: : Tuesday, May 13, 2003 : :

[145.1] THOSE CHARMING MEN

It’s artful, but also wildly popular. It’s demanding, but also glamorously smooth on the ear. The music of those extravagant ‘80s indie pioneers, The Smiths, is the deserved focus of internet-accessible BBC Radio 6 this week. Indeed it’s already underway and I really should have warned you before. Anticipate unreleased John Peel sessions, covers from the likes of Ed Harcourt and Nada Surf, plenty of 'strange ways here I come', and classic solo Morrissey observations (such as ‘We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful’ and ‘The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores’).

The Smiths (profiled here) really were extremely nifty operators, and it is one of my abiding regrets –alongside missing Miles Davis’ last London gig, not seeing Zappa or John Cage perform, and being denied a final sighting of Michael Tippett at the Proms by the hoplessness of Connex South Central – that I didn’t take up the opportunity to catch Mozzer and Co at the Brixton Academy just before they split. I don’t believe the re-union rumours in The Independent (28 April) and Manchester Online . It would be intriguing.... but ultimately disappointing.

Besides, the crystalline recorded legacy is there for everyone; and I shall demonstrate the raw passion that lies behind my more considered tastes (Birtwistle and Crumb really do live in different galaxies) by revealing – in the post above – a less than bashful Amazon sales pitch for what is perhaps The Smiths' finest opus. Go there, expect to have to work at it if you come from another zone of planet sound, but hope to be charmed later or (better still) sooner.