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Welcome to...
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A forum for Morrissey and The Smiths.

Volume 1, Issue #14

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.

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From: Simon Hughes <sph%[email protected]>
Date: Thu, 4 Apr 91 17:12:43 BST
Subject: Strangeways: Issues from #12

Michael writes
>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?
Dunno if it's typical. Two possible reasons spring to mind. If you don't
have stable working relationships the incentive to not piss people off by
trying to get as much dosh as possible just isn't there. Secondly, I get the
impression that El Mobo has a very strong (not necessarily good) sense of
justice. I could imagine him pursuing legalities beyond the point at which
others cut their losses.

>Morrissey mentioned that the Smiths' discography
>may be entirely remixed to clean up the sound and re-released.
To quote a previous reply of mine. `Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha'!

>He says he's just recorded his best song
Where have I heard that before?

Nick writes
>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.

As Kevin points out, one gig. This was the Oxford Apollo gig (I was there)
in 1985 (?). The other "other funny manchester band" is the support group -
James. This gig was broadcast by BBC radio 1, minus Handsome Devil. Do your
tapes/bootlegs have this track?

Simon
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Simon Hughes, Dept. of Computing, Imperial College. Email: [email protected]

<----->

Date: 06 Apr 91 20:54:56
From: Michael.C.Massengale%[email protected]
Subject: Forwarded from Svengali In Platforms
<[email protected]>: smiths mailing list.

some random comments on morrissey...

the interview in spin is really drab compared to the one in the november issue
of the british magazine, "Q". i got a lot more out of that one.

in the reviews of the new album, i *STILL* disagree with the consensus that
"our frank"
is his best work since the smiths. i much prefer even picadilly to it.

how come no one, in critiquing the new albu, gives any
praise to "mute witness". that's the song that caught my ear early on...

a friend of mine (who likes moz's slower stuff) heart "journalists" and
said that he wasn't thrilled with it. ah well...

did anyone notice how he could pass for vanilla ice on the front of the
bona drag album? a 4 year old saw my cut out of the box, and said "look!
vanilla ice!" and a friend of mine said the same thing earlier...

it's ironic that every single morrissey has put out (exc. maybe 1 freom
viva hate, and maybe our frank) ha peaked higher on the birtish charts
than "how soon is now" which peaked around 25 or so. of course,
the harts aren't based on how much the CUSTOMER buys, but how much the record
warehouses buy. which explains why a song can debut high, and aall
off..(fall)

from hoboken - bob gaj

[ When I first saw Vanilla Ice, I thought damn he looks a lot like
Morrissey. Of course I almost threw up when I heard his music,
but it was interesting for a little while. =K= ]

<----->

From: [email protected]
Re: General stuff

Well, since it's been a little slow lately, I'm going to throw in a
few comments and questions.

I've almost got the entire Smiths/Morrissey lyrics on computer in a
Word Perfect 5.1 format. If enough people are interested, I can either
send out an ascii version or a WP formatted version. I think I'll just
send it out by request unless there are a lot of people who are
interested. The WP format is about 100K...I'm sure just the text is
about 75K, although I haven't converted it over yet. Send me mail
if you're interested...I should have it uploaded by this weekend.

Here's an idea. Does anyone have access to an ftp server that
I could throw archives to? I could send all of the previous
Strangeways issues plus the discography and lyrics to it. It
would probably be easier and more convinient for everyone.

Lars - I lost your email address. If you are still interested in
making copies of the KROQ interview and Smiths concert, let me know
and I'll send them to you. Maybe we should try to get as many
concert tapes together as possible and mix a version for Strangeways.
(and then sell it as a bootleg to all those non-computer literate
fans for lots of money :-) )

On the subject of recordings, I just got the newly released Peel
Sessions by the Smiths that came out domestically here in the States.
I thought maybe it would have some sort of fold out picture or
something but it doesn't. Oh well, just another addition to my
collection. Has anyone seen the compilation disk of peel sessions...
something like "Manchester - So Much To Answer For"? It's been
advertised a lot but I haven't seen it yet. It sounds pretty good,
though.

Oh well, that's enough babbling for the day. Before I go, does anyone
know when (if) Morrissey has made any tour plans whatsoever? Sure there
are tons of rumors floating around but I didn't know if anything has
changed or been announced since the Spin interview (which must have
been done in February).

I suppose the new single should be out soon, too. It'll be interesting
to hear Morrissey doing some covers.

=K=

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From: Simon Hughes <sph%[email protected]>
Date: Fri, 5 Apr 91 19:50:36 BST
Subject: Strangeways: Sing Your Life, next single & Rough Trade demise

Sing Your Life is out over here (UK) together with a new song - Loop - and a
cover of The Jam's That's Entertainment which is very sweet! Whereas I
remember The Jam doing it as an angry swipe at life, Moz just sounds resigned
(no surprises there). It begins and ends with a weird repetitive machine-like
sound that I can't identify. It puts me in mind of cotton mill machines!
Perhaps El Mobo is alluding to the drudgery of everyday work again. Since
there's been a little discussion of The Dream Academy in Strangeways I think
I can safely introduce a bit of trivia at this point. Kate St. John of TDA
plays cor-anglais on the song (and Wyoming's top light entertainer - Vic
Reeves - does backing vocals on Loop (I think!)).

Moving on, the next Moz single is apparently going to be a new song - My Love
Life - and will come with another cover. This time it's Bradford's Skin
Storm that gets the Moz treatment.

Rough Trade is in deep financial shit and is selling the Smiths back
catalogue.
So maybe it will all be remixed and remastered after all :-)

Simon
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Simon Hughes, Dept. of Computing, Imperial College. Email: [email protected]

[ Great...just what we need, more remixes and remasters of Smiths songs.
It would be nice if either the record company or Morrissey went back
and created an all new album of just b-sides or some other "new"
compilation. Then again, maybe with the new record company, the Smiths
will get back together (ha ha ha ha). =K= ]

<----->

Subject: The Smiths..!
Date: Tue, 16 Apr 91 12:05:12 BST
From: nmf%aber.ac.uk%[email protected]

I dont suppose anyone was at the Depeche mode gig(s) where Electronic
played??? (johhny marr and barney sumner)

Was it any good??? are there any bootlegs of it about???

Thats all really, nice to see johnny's doing something REALLY good
and not gone all quiet since the demise of the smiths.

Nick.

P.s. any idea when the lp's out???

<----->

Subject: The Smiths.....
Date: Tue, 16 Apr 91 12:10:24 BST
From: nmf%aber.ac.uk%[email protected]

Hi.

As you may (or may not) know, rough trade are in deep shit at the mo. with
cash flow problems, to get some more money they are thinking of selling off
the rights to the smiths back catalouge to CBS (i think it is they) there for
all smith lp's cd's cassettes will probably have the CBS label on them,
makeing
the rough trade ones quite rare, oh yeah and their could then be a new lp
of unreleased stuff. (well thats what it said in the NME!)

Nick