…..in a hotel room in Manchester, having come down on the train yesterday. It’s a three night stay, the purpose of which is to catch up with a few folk for the first time in years, including Swiss Adam. There’s also a visit planned to the above building to take in what, by all accounts, is an excellent exhibition on the early years of Factory Records.
I did think about offering up a Factory band of some sorts today, but then I thought I’d go back to an old favourite. A band who haven’t been featured on the blog since ICA 150 back in December 2017. A band I no longer listen to at all, dating back to not long after that posting for very obvious reasons. And while I really miss the brilliance of their songs, it really is a point of principle. But, given that I am in their home city and the mode of transport used to get me here, and of course the very important fact that this song is an instrumental, I’ll enjoy this today:-
mp3: The Smiths – The Draize Train
A few folk I know have emptied their collection of the singles and albums by The Smiths as well as the material issued throughout the singer’s solo career. I haven’t quite been able to go that far.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
Damn, damn, damn. Just been and knew not of the exhibition, which would have been perfect on a birthday break. Loved Sandinista bar and restaurant though. My son requested Straight to Hell, and they followed it with the Killing Moon: fab. Thanks for the heads-up though, maybe again soon.
I’m visiting the exhibition in 3 weeks as a birthday treat, hope you enjoy it – I suspect there will be a lot of ‘middle aged men’ muttering- ‘Got it, Got it- saw them, saw them ‘
On the crossover theme of exhibitions and Sm*ths, I saw the Linderism show in Cambridge a couple of years ago, featuring the artworks of Linder Sterling, including record sleeves and gig posters from the early 80s Manchester scene alongside some provocative photo-montages.
Well worth seeing if its tour resumes. By freakish coincidence am typing this while listening to a 1982 Peel show that includes a session from Linder’s band Ludus. What does it all mean, as Peel frequently asked.
Not managed to organise myself to get to the exhibition yet, but a couple of friends have been and and recommended it. Used to visit that museum every half-term holiday when my lads were little – a pity they didn’t have such an interesting exhibition on back then!
I understand your reluctance to listen/play The Smiths because of certain……. well, you know. But I can look at the group as an entity and not just….. well, a certain…… saying……, you know. Actually I can listen to certain solo work too without it coming into focus. But only for short bursts. Then the CDs/vinyl go back on the shelf for a while.
and what does The Smiths music of the 1980’s have to do with the views of Morrissey in the 2020’s?
I love Morrissey
He’s one of the greatest english lyricist
Why do you self punishing yourself and avoid the best music?
I’ll put Der Schmidts on now and again. The singer didn’t turn into a complete tool until after the band finished. That’s why I can still listen to Jackson 5 songs while I give the singer’s solo career a miss.
All the best from sunny California to Swiss Adam!
“A few folk I know have emptied their collection of the singles and albums by The Smiths as well as the material issued throughout the singer’s solo career. I haven’t quite been able to go that far.”
That’s just pathetic woke behavior. It shows they were listening to the music for all the wrong reasons from the beginning (i.e “I like this band because it makes me look cool and sophisticated”, not “I like this band because the music is delightful to my ears”).
Understand and respect JC’s attitude as Morrissey’s recent diatribes have been vile. I don’t think any of that racist persona is present in Smiths lyrics, which are emotive/personal/adolescent/romantic/comical/nicked from 60s Brit films.
Does open a can of worms though as other major musical figures have given vent to offensive opinions and gestures in the past. Bowie, Siouxsie and Costello off the top of my head. Does that taint their work?
I still have the Smiths records but don’t play them much as they say nothing to me about my life these days. They certainly did when I was 19, and the Coasters gig in 84 was one of the most memorable shows I ever saw.
Hi back at ya JTFL from a distinctly unsunny north west England.
Got to say I disagree a bit with some of the views above. Morrissey’s political views of the last few years including but not limited to support for an outright fascist party have tainted the music he made in the past. I can still listen to The Smiths but the Morrissey of 1985 is somewhere in the Morrissey of 2021 and the clues were there weren’t they? ‘All reggae is vile’in 1984 would seem to be the tip of the iceberg. Bengali In Platforms in 1989 ‘life is hard enough when you belong here’ etc. I totally agree with those who say that in the 80s he was the poetic voice of the outsider and the dispossessed but it seems looking back that it was only certain outsiders and dispossessed. So the music of then is tainted by the views of him now for me. It makes it more difficult to listen to it despite the obvious brilliance of songs such as all of How Soon Is Now, Hand In Glove, The Queen Is Dead and lines like ‘if you ever need self validation/ then meet me in the alley by the railway station’.
But I was always a Johnny Marr fan as much as a Morrissey fan so, hey ho. And thumbs up to the Draize Train.
Oh, dear. Never thought I’d see the word ‘woke’ on here.
Let’s not forget that Joyce/Rourke were the Sly & Robbie of Manchester in the day,
So based on not judging bands by their opinions and actions…you’d all be fine reading an ICA on say Lost Prophets….or less extreme Rolf Harris…Ryan Adams?
Different crimes, obviously but the argument is the same. We shouldn’t support horrendous people with despicable attitudes despite how ‘glorious’ they were forty years ago.
It’s not woke to condemn racism , bigotry and hatred. It’s just the right thing to do.