Musicradar: "...How The Smiths defied expectations on their final album, Strangeways, Here We Come" (March 20, 2024)

By Neil Crossley.

“Every time I opened a music paper it said, ‘Johnny Marr – jingle jangle’. I'd just had enough”: How The Smiths defied expectations on their final album, Strangeways, Here We Come.

Excerpt:

"Delve back through rock and pop history and it’s often the most unlikely unions that create the most innovative and exhilarating music. Such was the case with Steven Patrick Morrissey and John Martin Maher, the former a writer, vocalist and visionary, who turned Mancunian mundanity into exquisite paeans of desire and disaffection; and the latter, a streetwise guitarist whose dazzling style and technique were matched by melodic prowess."

“Every time I opened a music paper it said, ‘Johnny Marr – jingle jangle’. I'd just had enough”

Johnny Marr and Morrissey’s relationship may have crumbled during its creation, but The Smiths’ final album is regarded by many as their best

www.musicradar.com

 

[The.Boy.Racer]

My favourite 'The Smiths' album

 

[Gregor Samsa]

”Steven Patrick Morrissey and John Martin Maher, the former a writer, vocalist and visionary, who turned Mancunian mundanity into exquisite paeans of desire and disaffection; and the latter, a streetwise guitarist whose dazzling style and technique were matched by melodic prowess.”

That’s a great summation of these two geniuses.

 

[rivum]

"Steven Patrick Morrissey and John Martin Maher, the former a writer, vocalist and visionary, who turned Mancunian mundanity into exquisite paeans of desire and disaffection"

so true of most of his work. that certainly went out the window at some point, however.

 

[Malarkey]

Haven't read the whole thing yet, but I agree with the description.

 

[SuedeMoz]

Definitely a brilliant album, but it's not my favorite Smiths album. However, it's been repeated enough that Morrissey & Marr consider it their best... so maybe they genuinely do. I always assumed it was borne out of waxing nostalgic on their final album... but maybe not.

 

[The Wild Turkey]

Kinda wonder if Johnny realized his musical well was
runnin' dry and that's why he broke up The Smiths.
Yeah, he's done a few good things here and there after
The Smiths, but once he stopped doin' the "jingle-jangle"
style, it hasn't been great.

 

[Gaylord Deepstar]

Their best record by far.

 

[Nikita]

Definitely a brilliant album, but it's not my favorite Smiths album. However, it's been repeated enough that Morrissey & Marr consider it their best... so maybe they genuinely do. I always assumed it was borne out of waxing nostalgic on their final album... but maybe not.

Meat is Murder was my favorite for years, then The Queen is Dead, bit Strangeways is up there for a couple of decades now. It IS their best, no matter if it is one’s favorite or not.

 

[Leroy]

It is the greatest Smiths album in my opinion. However, now that I'm much, much older it really alarms me just how conceited Morrissey and Marr both were and still are. When I revisit the old interviews and even newer stuff, they've got such overly-inflated opinions of themselves that I don't recognise my younger self who worshipped them. Morrissey is spiteful, prickly and incredibly nasty at times and Marr is all false modesty and snooty. I am still interested enough to read about them but, on the evidence of media coverage, they simply aren't my kind of people.

 

[Leroy]

It is the greatest Smiths album in my opinion. However, now that I'm much, much older it really alarms me just how conceited Morrissey and Marr both were and still are. When I revisit the old interviews and even newer stuff, they've got such overly-inflated opinions of themselves that I don't recognise my younger self who worshipped them. Morrissey is spiteful, prickly and incredibly nasty at times and Marr is all false modesty and snooty. I am still interested enough to read about them but, on the evidence of media coverage, they simply aren't my kind of people.

Actually, I am being too harsh. I regret writing that.

 

[Daniel Boratto]

I love "Strangeways"... Girlfriend in a Coma is truly a masterpiece, a perfect epitaph. The album still brings me a melancholic feeling today, which I identify with the fact that I listened to this album so many times back then and remembered that the Smiths no longer exists...

 

[JockEwing]

Definitely a brilliant album, but it's not my favorite Smiths album. However, it's been repeated enough that Morrissey & Marr consider it their best... so maybe they genuinely do. I always assumed it was borne out of waxing nostalgic on their final album... but maybe not.

I could see a debate between Queen is Dead and Meat is Murder, but Strangways always seemed like an awkward attempt to try some new approaches and it didn't always work. The best songs are the classic Smiths sounds like Girlfriend in a Coma and I Won't Share You. Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me and Paint A Vulgar Picture at their core are great songs, but unfortunately become borderline annoying by mistakenly making them soooo looooong. For all the fans I knew in my circle during that time period we all generally agreed that Viva Hate was better than Strangeways.

 

[MozIsGod]

Kinda wonder if Johnny realized his musical well was
runnin' dry and that's why he broke up The Smiths.
Yeah, he's done a few good things here and there after
The Smiths, but once he stopped doin' the "jingle-jangle"
style, it hasn't been great.

Speaking of the "well running dry," I think there was a reference in Mozipiedia to Johnny growing frustrated at the time of always having to be the one to come up with musical ideas. It makes you wonder if Stephen Street (and perhaps even Andy) would have eventually been asked to pitch in with songwriting had the Smiths continued.

 

[Anonymous]

Speaking of the "well running dry," I think there was a reference in Mozipiedia to Johnny growing frustrated at the time of always having to be the one to come up with musical ideas. It makes you wonder if Stephen Street (and perhaps even Andy) would have eventually been asked to pitch in with songwriting had the Smiths continued.

Now there's a thought. Imagine a 1988 - 92 era Smiths with both Johnny Marr and Stephen Street on board. That could have been awesome.

 

[The Wild Turkey]

Speaking of the "well running dry," I think there was a reference in Mozipiedia to Johnny growing frustrated at the time of always having to be the one to come up with musical ideas. It makes you wonder if Stephen Street (and perhaps even Andy) would have eventually been asked to pitch in with songwriting had the Smiths continued.

Kinda think one of the reasons Johnny brought in
Craig Gannon, was cause he thought Craig would
write some music.
Johnny might have even said somethin' one time
about how he was disappointed that Craig didn't
write any music.
This music Johnny gave to Kirsty, might have been
somethin' he was workin' on for The Smiths.

 

[Anonymous]

Kinda wonder if Johnny realized his musical well was
runnin' dry and that's why he broke up The Smiths.
Yeah, he's done a few good things here and there after
The Smiths, but once he stopped doin' the "jingle-jangle"
style, it hasn't been great.

That's almost exactly how I feel about Marr's career. But I think there is the added complication that the 'jingle jangles' he was most famous for were constructed via studio overdubs that he and John Porter worked on together (e.g. 'William, It Was Really Nothing', 'This Charming Man') and he could never achieve anything as spectacular without Porter, not even in The Smiths. And I think he realised that, and that was another reason he wanted to distance himself from that style.

 

[Gray Fruit]

That's almost exactly how I feel about Marr's career. But I think there is the added complication that the 'jingle jangles' he was most famous for were constructed via studio overdubs that he and John Porter worked on together (e.g. 'William, It Was Really Nothing', 'This Charming Man') and he could never achieve anything as spectacular without Porter, not even in The Smiths. And I think he realised that, and that was another reason he wanted to distance himself from that style.

What a ludicrous proposition. I guess that's why the Queen Is Dead was such a dismal failure...NOT!

 

[Anonymous]

What a ludicrous proposition. I guess that's why the Queen Is Dead was such a dismal failure...NOT!

Try to keep up. We're talking about Marr's well of ideas running dry circa 'Strangeways' - which, as you may be unaware, was after 'The Queen Is Dead'. I'm suggesting that by that stage he might also have been increasingly conscious of not being able to recreate the musical sophistication of the early records produced by John Porter, on which Porter and Marr worked closely together multitracking the guitar harmonies. Whether or not 'The Queen is Dead' was a failure is irrelevant - it's good, there are great songs on it, but musically, in terms of guitar layers/harmonies/construction, it's clearly a much simpler, less sophisticated record than the Porter stuff. And the same applies to 'Meat is Murder' and 'Strangeways'. The 'jingle jangle' that Marr specifically was increasingly associated with by 1987 was therefore not just the bogstandard 'jingle jangle' of the many Smiths imitators, but a uniquely sophisticated standard typified by 'This Charming Man' which Marr doubtless realised by 1987 that he couldn't recreate by himself, and that his attempts to do so would likely meet with a critical backlash. So he attempted to distance himself from that style. Of course, he was tempted in subsequent years to recreate it, and the results have been underwhelming, notably 'For You' by Electronic, and 'Hi, Hello'. These are records that sound like a lesser musician whose influences include 'This Charming Man', 'William, It Was Really Nothing', etc, and who is trying to do something in that vein, but sounding heavy-handed and simplistic by comparison.