666 The Smiths

First  viewed  : 8  May  1984

Spooky  numbering  for  this  post  as  the  programme  began  with  a  song  called  "Handsome  Devil".

I  distinctly  remember  watching  this  at  home  but   initially   was  wondering  what  I  was  doing  there  during  term  time. Then  it  clicked  that  the  date  was  the  second  Tuesday  in  the  month  and  therefore  I  was  back  home  for  a  meeting  of   the   Littleborough  Civic  Trust  committee. I  had  sat  on  it  since  1981  ( initially  co-opted  as  a  junior  non-voting  member  )  and  not  only  retained  my  seat  but  at  the  1983  AGM  took  on  the  role  of  editing  its  quarterly  newsletter   less  than  a  year  before  I  was  due  to  go  to  university. Looking  back  now , twenty  years  after finally  relinquishing  my  committee  seat  and  with  a  significant  proportion  of  that  committee  no  longer  with  us,  it  seems  colossally  stupid  to  have  maintained  that  level  of  commitment   throughout  my  university  days   and  perhaps  one  or  two  of  the  other  members  should  have  expressed  something  more  than  slight  bafflement  at  my  priorities.

Anyway  back  to  The  Smiths,  a  recording  by  the  Whistle  Test  crew  of   a  concert  by  the  group  at  Derby's  Assembly  Rooms  venue  from  December  1983. At  the  time  the  group  were  getting  a  bit   of  flak  for  short  sets  but  this  meant  it  filled  the  slot  between  7pm  and  the  time  I  had  to  set  off  for  the  meeting  at  8pm  perfectly. My  mum  actually  watched  it  with  me  because,  having  seen  them  on  Top  of  the  Pops  with  the  gladioli,  she  thought  they  were  "funny". I  hadn't  got  fully  into  them  at  this  point  and  sadly  didn't  go  to  see  them  when  they  played  Leeds  in  February  but  this  was  definitely  a  staging  post  in  becoming  a  fan.

They  played  most  of  the  debut  album,  although  significantly  not  "Suffer  Little  Children"  and  one  or  two  other  tracks  that  were  mopped  up  by  Hatful  of  Hollow. Obviously  Johnny  Marr  couldn't  replicate  the  multi-layered  guitar  sounds  on  record  having  only  one  pair  of  hands  so  the  sound  was  leaner  with  Andy  Rourke's  bass  more  prominent. The  highlight  was  undoubtedly  the  encore  of  "You've  Got  Everything  Now"  with  a  stage  invasion - including  a  Robert  Smith  clone  who  seemed  to  have  turned  up  at  the  wrong  concert -  which  frequently  pulled  the  mike  away  from  Morrissey's  lips  as  well  as  divesting  him  of  most  of  his  shirt. It's  a  terrific  document  of  a  great  band  on  the  way  up.