The Earliest Ever Smiths Gig Review!

[Jukebox Jury]

I was looking on the Manchester Music Archive website for a bit of research I've been doing, and came across this review by a local fanzine of The Smiths 2nd ever gig at The Manhattan Sound, the 1st gig with Andy playing.
The 1st paragraph tends to describe the club, the 2nd the gig and is quite hilarious!:D
http://www.mdmarchive.co.uk/archive/showartefact.php?vid=355

Jukebox Jury

[celibate]

I was looking on the Manchester Music Archive website for a bit of research I've been doing, and came across this review by a local fanzine of The Smiths 2nd ever gig at The Manhattan Sound, the 1st gig with Andy playing.
The 1st paragraph tends to describe the club, the 2nd the gig and is quite hilarious!:D
http://www.mdmarchive.co.uk/archive/showartefact.php?vid=355

Jukebox Jury

as one comment allready mentioned, thought James Maker only was there
at their first gig, as support band for' Blue Rondo Al a Turk'

the Ritz gig

well checking my Mozipedia, well I can wait till you answer, you know a lot
cause you were around at these days

Wish I had seen 1 live gig, tis not my age, but PR was via radio or papers,
and I didn't/don't live in Great Brittain, 1984 was a Vinyl party, not advertised
as a Smiths gig, but the 5 year annivarsary of the magazine [which didn't make 10] so I didn't know
well wrote it 2,902,834 times in here, everybody knows it by know, but still
feel an empty piece in my life:tears:

[Jukebox Jury]

as one comment allready mentioned, thought James Maker only was there
at their first gig, as support band for' Blue Rondo Al a Turk'

the Ritz gig

well checking my Mozipedia, well I can wait till you answer, you know a lot
cause you were around at these days

Wish I had seen 1 live gig, tis not my age, but PR was via radio or papers,
and I didn't/don't live in Great Brittain, 1984 was a Vinyl party, not advertised
as a Smiths gig, but the 5 year annivarsary of the magazine [which didn't make 10] so I didn't know
well wrote it 2,902,834 times in here, everybody knows it by know, but still
feel an empty piece in my life:tears:

James Maker was ''in the band'' for the first two gigs and then his services were ''no longer required'':lbf:
He did appear briefly at one more gig in Cornwall in 84 or 85 for only one song (I think, not having Mozpedia at hand!)

Jukebox Jury

[joe frady]

Top stuff. Find of the year. So far :thumb:
I particularly like the description of Moz, 'on Mouth', as 'An arresting figure whose appearance lay somewhere between Christopher Isherwood and a Foreign Office junior'.
And, at some point in 2010, I intend to employ the word 'frothabilly'. :)

[goinghome]

That's a very amusing little piece! Thanks for posting.

[Jukebox Jury]

Top stuff. Find of the year. So far :thumb:


Damn, I think I peaked too soon for that accolade:lbf:

Jukebox Jury

[Girl-with-the-Thorn]

That was a great read, thanks for posting. :thumb:

"If the boy's head is anything to go by, The Smiths are going to be B-I-G" :lbf:

[hand in glove]

Interesting! Thanks for posting!

[mozmal]

Very nice find, JJ.

[lainey]

Christopher Isherwood?

[celibate]

James Maker was ''in the band'' for the first two gigs and then his services were ''no longer required'':lbf:
He did appear briefly at one more gig in Cornwall in 84 or 85 for only one song (I think, not having Mozpedia at hand!)

Jukebox Jury

is there footage of Pete Burns ,coming from behind the curtains and
did a duet [awfull] with Morrissey, the song was 'Barbarism, if my memory
don't fool me.

one of the strangest things happened IMHO in Smiths live gig plus;

thought okt 86 brixton gig their were 2 drumkits on stage, and a roadie[or Simon Wolstencroft?] drummed with Mike, on a few nmbrs

[Nats1977]

Thats a great find - very good!

First time Moz was called a "show-off" in print?:lbf:

[joe frady]

is there footage of Pete Burns ,coming from behind the curtains

:eek: Good lord, I hope not. ;)

[mozmic_dancer]

Thank JJ, great find.

Something about the wit and the writing style along with the James Dean-New York Dolls-and-Iggy references make me a little suspicious.

Am I crazy to believe that this press release/review could have been written by the Man himself to promote the club and the Smiths? I didn't see a name attached to this, so I wonder.

[PregnantForTheLastTime]

Thank JJ, great find.

Something about the wit and the writing style along with the James Dean-New York Dolls-and-Iggy references make me a little suspicious.

Am I crazy to believe that this press release/review could have been written by the Man himself to promote the club and the Smiths? I didn't see a name attached to this, so I wonder.

I thought it sounded like his writing, too.

[dizzywhore_1804]

I thought it sounded like his writing, too.

Third-ed.

[mozmic_dancer]

...or perhaps James Maker, who writes in a similiar style, or perhaps it could have been what an anoymous post on the Main page has revealed:

"The review comes from City Fun fanzine which was run by friends of Morrissey including writers/girlfriends Liz Naylor and Cath Carroll. They briefly managed Linder Sterling's band Ludus and Carroll would later write the first Smiths piece for the NME. The given address of City Fun was c/o New Hormones which was Linder's record label at the time.

Although the review is anonymous it is likely the handiwork of Naylor or Carroll which explains why it's quite in-jokey about Morrissey and optimistic for the group's success."

[Vauxhall Vixen]

Thank JJ, great find.

Something about the wit and the writing style along with the James Dean-New York Dolls-and-Iggy references make me a little suspicious.

Am I crazy to believe that this press release/review could have been written by the Man himself to promote the club and the Smiths? I didn't see a name attached to this, so I wonder.

It's quite possible it's him or a friend of his as it's all about Morrissey and not even a mention of Johnny Marr or the style of the music at all!

[mozmic_dancer]

Just an update, if anyone cares, according to the Main page, DavidT(different) asked James Maker about the press release and he confirmed that it was written not by himself, or Moz, but by Liz Naylor (who was later press officer at One Little Indian).

So, the Anonymous source was right!

Thanks DavidT(different), Jamesy, Anonymous, and to all the other History Detectives.
http://www.freestateofpatrick.com/history_detectives.jpg

[Jukebox Jury]

Just an update, if anyone cares, according to the Main page, DavidT(different) asked James Maker about the press release and he confirmed that it was written not by himself, or Moz, but by Liz Naylor (who was later press officer at One Little Indian).

So, the Anonymous source was right!

Thanks DavidT(different), Jamesy, Anonymous, and to all the other History Detectives.


Thanks for that - I wouldn't have checked the main page comments!:guitar:

Jukebox Jury

[dicartwright]

Amazing find, thank you:thumb:

By the way, it doesn't mention the infamous high-heels Maker always denied using.

[Jukebox Jury]

Amazing find, thank you:thumb:

By the way, it doesn't mention the infamous high-heels Maker always denied using.

Correct.... that was one of the things I thought of when reading it, but it was always the first gig at The Ritz where this was reported.

Jukebox Jury