up listening to queen is dead

https://pitchfork.com/features/podcast/the-national-matt-berninger-explains-his-biggest-influences/

Excerpt:

...Jump to high school, and my sister joined a Columbia record house or something like that. It was great, it was a lot of music for really cheap. And my sister brought home—I remember in that first batch—she had The Queen Is Dead, she had Under a Blood Red Sky, by U2.

SS: The live one?

MB: Yeah, the live one. I think she also had Violent Femmes. And so I remember it wasn’t until I was like a sophomore or something that I then heard Violent Femmes and then I heard The Queen Is Dead.

When I was riding around on a golf cart, picking up—I worked at a driving range. And so I worked the front, you know, I washed the balls. I worked at the front counter, I worked at the candy desk, I fixed the video game. This was right down the road from where I lived in Miamitown, Ohio...

a book by Robert Dimery (Editor) and Bruno MacDonald (Editor)
Preface by Tony Visconti

Only four of TtheSmiths/Morrissey:
600. The Smiths - This Charming Man
629. The Smiths - How Soon Is Now
657. The Smiths - There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
701. Morrissey - Everyday Is Like Sunday

also a checklist at

Finally this film will be released in 2021.

AMC Networks-owned RLJE Films has swooped for U.S. rights to “Shoplifters of the World.”

Inspired by true events, “Shoplifters of the World” is set over the course of one night in the life of four friends who are reeling from the sudden dissolution of British band The Smiths. The same evening, a local radio station is also hijacked by an armed, impassioned Smiths fan, resulting in a madcap evening that sends up the spirit of the 1980s.

Starring Joe Manganiello (“Magic Mike”) as the radio DJ and Ellar Coltrane (“Boyhood”) as the hijacker, the film also stars Helena Howard (“Madeline’s Madeline”) and Elena Kampouris (“Before I Fall”). “Shoplifters of the World” is written and directed by Stephen Kijak (“We Are X”) and also features 20 tracks from The Smiths.

The U.K.’s...

I've only just got to this.

There are some really interesting cassettes listed in the auctions. Nerds assemble!

THE SMITHS - WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE/HAVE I - SMILE MUSIC LTD DEMO CASSETTE
What is the track Have I?

THE SMITHS - EDEN STUDIOS DEMO CASSETTE (BEFORE FIRST ALBUM)
Eden Studios was where the debut album was put together from the various studio...