Some Girls Are Better Than Others

The Smiths Project is a blog started by Janice Whaley, a mother with a full-time job who decided to pay homage to the band that changed her life by covering every Smiths song in order within a whole year; now THAT, is a new year’s resolution.

However this Smiths crusade would not be easy, ever for a determined single mother; I should know, my mother had three of us and she barely had time to teach us the basics of singing in time Abba (to little success). But the proof is in the pudding, Janice has managed to produce a sound so uniquely different from her greatest inspiration and admittedly; I’m hooked.

The hardest part of covering or recreating the sound of The Smiths is that it is impossible to get anywhere near Morrissey's uncomprimisable voice as well as Marr's musical composition and jangle guitar. This is why even though I love the music of The Cribs (pre and post Marr joining them), I am not particularly fond on the live covers of The Smiths as you cannot have Marr without Morrissey when playing their music. This is not based on principle, I am not that ignorant to music; it just doesn’t sound complete.

Janice Whaley on the other hand has produced her own vocal arrangement and drum beats to provide the backing to her haunting singing that creates The Smiths in her own imagery, which for me is not only how one should cover The Smiths but for any piece of music that an artist wishes to cover. Janice's sound is familiar to a Smithised Enya, especially evident in her take on Hand In Glove and This Charming Man. The songs have a contradictory warming melancholy feel which is only achieved by the time consuming process of layering track after track of acoustic arrangements which takes her 20-30 hours per-song; completed with devastating effect.

It is no surprise that her efforts are gaining notice internationally with The Guardian writing an article on the Smiths devotee and even Simon Goddard, author of The Smiths: The Severed Alliance and Mozipedia saying "Once it's over you shall officially be appointed Saint Janice of Smithdom."; not a bad title coming from the man who literally wrote the book.

I wish Janice all the best in her quest to complete her Smiths resolution before the year is up, but even if time goes against her; we can all appreciate the determination and beautiful musical works of a woman who decided to express her gratitude to the band which changed her life.

New Design!

Well obviously you don’t need to read this article in order to notice a few changes (who do I think I am? I even put a screenshot of a page that you are already viewing! Despicable) but I feel like I should give at least some notice and I really like the design, compelling me to showcase my limited creativity for colours and arrangements. Least I might get brownie points for honesty. . .

I have changed the background image to a lovely pale peach and now using the previous background image for the new blog banner, which gives the blog an endearing nostalgic presence. However keeping with The Smiths perceptive depressing nature (cannot ignore our beloved critics), the boxes of content are shrouded in a slick satin black. Beautiful.

On a more serious note I have added an interactive poll to the blog. So please let me know what Smiths single is your favourite! Although, Hand In Glove was never actually released as an album single due to Hand In Glove being released before the self-titled album The Smiths was recorded; Hand In Glove never made the UK Single Charts.  

The book review of The Smiths: Songs That Saved Your Life is coming! But I will most likely post an article before that, on a topic related to The Smiths; I have a few ideas in mind. 

So please vote in the poll on the right side of the blog under the About Me section (so modest), leave a comment if you like or dislike the new design and I will be writing very soon.

Track Of The Day - Hand In Glove

Unfortunately I have not been able to post my article on a review of The Smiths: Songs That Saved Your Life, a book which I am still reading but very near finishing and will have that article up by the weekend at least. So for now I will provide the Smithdom loyal followers. . . Another Track Of The Day of the first Smiths song I ever heard as stated in my previous post.

Admittedly the first song I ever heard from anyone from The Smiths was Irish Blood, English Heart by our ever entertaining Morrissey when I was just fourteen. But going solo after creating one of the most influential bands in rock/pop history is a large shadow to emerge from, although good; the track would not have the same effect as his true musical origins.

Elaborating on what I said in the This Charming Man post, Hand In Glove is a track that really grew on me; an evolution of acoustic appreciation that could only coincide with personal maturity of musical understanding. I would argue that The Smiths are a band devoid of being a 'fad'; you either respectfully understand them, infatuated with them or hate them. The margin for personal preference is limited with such a timeless and iconic band; as such I developed two of the symptoms. At first I was infatuated with the unmistakable, non-replicable sound of The Smiths musical assortment and execution. But after the 'honeymoon' period was over so to speak, I became equally enveloped but into the respect and craftsmanship of every single track, the history and personality of the band; it was truly an inspiration and the marriage is as strong as ever - could this be evidence of true love? Ok a little too deep, time to move on and get back to the subject manner of Hand In Glove.

In respect of what I have just said, I owe all of this to Hand In Glove. I had never heard a harmonica as a genuine instrument and played with such originality other than seeing cliché blues scene's in a movie. I had never appreciated the repetition of stanza's as an art form and a message until I heard one of my most favourite lyrics of all time; "Yes, we may be hidden by rag's, but we've something they'll never have", also a favourite of the song-writer himself.

My education of music was further developed by Hand In Glove as it exposed the age old belief that in order for music to be great, it has to be complicated or something along those presumptuous lines. By playing simple chords but playing them in an unexplored and personal way, Johnny Marr delivered a sound that I had certainly never heard before and have not heard since; without Marr's involvement. However before I gained my new found understanding I believed this myth of seemingly complicated music to be a template, how very naive and I owe my guidance to Hand In Glove.

Amazing to think that such a transformation of musical appreciation could come from a young man in Manchester who picked up "a crappy old acoustic" and future wife to say that what he played on that guitar was "pretty good". I suppose alot of important movements start from humble beginnings, even though Morrissey say's that he wrote the lyrics for Hand In Glove in just two hours; a moment of genius to inspire another moment of genius.

Fact File:

'Hand In Glove'

Recorded: February 1983

Location: Strawberry Studios, Stockport/Manchester

Produced By: The Smiths (Re-mixed By John Porter for the album The Smiths, February 1984)

Released: May 1983

First Performed: Manchester Hacienda 4/2/83 (The Smiths third gig)

I will have the review of The Smiths: Songs That Saved Your Life posted in the next few days and look forward to reading any of your comments on this article if you feel so inclined (please do). 

It is worth noting the importance of the image used for the EP of Hand In Glove was very controversial at the time and really personified The Smiths as not wanting to use the theme of homosexuality as a pop trend but as social commentary. This is evident when Andy Rourke showed the EP cover to his father; let's just say he was not amused.

Track Of The Day - This Charming Man

The brightly coloured hyperlink of my previous post was a not so secret indication of what this post was going to entail, a review all about one of The Smiths most famous and successful songs which brought them to mainstream popularity; This Charming Man.

I first heard the song whilst travelling at night in the car which was a common past-time when I was growing up, living in many place and in turn having to travel to and from, most notably the 12 or more hours from Germany to England and vice-versa. This was a period in my life when Brit-pop was played album after album, all influenced by the band I had yet to discover and shape my whole perspective on music. 

The track I first heard was the brilliant unrivalled originality of Hand In Glove, a track I would greatly appreciate in my more seasoned listening of The Smiths. But it was the jangle guitar sounds that came from Johnny Marr's Rickenbacker 330 of This Charming Man that captivated my imagination and astonishment of how beautiful music could completely overwhelm oneself and seemingly makes time stand still, this car journey seemed longer than the trip to Munster and I am forever thankful for that experience.

The lyrics of Morrissey were not all too shocking in terms of interpretation, as I have been a lifelong fan of the sexually ambiguous lyrics of Brian Molko from Placebo. However, it was construction and execution of his lyrics that have inspired me as a writer, music enthusiast and person. Although I was initially hooked to The Smiths by Marr's music as I have been a multi-instrumentalist for years, it has been the re-discovering of the way Morrissey performs his untouchable writings, track after track, album after album which keeps the listener so perpetually engaged with The Smiths. In terms of a delicious Smiths analogy, Marr is the starter; The Smiths in their entirety is the main course and last but not least is Morrissey as the not always sweet desert.

The lyrics I linked in my last post have to be my most favoured of all of The Smiths songs, probably only contended with Hand In Glove and I Know It's Over; personally at least. This Charming Man is one of the rare gems in music where lyrics and music are so perfectly suited for one another that it begs belief how two completely different people could sync their talents into such audible bliss. It is a song where every part of the song is recognisable and yet complexly different from the previous musical assortment, comparable to Jazz but executed in the style of alternative rock and jangle pop.

This Charming Man is a truly breath-taking track which is and will always be my favourite song and the song that 'Changed My Life'.

Fact File:

'This Charming Man'

Recorded: September-October1983

Location: Matrix Studios & London/Strawberry Studios, Stockport/Manchester

Produced By: John Porter

Released: November 1983 (UK Chart Position #25)

First Performed: London The Venue 15/9/83 (John Peel Session)

To get this blog more interactive! Please comment if you agree that This Charming Man is your favourite Smiths song or if you have a different opinion on which is your favourite, let me know. All comments are very much appreciated.

An Introduction

Hello,

My name is Lewis Watkins, I am a Music Journalist undergraduate studying at Staffordshire University and would just like to say thank-you if you are taking the time to read my articles for this blog. I would also like to mention that I have started this blog later than I should of due to my inability to decide on what I really wanted to write about, so sorry Sue for when you read this; but I shall not let you down or myself for that matter.

I was originally going to do a blog on animal conservation as that is a subject close to my heart and is a cause in which I intend to champion later in my life. However, the only reason I am studying my degree is due an epiphany moment of when I heard The Smiths in my Mother's car when I was an early teenager. It may seem profound of myself to declare that The Smiths 'Changed My Life', but I can honestly say without a shadow of a doubt that the acoustic's that my youthful brain was blessed with, was a pivotal moment in my life and it only seems fitting that I should share this wondrous affinity I have with The Smiths to the rest of the world. . . By the world I mean most likely friends, family and anyone I can coerce into reading what I have to say on a band that not only dictated my education and career; but also my own personal association to the world of music and society as a whole.

I would like to the time to thank Alex Wood for whom without I would not of been able to channel such an infatuation of music without our long listening, playing and discussing drinking sessions in which would most likely have us both left without enough vocabulary to put words to the way we both felt about such a privilege to have another soul captivated by exactly the same condition; Smithism. It was either that or we were both just drunken idiots and this sense of extrasensory belief could just of been the gin, either way; we was on a different dimension of understanding.

In the coming weeks I will be providing all manner of original writing about The Smiths, Johnny Marr and Morrissey. Tracks of the day (or every other day), literature reviews of The Smiths, influence of The Smiths and hopefully some live reviews if they ever get back together. . . I guess solo work and The Cribs (great band) will have to do until the bank balance breaking event of a reunion, this would be all the more easier if I was a teenager in the 80's; at least I did not suffer the wrath of Maggie. . . It's a shame David Cameron is not an anagram for Margret Thatcher, would of made for a cliché fact.

My next post tomorrow will be a discussion on The Smith's song that changed my life and hopefully you can comment on your favourite Smiths song which would be ravishing!

"It's gruesome that someone so handsome should care"