Yes. Johnny's playing was beautiful. Those who say they would prefer Moz to remain with Boz and Alain are fools. They delude themselves by claiming Marr lost his talent, when in fact he is still an astonishing player, far in advance of Whyte and Boorer. He should reunite with Morrissey. Both have something the other needs. Live concerts with Morrissey and Marr would far exceed those of the current Moz band musically. Moz, on the other hand, is still the lyrical and vocal genius with a brilliant perception of theatre (the sublime use of 'Imperfect List') and the aesthetic side of things. Marr isn't hot on those things, but he plays much better than Boz and Alain. It's a no brainer that in an ideal world they should reunite. Sadly, we don't live in an ideal world. Ah well.

Of all of the songs he could have played, why did he choose that one?

Of course, it's an excellent tune, but so many are excellent. A lot of us here are bound to read into the meaning of such a choice.

 

im getting sick of all the Boz and Alain bashing around here. imean, what the hell are you doing here anyway if you feel that not only are Boz and Alain not as good as Marr, but that they are infact "inadequate"?

you do realize that there has not been a Morrissey without either of these two since 1992? thats 13years (more than twice as long as The Smiths career) and 5albums (one more than The Smiths) that Boz and Alain hav been the core songwriters for Morrissey.

if you really think that they are "inadequate" then why hav you bothered sticking around for all this time? why didnt you juste jump ship with Marr back in '87? "Why do you come here?"

Morrissey - Vocals-Gladioli
Johnny Marr - Guitar-Vocals-Harmonica
Boz Boorer - Guitar-Vocals-Flute-
Alain Whyte - Guitars-Vocals
Gary Day - Bass
Deano - Drums
Mikey V. Farrell - Key Boards-Percusion-Sax

so...i like boz. i like alain...but johnny is a better player. hands down.
i actually like vini reilly a great deal more than boz and alain as well...but that's just me. i'm a guitar player and vini and johnny are 2 of my top three.

I was at the show in Phoenix, AZ when Moz last performed Please Please Please. I actually liked that version, but I wish I could have heard that song with Marr too. If only the internet was around in the 80's, I would have gone to every Smiths show in Phoenix and LA. Why Why Why???

I would have cut my right arm off to hear that. Im curious , Moz starting to play smiths songs and now Marr. they are both clinging to something they wish they still had , lifes to short , you are a long time dead , get back together.

My line up would be

Moz, Marr , Steve Mason ( ex gene guitarist as 2nd guitarist ) , Whitey ( ex oasis drummer ) and the ex bass player from Gene.

he did meat is murder at a benefit gig in the albert hall about 3 or 4 years back.
he did there is a light with that twit from crowded house.
and now he's doen please please please.
any more?
john

...having just come back from Glastonbury and seeing The Tears, I have to say Anderson and Butler are doing it right. They recognise that life is too short and they are at their best together - but (at least for the time being) they are leaving the past where it is and only playing new stuff live and concentrating on writing new material together.

This is what Morrissey and Marr should do. Not attempt to resurrect The Smiths - be confident that others don't percieve that to be the aim, and get on with creating together.

Well, Tingle's account of the evening is pretty accurate: from where I sat Johnny looked like a pretty young thing indeed, (oh the way he flicks that fringe!) but, truth be told, there was little competition in that age group, since the others guys were old enough to tell us all about Vietnam. And they did. (sigh.)

  Roy Harper guy was old enough to be Johnny's grand-dad, and minutes after I thought that, Johnny actually did kiss him on the cheek, so he probably was. ('Made me a bit melancholic that I couldn't play the guitar and be an old man to get the same treatment from mr Marr but, oh well.)

Johnny is defo a guitar boy, and his singing is on tune but not...You know. Perso I didn't get any chills from "please please please", but then it was never a fave of mine anyway. Actually I preferred him playing songs by other bands that evening.
Which made me think anyway, what does Johny want to get? Hm?

Banter was extremely limited, at one point somebody said "Go Johnny go!" (was that you, Tingle?) to which he wittily responded "Go yourself."
Oh, that Mancunian wit.

Yes, Morrissey got the obligatory mention from I don't remember who, who said some old singer I'd never heard of was some country's (America?) answer to Morrissey, (audience laughed) and he then proceeded to sing a song about a "poor immigrant". (I laughed then). That's all I can remember, sorry!

Patti Smith said it was supposed to be her night off and sang only one song (plus the group finale), which I thought was a bit of a rip off, but I didn't go and tell her. (Still, Patti, you could have made an effort!)

At one point in the evening a singer asked "does anybody have boots?" I froze in terror thinking that was some cue for Nancy to appear. But no. False alarm. The guy just wanted to mark the rythm in proper folk manner.

I found that Finn bloke from Crowded House sang in a lovely way actually, (don't know what some of you have against him). Made us audience sing some nonsense about blooming heather, seemed to dig heather a lot, it went on for a bit.

The group song was quite funny to watch, they all seemed to enjoy themselves, whereas they did seem a bit stressed the rest of the time.

  Johnny may not exactly be a singer, but he has enough presence to be the star in a group of ageing folk singers. (Tee-hee. You know I mean that as a compliment Johnny.)

Very glad I finally saw him "in the fringe" anyway.

Shame I missed the Hendrix experience. It would have perhaps, ah, er, rocked a bit more. But all in all a nice, quiet evening with the Folks.

Can't really tell you what Morrissey was doing that night, now...Something more important and interesting, probably. Like somebody else said, it's not a perfect world...

Very true. Johnny felt more comfortable being a sideman and a session player rather than a full-on collaborator with a partner. I know people that aren't Moz fans that can name a few Smiths and Moz-solo songs, but can't call to mind anything Johnny did after he left the Smiths.

To borrow an overused phrase, Johnny "jumped the shark" when he quit the band. He bit the hand that fed him and now he's exiled along with Rourke and Joyce... I think he deserves it.

LONG LIVE ALAN AND BOZ!

i agree with you for the most part

but

the first Electronic album
and the Pet Shop Boys "Release"
are both amazing

With one glaring exception that is pretty much never ever mentioned. The The's Dusk. Johnny's playing on there is ace and the album as a whole is fantastic. To me, as much as I like Boz and Alain, I feel they are incomparable to Johnny.

The issue is that if Moz and Johnny were to reunite it would have to be for musical reasons and I don't think Johnny would come back without having exceptional material ready in advance. Maybe this is the real reason they never got back together.

johnny marr deserves way more credit. the the's "dusk" was brilliant but i think "mind bomb" was even better. the single "the beat(en) generation" stands up against a lot of what he did with the smiths...while matt johnson gets a lot of the credit there, johnny's playing is unmistakeable.