THE SMITHS
A: Sheila Take a Bow
B: Is It Really So Strange?
(Rough Trade 1987)
So here we are at The Smiths, and I'll confess that I didn't like them when they first came onto the scene, despite my cooler friends* trying to turn me on to them.
I had bought into the mythology that all their songs were depressing and miserable, and thought that Morrissey's voice was a bit of a whiny drone.
What changed my mind (somewhat) was the song "Ask". I heard this song, no scratch that I read a review of this song, that said something along the lines of Johnny Marr's guitar sounding like Hank Marvin - which if you know me is enough to set hares running. So I sought out "Ask", harder to do in those pre-internet days, (I think I eventually caught it on the Chart Show on Channel 4, one Saturday morning), and found it to be a thing of joy and beauty. I won't be coming to that single later 'cos I bought it on 12 inch - which falls without the scope of this blog. However it lead to a re-evaluation of The Smiths, and a realisation that maybe I'd judged based on ill founded pre-conceptions.
I'm not saying that I became a huge fan, but I did begin to like them a lot. These days I' much more ambivalent - they're not a group that I listen to often, but when I do I need to be in the right mood. I vacillate between thinking that Morrissey's lyrics are pretentious twaddle pretending to be deep and meaningful and them actually having some substance. Very much like their record covers of colour-washed, often slightly obscure, celebrities is either fantastic or utterly trite. One thing that I am sure of is that most of the tunes, the instrumentation and playing are all to notch.
Sheila Takes a Bow is a bouncy little number, that belies the miserable reputation, with a message of going out and kicking life in the crotch rather than sitting round and moping. At least I'm guessing that's what it means because it's Morrissey's intonation always tends to land on the side of ironic, or sardonic even when he's being sincere. I know that everyone goes on about Morrissey/Marr being The Smiths, but this track in particular is buoyed along and, and enhanced by the bass and drums. So kudos to Messrs Rourke and Gannon to their contribution. Being just over two and a half minutes long may make this song feel less weighty, but it's probably the perfect length, for what is essentially a pop song.
The flipside of this single is a ditty entitled Is Is Really So Strange? What is strange are the references to killing a horse, killing a nun and leaving a bag in Newport Pagnell, a combination of odd and mundane, that feels like a self-conscious attempt to be different to everything else, but could just have easily been chucked in carelessly because they fitted the rhythm and melody. It maintains the bouncy feeling of the a-side, and even during the chorus has tiny bursts of rockabilly guitar - which is one of those things that happens in Smiths, and Morrissey solo records that keeps me interested in listening to them.
I enjoyed listening to this record, and whilst it's from the latter end of The Smiths' career, which many aficionados, feel is lesser, it's still one of their more entertaining records.
*Oh who am I kidding, all of my friends were** cooler than me.
** still are
Next Time a bit of Welsh pyschedelic blue-eyed soul...
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