I don't think "Barbarism" or "I know it's over" actually should deserve so much bass line credit.
Hatful has some very awesome ones, and I very much prefer "Some girls are bigger" than the ones you mention. But on The Queen is Dead album, Rourke really makes the bass lines wander extremely well, and I personally find "I know it's over" the weakest one.
Anyway.
Rourke is a nice bloke, and made a very fine contribution to the most crucial Smiths albums.
On a personal note again, at first I found MORRISSEY live to be the only one who really didn't fit in with the sound of The Smiths: as the other three kept rocking hard, he'd go falsetto. Or lose his breath and pause.
Which was, and is, a very funny haha.
> Excellent point P.D. Personally I always thought his only crime was
> wearing white socks.....but then he wasn't the only Smith to do so.
> The bottom line was he was an integral part of The Smiths and contributed
> some amazing bass lines.
> I defy anyone to listen to "Barbarism Begins At Home" or "I
> know It's Over" and tell me that Andy Rourke was just a "hired
> hand".
> The problem with this board ,I'm afraid, is that there are relatively few
> Smiths fans on it and even fewer who are aware of how far ahead of their
> time The Smiths were and how radical and life changing their music was.
> From a Morrissey pint of view he co-wrote "Girl Least Likely To"
> and "Yes I am Blind" (amongst others) and I think Morrissey
> would give his right harm to have someone coming up with music of that
> calibre for him at the moment.