new track from johnny marr — 'big bang and dig'

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When Johnny Marr split from The Cribs last month, one of the primary reasons given was Marr's desire to focus on scoring films. Well he's done just that, scoring noir crime caper The Big Bang.

Directed by Tony Krantz, starring Antonio Banderas and featuring a cameo from Snoop Dogg, it's not quite as high profile as Marr's recent contributions to Hans Zimmer's Inception soundtrack. In fact, it'll be released straight to DVD May 24.

Regardless, Marr described the soundtrack to spinner as "trippy, heavy, psychedelic and expansive" — a style dictated by the script and the director. Listen to the track "Big Bang and Dig" for an indication of what he means:



Certainly interesting. Not sure I can say the same for the film:

johnny marr splits from the cribs

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After three years as a full fledged member of The Cribs, Johnny Marr is leaving the band to pursue other interests.

According to NME, those interests include working on an autobiography and another crack at solo work:

"I'm working on new solo songs. I'll be putting out two records over the next year or so and doing more film soundtrack work. Touring and recording with Ryan, Gary and Ross has been fantastic and 'Ignore The Ignorant' is something I'm really proud of. We ended up doing much more than we originally set out to and I've made three good friends."

Ignore The Ignorant was pretty fantastic and very underrated. "We Share The Same Skies" has some of Marr's best melody since his Smiths days:




Whether The Cribs, The The, or even Modest Mouse, Marr has elevated everything he's touched over the last 20 years. While Boomslang might have been a miss, I anxiously await where he goes from here.

As for The Cribs, the Jarmans have several festival dates scheduled and plan to record their fifth album toward the end of the summer. In a statement on the band's website, the brothers had this to say:

"So, as some of you may know by now The Cribs are gonna be a 3-piece again. That is a slightly less dramatic way of saying that Johnny Marr is no longer in the band. We don't want it to be seen as a split, that just has so many negative connotations and really doesn't represent the way everyone is feeling right now.

No one is down about this in our camp. It's actually the start of a really exciting phase for everyone. Johnny has gone back to The Healers and is writing a new record, and we are really honestly loving being back together as just 3 brothers literally playing in the basement/garage again."

Sounds as amicable as a split can be. For those fans who were longing for the grittier early sound of The Cribs, you may have your wish.

the smiths meat is murder, live in '85

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It's been just a bit more than 25 years since The Smiths released their second full length, Meat Is Murder. And coming up on May 18 is the 25th anniversary of the Paseo De Camoens show in Madrid, Spain.

The often bootlegged show was a free concert presented by the Spanish government and rebroadcast on the Spanish television show "La Edad De Oro." The show is one of a band still in relative infancy; "How Soon Is Now?" had yet to catch on in the states and their self-titled debut album was little more than a year old.

You can watch the full 18-track show here, but for our purposes we'll present the Meat Is Murder selections within the context of the album sequence. Which of course means we open with "The Headmaster Ritual":




Next is the jaunty "Rusholme Ruffians":




"I Want The One I Can't Have" and Morrissey's fantastic hat:




Classic Johnny Marr brilliance on "What She Said":




The one true single from the album, "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore":




Originally a B-side to "William, It Was Really Nothing," "How Soon Is Now" was added to Meat Is Murder for its US release:




All aboard for "Nowhere Fast":




"Well I Wonder" didn't make the cut, but the extended version of "Barbarism Begins At Home" did — along with shirtless Stephen:




And finally, a rare live performance of "Meat Is Murder":




Timeless.

digging up the the's soul mining

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Matt Johnson's 1983 The The classic Soul Mining is often overlooked in the discussion of essential synthpop. Perhaps because much like The Hurting by Tears For Fears, it's an album that's out of context with the rest of the band's more guitar based catalog. At any rate, it merits revisiting or discovery — depending on your point of view.

Technically, it's The The's debut album, as Burning Blue Soul was originally released under Matt Johnson's name.

With only 8 songs — Johnson intended it to be 7 with the exclusion of "Perfect" — it's concise and powerful. Johnson's always poignant lyrics are perfectly framed by the interplay of electronic sounds, programmed drums and organic instrumentation.

Without a doubt, side 1 is the hero. Here's album opener "I've Been Waiting For Tomorrow (All Of My Life)" taken from the apparently out-of-print 1989 concert film The The vs. The World, featuring the great Johnny Marr on guitar:




Thanks to commercial licensing, "This Is The Day" might be The The's most recognizable track. Here's the original music video, featuring Matt Johnson's mullet:




"The Sinking Feeling" continues Johnson's theme of disillusionment and despair with the priceless lyric "I'm just a symptom of the moral decay that's gnawing at the heart of the country":




Finally, back to Royal Albert Hall in '89 for the epic "Uncertain Smile", featuring a fine approximation of Jools Holland's original piano solo:




That's probably enough.. you're on your own for side 2.

heaven knows thursdays are miserable

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If ever there was a Smiths song that spoke to me, it's "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now." Perhaps one of Johnny Marr's jangliest guitar parts paired with some of Morrissey's most depressive lyrics.

Whether on album, live or lip-synced on Top Of The Pops, it's a powerful song that resonates equally for the working class, lovelorn or hopelessly pubescent.

Here's hoping it helps get you through your Thursday.

merry smithsmas! bootleg smiths outtakes surface

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(3/02/2011 — IMPORTANT UPDATE AT THE END OF THIS POST)

One last post before the holiday, and this one just made my year. New rare and previously unheard Smiths outtakes have been posted on the web for all to enjoy.

As reported by Slicing Up Eyeballs, a bootleg compilation entitled Unreleased Demos & Instrumentals was ripped from vinyl and posted on the Morrissey Solo message board earlier this week.

With tracks from the Meat Is Murder, Queen Is Dead and Strangeways Here We Come sessions, it's a treasure trove of material. Apparently, the songs were assembled for a best-of compilation by Warner Brothers that never saw the light of day.

The tracklist is below, and a brilliant explanation of the origin of each track can be found on the Extra Track (and a tacky badge) blog:

1. The Hand That Rocks The Cradle
2. Reel Around The Fountain
3. Rusholme Ruffians
4. The Queen Is Dead
5. Sheila Take A Bow
6. This Night Has Opened My Eyes
7. Untitled One (Marr Instrumental)
8. Ask
9. There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
10. Is It Really So Strange?
11. Frankly, Mr. Shankly
12. Shoplifters Of The World Unite (Reprise)
13. Girlfriend In A Coma
14. Death Of A Disco Dancer
15. Paint A Vulgar Picture
16. Untitled Two (Marr Instrumental)

Extra kudos to Slicing Up Eyeballs for posting select tracks for streaming online. First is a reggae-tinged take on "Girlfriend In A Coma":



Here's an early version of the Meat Is Murder classic "Rusholme Ruffians":



And finally, here's "Untitled 1" — otherwise known as "I Misses You" — recorded at the tail end of the Meat Is Murder sessions:



It's a Christmas miracle!


UPDATE:

The original vinyl rip of this Smiths bootleg — and the clips above — were accidentally ripped in mono. Now, thanks to The Power Of Independent Trucking blog, they have been remastered in stereo.

Lossless FLAC files have been posted here, if you're interested in the new, fancy hi-fi version.

reminiscing about electronic

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Morrissey once called Johnny Marr's post-Smiths project with Bernard Sumner and Neil Tennant "totally useless".

 
I'm not going to try to convince Moz otherwise...  however, I do have a soft spot in my heart for Electronic. Sure, in retrospect I can admit the whole thing was a bit cheesy. The synths and strings were over the top, the guitar work of Johnny Marr was thin, and the entire idea of a synth-pop supergroup was really quite silly.

Still, I wore this record out. It spoke to me. Maybe it just quelled my desire for new material from the defunct Smiths and distracted me from the maybe-they're-broken-up maybe-they're-not saga of New Order. Or perhaps I just wasn't as cynical back then.

Regardless, I still get misty when I hear "Getting Away With It":



"Feel Every Beat" was another favorite, but seeing it live from 1992 you can witness hip-hop Barney starting to lose his mind:




Electronic put out three albums over the course of the 90's, none nearly as good as the first. But now that Marr has moved on to The Cribs and Sumner is carrying on with Bad Lieutenant, I think it's safe to look back on that debut with fondness.

It appears Barney does, too:

reading & leeds 2010

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This was August Bank Holiday Weekend in the UK, and with it came the end of the summer festival season — Reading and Leeds. The two are mirror images of one another, the only discernable difference noted by the Guardian UK; "Leeds is almost exactly the same as Reading, just with better weather, worse clothes and more chips."

Both had a bit of an odd, states-heavy lineup this year with the likes of Blink 182, Limp Bizkit, Paramore, Weezer and G'nR (more about them later). Of interest to many was the reunion of the Libertines, with Pete Doherty managing to pull himself out of the gutter and hold it together for an hour.

Johnny Marr and The Cribs evidently still don't merit a prime time slot, but by most accounts they were a festival highlight:




Arcade Fire headlined the very same stage, with "Rococo" from The Suburbs a standout:





On the side stage, Phoenix nailed their omnipresent Cadillac jam, 1901:





The Friday/Sunday headliner on the side stage was LCD Soundsystem, with James Murphy and company getting the biggest rise from the crowd with Sound of Silver favorites "Daft Punk Is Playing At My House" and "Tribulations":





But the story of the weekend was Axl Rose and what passes for Guns 'n Roses these days. Axl delighted the crowd with two, TWO piano solos... and last night's Leeds closing show started more than an hour late. He has since "declared war" on festival organizers, whatever that means. See for yourself if that bloated mess has still "got it":




Thanks to the BBC for the video — until they take it down, then eff em.

moz monday: work is a four letter word

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Seems of late every festival season opens with rumblings of a reunion of The Smiths. But if Coachella can't coax them out of retirement for a reported $60+ million dollars, then probably nothing will.

The split happened back in 1987, months before the release of Strangeways, Here We Come, and interestingly enough it had more than a little bit to do with the song "Work Is A Four Letter Word".

It was a b-side, along with "I Keep Mine Hidden", on the "Girlfriend In A Coma" single.

Turns out, the song was added to the single at Morrissey's insistence, which amounted to one of the certainly many final straws for Johnny Marr.

For US fans of The Smiths, like myself, it might be news to learn that the song is a cover of a Cilla Black original:





And who is Cilla Black? A contemporary of Dusty Springfield and early client of Brian Epstien, she happened to star in and record the theme song for a subversive 1968 comedy entitled Work Is A Four-Letter Word about a lazy fiance who would rather grow shrooms in his apartment than get a job and get married.





Seems like Johnny could have brewed a cup of magic tea, had a laugh and kept the band together. But then we'd have never heard from Johnny Marr and the Healers.