_________________________________________________
| \
| S T R A N G E W A Y S >
|________________________________________________/ A forum for Morrissey and
The Smiths.
Volume 1, Issue #12
To post to Strangeways, please send mail to Kevin at
[email protected]. To join the mailing list, please send mail to
Michael at Michael.C.Massengale% mac.dartmouth.edu.
------ Date: 25 Mar 91 20:28:05 From:
Michael.C.Massengale%
[email protected] Subject: news and ?'s
OK, I'm back, and I've got some questions and some news.
1. Morrissey sure seems to have a lot of legal troubles where money is
concerned. Why is this? Is this typical in the music biz, or is he just
ripping people off?
2. Has anybody seen any of these articles out about Morrissey? The latest
ones I've seen are in Spin and Creem. I got the Spin issue, but I can't find
it at the moment. Both articles raise interesting issues. Like...
3. If one takes the Spin article as a reliable source, Johnny Marr has not
lived up to his envisioned potential since the breakup of the Smiths. Does
anybody think this might increase the possibility of a reunion? Or, with the
new direction of Morrissey's work, and the lawsuits involving various members
of the band, would this not be possible, even if Marr approached Morrissey?
4. In one of the articles, Morrissey mentioned that the Smiths' discography
may be entirely remixed to clean up the sound and re-released.
5. Also, it sounds like he's still very actively recording. He says he's just
recorded his best song, "I've Changed My Plea to Guilty." My guess is that
we'd see this as a post-Kill Uncle single. For the record, how long after the
release of Viva Hate did the next singles start coming out?
6. I saw a bootleg (vinyl) of Morrissey's Wolverhampton gig. Has anybody seen
this on CD? If not, I guess I'll try to snag it, and then tape it for
whoever's interested. It'll have to wait until my next trip to Boston, though
(May 1 at the very latest), so don't hold your breath.
7. Has anybody bought the promo CDs for Suedehead and Everyday is Like Sunday?
I'm wondering how much they go for.
I'll try to find that magazine and I'll post whatever else I find interesting.
By the way, if you like the Cocteau Twins, don't read the Spin article. Talk
about a sharp tongue and cutting remarks....
Michael
----- Date: 25 Mar 91 21:56:10 From:
Michael.C.Massengale%
[email protected] Subject: A mission
OK, I'm trying to figure out exactly what one should buy if they were to
collect every available Smiths track on CD, and identify those that aren't
available on CD. If I bought The Smiths, Hatful of Hollow, Meat Is Murder,
The Queen Is Dead, The World Won't Listen, and Louder Than Bombs, I believe
I'd be missing the following tracks:
Jeane This Charming Man (Manchester) This Charming Man (London) Wonderful
Woman This Charming Man New York This Charming Man (instrumental) Hand in
Glove (with Sandie Shaw) I Don't Owe You Anything (with Sandie Shaw) Jeane
(with Sandie Shaw) Meat Is Murder (live) Stretch Out and Wait (live)
Shakespeare's Sister (live) Money Changes Everything The Draize Train I Keep
Mine Hidden Work Is A Four Letter Word
If I got the Japanese disc Stop Me, I'd pick up the last two songs. I know
that a CD single is available for Panic is available, which would give me The
Draize Train. What about the others? Or in other words, are there CD singles
for This Charming Man (with all its various versions?...yeah, right), Hand in
Glove (featuring Sandie Shaw), That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore, Big Mouth
Strikes Again, or Girlfriend in a Coma? I hope somebody can help me on this
one.
Michael
----- Date: 25 Mar 91 23:16:16 From:
Nicole.E.Nelson%
[email protected] Subject: Spin again
First of all I hate Spin Maz
I haven't yet read the piece in spin mag . I would like to know- how does this
piece compare to the other piece in Spin on Moz that came right after Viva
Hate was released? For thoses who haven't seen the earlier Moz piece- Check it
out. There is a great photo of Moz with a tombstone with the years 1959-1986.
----- Date: 25 Mar 91 23:23:54 From:
Michael.C.Massengale%
[email protected] Subject: from the Spin
article...
quotes from Morrissey...
on progression from Viva Hate to Kill Uncle
"I think it's a much better record, particularly in terms of lyrics. Beyond
that, I really can't say much because it is still basically my voice, and I
only have one voice. And it is still what's considered to be a very
traditional music lineup."
on Liz Fraser and the Cocteau Twins
"They make me vomit on sight....They're outstandingly unappealing on every
human level; they look awful, their interviews are awful, and their records
are just utter stupidity."
on the premature end of the 1986 Smiths tour
"Let's just say someone lost a leg."
on seemingly great opportunity to become a big force in the American market
"I totally absolutely wanted to be a British pop artist, which is what I
became. I just wanted British success because I don't travel very well, I tend
to have terrible spasms in airports; I can't really pack a suitcase, and I
don't leave England very often. So running around the world in a pair of Lycra
bicycle shorts is not very appealing."
but, presumably, that must be faced sometime during his solo career...?
"Well yes, it will be. But without the Lycra shorts."
on reluctance to do a full-blown American tour
"I'll definitely get as far as Connecticut."
on his loyal supporters (that's us, folks)
"I'm not sure, I can't tell. I prefer not to think that they're all of a
particular breed, I don't think that's true. In fact I'm very surprised at the
style of certain people who are interested in me."
on Johnny Marr's post-Smiths work
"I thought the record Electroninc released was totally useless....very apt
title."
I don't really feel like typing much more, but I recommend that you all invest
the $3.50 to get this.
Michael
-----
To: Michael.C.Massengale%
[email protected] cc:
[email protected] Subject: Re: more miscellaneous crap... Date: Tue,
26 Mar 91 06:53:01 -0800 From:
[email protected]
> OK, I just talked to Nicole (yes, as in telephones) and she is of the
opinion
> that I could set up a system like other-voices where posts would go out
> automatically. I'll check it out -- my classes don't start 'till Wednesday
> anyway. Also, she says, as I suspected (which is why I asked abou this
> earlier) that her lyrics files are HUGE. So I have no idea how we'd want to
> handle it. In any case, this might be the beginning of the solution to our
> imminent problems of summer breaks, etc. We'll see.
Ok...I've finally got a clear line so stay tuned for a long message. I'm
cross posting this to Strangeways because some other people might be
interested.
1. If you can create a system like _other-voices_ for Strangeways,
that would be great (In my opinion). There may be others out
there who like the "journal" format because of the bad experiences
they had with _other-voices_ and other newsgroups like that,
although I haven't had a problem with any of them. I guess
Summer vacation would be a problem...but I suppose we could
just stop altogether. I'll be around all summer (or close to
it...I live right by campus). We had better work on somethin
before summer rolls around in a few months.
Lets create a test run with just a few people on the list (say
you, I and Nicole) and see how it works.
2. Lyrics I can get working on. I've got the Morrissey lyrics in
Word Perfect (2 column format, 8 point TR) which really makes
it look great. I don't know what everyone else is using so
I don't want to just send out a WP format. What I may do is
convert everything into an ascii file and compress and uuencode
it, sending it out to anyone who is interested. If there's
enough demand, I'll just send it out with an issue of
Strangeways.
Well, I see that you've left me a ton of other mail, so I'll sift through that
for a while, and send you back some more mail.
Seeya
=K=
-----
Date: Wed, 27 Mar 91 20:37:40 -0500 From:
heath%
[email protected] Subject: "The Cocteau Twins make me vomit"
In a recent article by Larry Spence, I saw a quote from Morrissey,
"The Cocteau Twins make me vomit." Well, I find this a little disappointing
because I like both Morrissey and the Cocteau Twins. I guess I have this naive
hope that the artists I like are openminded enough to have some appreciation
for other artists that I like.
So, did Morrissey ever say anything other than the above about the Cocteau
Twins? I'm interested in knowing what he didn't like about them.
-dave heath
----- Subject: Strangeways.. Date: Thu, 28 Mar 91 12:48:34 GMT From:
nmf%aber.ac.uk%
[email protected]
Morrissey's new single _sing your life_ will feature a Jam song on the b-side
with backing vocals from Mr Vic Reves! (but that probably wont mean anything
to you unless you live in britain!)
Has anyone got any smiths live tapes?? or unreleased stuff?? i have a tape its
of 2 concerts (one 35 minutes and one 15 minutes) at the start of one he says
"this is being taped for the jolly bbc" and on the other he says
"were the other funny manchester band" after the first song.
Also he changes the words to (bugger cant remember the name) 'ive seen you
smile but ive never really heard you laugh' any idea what they are and where
they were recorded???
Nick
[ The concert tape you have I believe is the _Better Live Than Dead_ bootleg
that's been talked about here. Also, you only have one concert :-) The
35 minute one is the acutal concert and the 15 minute one is the encore.
I haven't seen Richard on here lately, but he has a couple of concert
albums and a few miscellaneous recordings...you might want to contact
him. =K= ]
----- Date: 31 Mar 91 22:21:56 From:
Michael.C.Massengale%
[email protected] Subject: The table is
rumbling...
A bit concerning the question of which S-T-E-V-E-N is supposed to
P-U-S-H-O-double F. Although Ouija Board was not produced by Street, it was
co-authored by him. I suppose that the music could've been his and the lyrics
added or altered after Morrissey and Street broke ties, but it seems more
likely to me that Morrissey is referring to himself. If not, he's mispelling
Street's name (and I don't want to think about the significance of the "How to
improve your spelling" book in the video.
Michael
P.S. Has anyone heard anything else about the "Sing Your Life" single?
--------------------------------
I'm adding this as at the of what Kevin has sent me as Strangeways #12.
Before today, I had not seen any Sire (USA) pressings of the "Our Frank"
single. Well, yesterday, a 12" single arrived at the radio station I work at,
and a sticker on the label said "available on compact disc maxi-single and
cassette maxi-single." Hooray!! Can anybody confirm this with an actual
sighting? I unfortunately haven't been able to scrape up $15 to buy the only
import copy I've seen, but I think I can spare $5!
Michael
