Sing Your Life
Last updated: 03/10/2006 - 16:20
A book that attempts to be for The Smiths what Revolution in the Head was for The Beatles.
The Smiths: Songs That Saved Your Life by Simon Goddard
Formed in Manchester in 1982, The Smiths' career was as inspiring as it was brief, lasting just five extraordinary years. During this period the band created a body of work formidable enough to see songwriters Stephen Patrick Morrissey - a former public servant, not a lot of people know that... - and Johnny Marr hailed as 'the Lennon and McCartney of their era'.
Frankly, Mr. Shankly
Their 1986 album – the not-so minor masterpiece, The Queen Is Dead, would also come to be nominated as "the greatest album of all time" by critics on both sides of the Atlantic. In 2002, the New Musical Express – itself far from always being a friend to the band - declared The Smiths to be 'The Most Influential Band of All Time' in a poll that placed them above The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Sex Pistols.
Whatever the value (or not) of such spurious claims to fame it is true to say that on record and in concert, The Smiths were a band unlike any other. Witty, melodic, controversial and profoundly moving, their repertoire inspired – and continues to inspire to this day - one of the most obsessive and dedicated fan-bases in the history of popular music. Certainly the successes of these unlikely pop stars helped pave the way for the next generation of independent artists; from fellow Mancunians the Stone Roses, Inspiral Carpets and Happy Mondays, to Suede, Radiohead and beyond.
Chronology
Based upon new interviews with the various band members, producers and acquaintances, The Smiths - Songs That Saved Your Life offers a meticulous chronological study of the group's fundamental genius - the music itself. From their very first demos in 1982 to their final fractured studio session five years later, it investigates the stories behind the songs while detailing every UK television appearance and radio session. As well as offering a unique analysis of each track's concert shelf-life, the book also lifts the lid on previously unreleased material never before mentioned in print.
In the research for this book, author Simon Goddard was granted unprecedented access to The Smiths' studio archives and the private collection of outtakes and rehearsals retained by drummer Mike Joyce (who also provides an insightful foreword for the book).
The result is the most comprehensive examination of their esteemed discography ever assembled, revealing lost songs and alternate versions which have remained closely guarded secrets until now. Informative, impassioned and revelatory, as an analysis of "The Most Influential Band of All Time", The Smiths - Songs That Saved Your Life is indispensable.
Researches
Simon Goddard writes for Uncut magazine and has also been a contributor to Record Collector, The Guardian, Dazed & Confused and various other music and cinema titles.
Now living in North London, Goddard was born in Cardiff in 1971. As a teenager of the Eighties, he belongs to the first generation of Smiths fans that experienced the band's cultural impact as it happened, and to this very day remains an "incurable" devotee. It is timely that Goddard's first book is being hailed as the most important Smiths document to be published since Johnny Rogan thoroughly put the boot into the band with his infamous hatchet job Morrissey and Marr: The Severed Alliance, in 1992.
In his research, Goddard has received the full support of original members Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce as well as conducting insightful new interviews with producers such as Stephen Street and Grant Showbiz and band acquaintances including their original 'go-go dancer' James Maker and Morrissey's lifelong confidante, photographer Linder Sterling.
Media attention has already been drawn to the book's new discovery of lost and previously unheard material. In May 2002, an NME news story detailing Goddard's unearthing of a forgotten Smiths rarity, A Matter Of Opinion, was picked up by internet news groups the world over causing a huge swell of interest in the book before it was even published. Since then Goddard has also taken part in two separate network TV documentaries on the group in the UK and Europe.
The Smiths: Songs That Saved Your Life by Simon Goddard - with a forward by Mike Joyce - is available now from Reynolds & Hearn Limited.
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