".. chiming guitar augmented by artificial strings"

Does this mean anything?!

Lordy, it will be 20 years next January since I met Swallowneck for the first time in a rough West Riding pub... My life changed for the better from that day on and it has been a pleasure!

I'm so honoured to be able to share those memories with you all on here - a lot has happened in the 19 years thus far, so there's much more to tell you!!!

VIVA SWALLOWNECK!

usual mix of bad research and self-importance from the 'morrissey-is-mine-and-he-owes-me-a-living' school of exhausted housebound UK music journalists. re-heated quotes from the ch4 doc, (credited) referrals to 'songs that saved your life', a fascinating account of the writer's own struggle to like the smiths... and to be fair a couple of interesting (new?) quotes from will self and jon savage. but others will correct me - they're probably old quotes too.

followed by the obligatory dismissal of the present 'narcissist' morrissey and his 'erratic solo career', and finally British journalism's proudest feature: the Wrong Fact, in this case that Moz lives in LA, 'self-exiled in his mansion'. Obviously to get such a fact right is beneath important people like ex-NME writers spending their middle-age pronouncing on the past in broadsheets and nostalgia magazines like Mojo. It's embarrassing to get it too right...

i look forward o'hagan's commemorative piece on 'vauxhall', about how he thought it was crap until someone told him it wasn't.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoe_ru7TocE

I also like how they knowingly use a pic from his 'patchy solo' career for the main image, because there aren't any from The Smiths era are there? Really very lazy.

I do like how he uses Morrissey's house number refers to Johnny as Johnny Maher, like that makes him sound more credible, in the know or like he was there even. Twat. Almost as nausiating as a Paul Morley article... almost.

Hairbrushedandparted

I initially thought this was Sean O'Hagan of The High Llamas, who has produced some great music over the years. I was worried that someone I admire could write such twaddle.

However, I did a bit of research and thankfully it's the old NME hack of the same moniker.

Regarding his comments on hip-hop. I saw Schooly D in 87, Public Enemy's first album was released in 87. Yet he states that the Smiths arrived just in time !!! Try four years earlier. Fact is The Smiths had all but split by the time the so called NME hip-hop "wars" occurred.

He finally got into The Smiths after his several years detox from the music industry with the release of How Soon is Now? That was 1984. When did he leave? 1977?. Sounds as if he was off his head most of the time as he can't remember a single fact.

All the best contributions are by others such as John Savage, Will Self etc

Those celebrity quotes by the way are years old.

If Sting can reunite with the police than maybe Moz and johnny can reunite THE SMITHS!!!! What do you think?