a n d i

Oh, yes, I forgot about the 'Girlfriend in a Coma' one! I like that one, too.

Thanks for sharing that with us. I like knowing all these little random bits of info.

Dublingal

Here's some pictures from the band's last ever offical photo-shoot taken after they'd finished recording Strangeways... It was called the Salford Lads Revisited, as the photo's were taken outside the same spot that their most famous photographs were taken, "The Salford Lad's Club" ones by Stephen Wright. One of which was the inside sleeve shot of The Queen Is Dead.

Here's the famous "Salford Lads Club" shot taken in '85....



And then the "Revisited" series done in '87...







The man in the last picture is photographer Laurence Watson.

The Wanderer

Wow, thanks so much for the pictures. They looked so great and so young.

Why is famous the "Salford Lads Club" one?

Dublingal

It just sort of became the most famous picture of them. It was an iconic photograph of them in Britain. It sort of just summed up everything that the band was about in one photograph. Salford Lad's Club is a working man's club in Salford, Manchester and The Smiths were always considered a band for the working classes. Lots of people bought into the whole Club Tropicana, Wham pop, new romantic thing in the 80s. People saw bands in expensive suits and in extravagent music videos like Duran, Duran and Spandau Ballet, and saw how successful and beautiful they were and loved it. The Smiths were the complete opposite of all that. They looked like ordinary blokes, were skinny Manchester boys, and they said well no England isn't like any of these bands say it is and life isn't either. There's poverty and industrial cities were people go to work, day in and day out with very little to look forward to and that's their life. And this was the life that The Smiths reflected. They took the ordinary and made it beautiful and poetic without having to dress it up and make it seem nicer than it actually was, coz they knew it wasn't nice.

Somehow a picture of the four of them in front of an old Manchester club with graffiti on it's walls, looking like four lads who could have lived round the corner summed them up entirely. It could have been done fancy, they could have been in a well lit studio wearing linen suits, but they belonged on the Manchester back streets, looking slightly cold and damp. Just like life.

The fact that the picture was then included on the Queen Is Dead inside sleeve made it even more recognised as that would become their most famous album.

a n d i

Hee, thanks for the pics. They're great.

The Wanderer

I see. Thanks for the info, you know a lot about them.

a n d i

She does, doesn't she, Remy? It's a bit intimidating. j/k

Dublingal

Sorry. They're just my total favourite band of all time, and I've loved them for years, and because of the break-up and their personalities and the musical climate they were in when they were still together and the Moz/Marr legend, it's always been very interesting to me. So I do tend to waffle on about them.

a n d i

No, no it's OK. Feel free to waffle! The more you do, the more I can pick up and use on other people

The Wanderer

Certainly is Andi. Nah, kidding.

Dublingal

So what's everyone's favourite Smiths album?

*Circe*

Hatful of Hollow. I always love a bands first album...it's like a running theme with me. You hear that initial rush of newness, always. I love it.

It's Moz's birthday today!

So here's wishing him an (Un)happy Birthday.

a n d i

Hm, unfortunately, I have to be cliched and say 'The Queen is Dead' but, I mean, it really is such a great album. 'I know Its Over' and 'There is a Light That Never Goes Out' are two of my all time favourite songs. Plus, 'Vicar in a Tutu'? Could you get a cuter image than that? I think not.

I thought the self-titled was the first album?

The Wanderer

For me it's very hard to choose a favorite album just because I change my mind pretty often. I guess my choices are influenced by my mood.

However "The Smiths" is a great album and also "Hatful of Hollow".

And I love the cover of "This Charming Man" single.

*Circe*

In my mind, Hatful of Holliow IS the first album. I mean, literally...I think that all the songs on the first album are on Hatful of Hollow except for maybe three...Miserable Lie, I Don't Owe You Anything, and Pretty Girls Make Graves (which is one of my favorite songs.)

Plus, HoH was the first Smiths album Ie ver got, and the only one on vinyl that I have. I've had this debate with my friend so many times...

If Hatful of Hollow had included PGMG, it would be complete.

But they do make up for it with a longer track listing.