The Smiths - Bootlegs
A few words on The Smiths taking in: vinyl bootlegs, CD bootlegs, Diana Dors, Doris Day, Margaret Sullavan, Hattie Jacques, Jean Howard, Glenn Miller and 1950s “Marlboro Baby” advertisements.
Diana Dors in Yield to the Night (directed by J. Lee Thompson, 1956).
The Smiths - Unreleased Demos & Instrumentals. Photograph by Paul McDermott.
A recent post looked at some of my Morrissey bootlegs so this one will focus on The Smiths.
The most beautiful bootleg in my collection is Unreleased Demos & Instrumentals a double LP that came out at the end of 2010 featuring previously unreleased studio demos, outtakes and instrumentals. This was a complete revelation upon release - I reckon over half of these versions had never surfaced at that point in time. The cover is a still of Diana Dors taken from 1956’s Yield to the Night. It’s a beautiful sleeve and I think it could easily pass for a sleeve that Morrissey himself might have chosen for The Smiths. A still of Dors from Yield to the Night was used for the cover of The Smiths’ Singles in 1995. As bootlegs go this one is really impressive. It can be heard in full on the YouTube video below.
The great passionsjustlikemine website gives further details on the versions of all the songs on this bootleg:
The Hand That Rocks The Cradle (John Porter monitor mix)
Reel Around The Fountain (Troy Tate album version)
Rusholme Ruffians (electric mix)
The Queen Is Dead (full version)
Sheila Take A Bow (John Porter version)
This Night Has Opened My Eyes (studio version)
I Misses You aka Untitled One (instrumental studio outtake)
Ask (studio outtake)
There Is A Light That Never Goes Out (Take 1; studio outtake)
Is It Really So Strange? (studio version)
Frankly, Mr. Shankly (trumpet version)
Shoplifters Of The World Unite (instrumental)
Girlfriend In A Coma (studio outtake)
Death Of A Disco Dancer (studio outtake)
Paint a Vulger Picture (monitor mix)
Heavy Track aka Untitled Two (instrumental studio outtake)
The Smiths - The Undisputed Truth. Photograph by Paul McDermott.
The Undisputed Truth is a bootleg of The Smiths’ 7 July 1983 gig at The Rock Garden in London. The first two songs played at that gig (‘You’ve Got Everything Now’ and ‘Handsome Devil’) aren’t on this bootleg but ‘You’ve Got Everything Now’ from a gig in the Netherlands in April 1984 is tagged on at the end of Side B. This is a great vinyl release that compiles material that was available on other bootlegs for years.
The Smiths - There is a Band That Never Goes Out. Photograph by Paul McDermott.
There Is A Band That Never Goes Out is a green vinyl bootleg featuring the first 11 tracks from Unloveable, a 1994 CD bootleg. It features performances of songs from The Tube, The Old Grey Whistle Test and other TV shows.
The Smiths - Brighter Sides to Life. Photograph by Paul McDermott.
Brighter Sides to Life is a live bootleg of The Smiths’ 28 August 1986 gig at Irvine Meadows, Laguna Hills, CA. It doesn’t have the full concert but it’s a great quality bootleg, it’s thought to be a soundboard recording.
The Smiths - Life Is Very Long When You’re Lonely. Photograph by Paul McDermott.
Life Is Very Long When You’re Lonely is probably one of the greatest Smiths bootlegs. It’s from the same soundboard recording, as the previous vinyl bootleg, of the Irvine Meadows August 1986 gig but whereas Brighter Sides to Life features just 10 tracks from the California gig, this CD has 19 songs, only ‘Meat is Murder’ is missing. Issued in a tri-fold cardboard sleeve it’s a really professionally looking bootleg and sounds great.
The Smiths - Blessings of the Highest Order. Photograph by Paul McDermott.
Blessings of the Highest Order compiles live tracks (from 26 August 1986 at Universal Amphitheater, Los Angeles, CA), Troy Tate session tracks, unreleased Peel session tracks, and a few TV performances. All of this bootleg’s tracks have been released on various other bootlegs over the years. It’s a nice LP.
The Smiths - Songs That Changed Your Life (6 Disc Boxset - 5CDs and DVD). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
Songs That Changed Your Life is a 5CD and 1 DVD bootleg boxset. This is supposed to be limited to 1000 copies and as bootlegs go it’s one of the better productions, although the booklet is littered with errors and typos - but then that’s all par for the course with bootlegs. The typos haven’t effected the resale value though with copies of this boxset on sale for in excess of €230 online.
CD1 features the complete Troy Tate sessions. CD2 features Oxford Apollo Theatre from March 1985 with some BBC demos. CD3 has the Brixton Academy 12 December 1986 gig - the band’s last gig.
CD4 compiles various rarities. CD5 has a live recording from the Derby Assembly Rooms on 07 December 1983 and finally the DVD has over four hours of TV performances and live gigs.
I like that the producers of this set attempted to utilise artwork in keeping with The Smiths’s original sleeves. A 1938 MGM photograph of Jean Howard on her bicycle with her Chihuahua Dog adorns the boxset.
The still of Diana Dors mentioned earlier is used on CD3. Margaret Sullavan in a still from The Shop Around The Corner (1940) is on CD5, Hattie Jacques in a still from Carry On Cabby (1960) is on CD2 and Glenn Miller is on the cover of the DVD.
Doris Day in a still from Love Me or Leave Me (1955) is on CD1 and Kim Novak is on the cover of the booklet. I’m sure Morrissey would have liked the images of Diana Dors and Hattie Jacques but I’m not so sure about the others.
A few of these bootlegs really illustrate how The Smiths haven’t been served well by their record company outside of the official album releases. There’s a wealth of amazing extra material out there - instrumentals, demos, out-takes, live material (a lot of it FM broadcast or soundboard quality) - that should be curated and released officially. Hopefully it’ll happen some time.
Doris Day in Love Me or Leave Me (1955), Margaret Sullavan in The Shop Around The Corner (1940), and Hattie Jacques in Carry On Cabby.
1950s “Marlboro Baby” adverts.
“Gee, Mommy you sure enjoy your Marlboro”
The image of the baby on the front of CD4 from the Songs That Saved Your Life bootleg boxset seems to have been sourced from a 1950s advertisement for Marlboro cigarettes. Incredibly this wasn’t the only Marlboro Baby advert.
Note: I mentioned the great passionsjustlikemine website earlier. It was a hugely valuable resource in compiling the different sources of the tracks featured on these bootlegs.