More rare versions of Morrissey / Smiths songs uploaded

I've uploaded some stuff some may have heard, but some may have not heard.

Early acoustic demo of Nobody Loves Us: https://soundcloud.com/peter-skinny/nobody

Early demo of Bengali In Platforms: https://soundcloud.com/peter-skinny/bengali

Early demo of He Knows I'd Love To See Him: https://soundcloud.com/peter-skinny/he-knows

*UPDATE - Here's three more. I think that's it for now, unless I find another old drive or something. I'm not sure if these have been posted before, I think the Never Had No One Ever might have been. It's a little freaky - laughter and trumpets and such.

Boy Racer Demo: https://soundcloud.com/peter-skinny/boy

Never Had No One Ever early version: https://soundcloud.com/peter-skinny/never

Southpaw early version: https://soundcloud.com/peter-skinny/s-paw

Also:

Media coverage:
 
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Re: Some songs

Holy shit, man. Amazing. Thanks for sharing this stuff! How long have you been sitting on these?
 
Re: Some songs

Skylarker said:
Holy shit, man. Amazing. Thanks for sharing this stuff! How long have you been sitting on these?
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A while. There's other stuff on various drives. I'm just going through them. I'd forgotten I had some of these, if I find more I'll post them.
 
Re: Some songs

Uncleskinny said:
A while. There's other stuff on various drives. I'm just going through them. I'd forgotten I had some of these, if I find more I'll post them.
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While I'm thankful people like you make this stuff available, I'm also wondering why you (and others) hold on to it for "a while"? Is it for monetary reasons? Bragging purposes?
 
Re: Some songs

Anonymous said:
While I'm thankful people like you make this stuff available, I'm also wondering why you (and others) hold on to it for "a while"? Is it for monetary reasons? Bragging purposes?
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As I said above, I was going through some drives, and I forgot I had them. That's all there is to it. If I find more, I'll post them.
 
Re: Some songs

Uncleskinny said:
As I said above, I was going through some drives, and I forgot I had them. That's all there is to it. If I find more, I'll post them.
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I wasn't trying to have a go, I was just curious. If I had the means to obtain things like this I'd post it all over th place.
But then maybe "the source" would dry up...?

Two of these are approaching 30 years old. They've been floating around for that long and no one was nice enough to make them available until you, today.

They're really good, though. Thanks.
 
Re: Some songs

By the way, in my opinion, that vocal on the 'Never' early version is just about the best I've ever heard him sing.
 
Re: Some songs

Uncleskinny said:
Here's three more. I think that's it for now, unless I find another old drive or something. I'm not sure if these have been posted before, I think the Never Had No One Ever might have been. It's a little freaky - laughter and trumpets and such.

Boy Racer Demo: https://soundcloud.com/peter-skinny/boy

Never Had No One Ever early version: https://soundcloud.com/peter-skinny/never

Southpaw early version: https://soundcloud.com/peter-skinny/s-paw
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Thank you very much for sharing these versions!
 
Re: Some songs

Uncleskinny said:
By the way, in my opinion, that vocal on the 'Never' early version is just about the best I've ever heard him sing.
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Eternal thanks for this, Peter!

It is a stunning version. I remember reading in Simon Goddard's book about the early version of 'Never...' with a New Orleans style jazz trumpet. The ideas The Smiths were having in the studio at this time were amazing. Obviously, it didn't get used on the final cut of 'The Queen Is Dead' and rightly so but I love the musical experimentation that was going on. They really were in a class of their own around then. The Smiths demos etc. are better than 90% of other bands' finished recordings!
 
Re: Some songs

Many thanks for the uploads Peter. It's greatly appreciated and very decent of you. New Year wishes to you and your family.
 
Re: Some songs

Anonymous said:
While I'm thankful people like you make this stuff available, I'm also wondering why you (and others) hold on to it for "a while"? Is it for monetary reasons? Bragging purposes?
Click to expand...

Not everyone has your motivations.
 
Re: Some songs

Many thanks, Peter - amazing unearthings here, some no doubt originally intended for the Rhino solo catalog reissues. It's great to finally hear them.

It's disconcerting to hear the rather flat Miraval version of "The Boy Racer." Moz and company did well to electrify it - and Spencer was country miles better for the material than Woodie Taylor. The alternate version of "Southpaw" is obviously built off the released version's backing track, but taking off the "room sound" makes it feel more like an amalgam of a Your Arsenal track and "A Swallow On My Neck." The synth strings give it an Echo and the Bunnymen vibe, which makes sense since Alain has raved about them as an influence. An interesting curio, but I think the track was all the better for the improvisation at the end.

The work-in-progress version of "He Knows I'd Love To See Him" is interesting, but, clearly the rhythm track that Danny Thompson and Andrew Paresi laid down on the final version was superior. The drum track on this version feels awkward, fighting against the melody - suitable only for a demo.

While Vini Reilly's additional guitar work on this version of "Bengali" is sumptuous, the track was stronger for limiting the electric guitar to the punctuations in the chorus. It is bittersweet to hear how supple Reilly's playing was with the knowledge that strokes have virtually stripped away his abilities.

Morrissey is in fine voice throughout, in general, but he sounds very congested on "Nobody Loves Us." The spare background brings extra throat noise to the fore in a rather unattractive fashion.

I wouldn't go so far as to say his vocal on this version of "Never Had No One Ever" was a best-ever, but I wish they had not tampered with the horn. It really emphasizes the song as a sort of twisted blues. For me, the released version has always kind of lain there in the midst of an otherwise flawless track listing.
 
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