The Smiths 1983-07-01
Elephant Studios, London, UK
Set 1
Source: Studio --> ??? --> Bootleg CD "The Hand That Rocks The Cradle"
Lineage: Silver CD --> CDex --> WAVs --> FLAC
Tracks:
01 - Reel Around The Fountain
02 - You've Got Everything Now
03 - Miserable Lie
04 - These Things Take Time
05 - Wonderful Woman
06 - Handsome Devil
07 - Suffer Little Children
08 - Pretty Girls Make Graves
09 - Hand In Glove
10 - What Difference Does It Make?
11 - I Don't Owe You Anything
12 - Jeane
These legendary tracks produced by Troy Tate were intended to make up the Smiths' debut
(what we know know as the album "The Smiths"), most likely with the title "The Hand That
Rocks The Cradle" (hence the bootleg title these were ripped from).
However, this first album never saw the light of day. John Porter was called into the studio
to re-record these tracks, and it is Porter's work that comprises the Smiths' debut.
Quality is excellent. Some bootleg releases of these demos have the tracks at the wrong speed
or pitch; this is not the case here. This is one of the better-sounding releases of these
songs you'll find.
From the book "THE SMITHS - Songs That Saved Your Life", by Simon Goddard:
"By the time The Smiths entered Elephant Studios in Wapping during the summer of '83
for their first major recording session, their confidence had been bosted by two rapturously
received BBC sessions for John Peel and David Jensen respectively...... Upon the suggestion
of Geoff Travis [Rough Trade label head], former Teardrop Explodes' guitarist Troy Tate...was
designated as their producer.
"The fate of the Troy Tate sessions -- their first under contract to the label [Rough Trade]
-- has since become legend within the Smiths' extraordinary history. After a month of work,
fourteen tracks had been recorded in total including "Jeane" which had already been selected
as the B-side to their second single scheduled for an autumn release; Tate's mix of "Reel
Around The Fountain". After the sessions were wrapped however, events became to take an
ominous turn, especially for Tate.
"On 25 August The Smiths recorded a second session for David Jensen (their third BBC commission
in as many months) which spawned two dramatic consequences. First, the Corporation refused to
broadcast the Jensen version of "Reel Around The Fountain" because of the press allegations
of paedophilic references. The Tate single was shelved indefinitely. Secondly, that same Jensen
session had brought The Smiths into contact with producer John Porter. Geoff Travis, who already
had his own concerns over the quality of the Troy Tate tapes, gave a copy to Porter to see if he
could help remix the album by way of a final lick and polish. To Travis' dismay, Porter informed
the Rough Trade boss that the album they'd recorded in Wapping was "out of tune and out of time."
Though he couldn't help "fix" the Tate album, Porter willingly volunteered to remake it from
scratch himself. Travis agreed, as did Morrissey. Although he'd previously boasted to _Melody
Maker_ that the album they had in the can was perfect only a week before ("we've done everything
exactly right and it'll show"), his volte-face, hesitantly seconded by Marr, saw the Tate
sessions consigned to the vaults as a failed first draft. Speaking to the _NME_ the following
year, Tate stressed "disappointment is not strong enough a word".
"Widely available on bootleg, when listening to the Troy Tate album today, Porter's criticisms
now seem very dubious. The two producers were poles apart in style and technique or, to quote
Andy Rourke, "Troy was lo-fi whereas John was more hi-fi". Yet while Porter played a pivotal role
in Marr's apprenticeship in the art of multi-layered production, which in itself pushed The
Smiths into a whole other stratosphere of studio innovation, at the other end of the scale Tate
captured the thrilling rawness of The Smiths in 1983 in a way that their eventual eponymous debut
failed to grasp. Rough around the edges, neat and undiluted, there are many -- Mike Joyce himself
and this author included -- who prefer Tate's album to Porter's....
"Rourke philosophically suggests that Tate was made a scapegoat for the band's lack of experience,
that Morrissey and Marr "wanted to make this big sounding album the we just weren't capable of
doing". He and Joyce also acknowledge the plausible suggestion that Tate's good working
relationship Johnny Marr was another key factor in his dismissal; that Morrissey, whose green-eyed
repulsion of those who got too close to his songwriting partner would deteriorate considerably
over the years that followed, wanted him out..."
Lineage: Silver CD --> CDex --> WAVs --> FLAC
Tracks:
01 - Reel Around The Fountain
02 - You've Got Everything Now
03 - Miserable Lie
04 - These Things Take Time
05 - Wonderful Woman
06 - Handsome Devil
07 - Suffer Little Children
08 - Pretty Girls Make Graves
09 - Hand In Glove
10 - What Difference Does It Make?
11 - I Don't Owe You Anything
12 - Jeane
These legendary tracks produced by Troy Tate were intended to make up the Smiths' debut
(what we know know as the album "The Smiths"), most likely with the title "The Hand That
Rocks The Cradle" (hence the bootleg title these were ripped from).
However, this first album never saw the light of day. John Porter was called into the studio
to re-record these tracks, and it is Porter's work that comprises the Smiths' debut.
Quality is excellent. Some bootleg releases of these demos have the tracks at the wrong speed
or pitch; this is not the case here. This is one of the better-sounding releases of these
songs you'll find.
From the book "THE SMITHS - Songs That Saved Your Life", by Simon Goddard:
"By the time The Smiths entered Elephant Studios in Wapping during the summer of '83
for their first major recording session, their confidence had been bosted by two rapturously
received BBC sessions for John Peel and David Jensen respectively...... Upon the suggestion
of Geoff Travis [Rough Trade label head], former Teardrop Explodes' guitarist Troy Tate...was
designated as their producer.
"The fate of the Troy Tate sessions -- their first under contract to the label [Rough Trade]
-- has since become legend within the Smiths' extraordinary history. After a month of work,
fourteen tracks had been recorded in total including "Jeane" which had already been selected
as the B-side to their second single scheduled for an autumn release; Tate's mix of "Reel
Around The Fountain". After the sessions were wrapped however, events became to take an
ominous turn, especially for Tate.
"On 25 August The Smiths recorded a second session for David Jensen (their third BBC commission
in as many months) which spawned two dramatic consequences. First, the Corporation refused to
broadcast the Jensen version of "Reel Around The Fountain" because of the press allegations
of paedophilic references. The Tate single was shelved indefinitely. Secondly, that same Jensen
session had brought The Smiths into contact with producer John Porter. Geoff Travis, who already
had his own concerns over the quality of the Troy Tate tapes, gave a copy to Porter to see if he
could help remix the album by way of a final lick and polish. To Travis' dismay, Porter informed
the Rough Trade boss that the album they'd recorded in Wapping was "out of tune and out of time."
Though he couldn't help "fix" the Tate album, Porter willingly volunteered to remake it from
scratch himself. Travis agreed, as did Morrissey. Although he'd previously boasted to _Melody
Maker_ that the album they had in the can was perfect only a week before ("we've done everything
exactly right and it'll show"), his volte-face, hesitantly seconded by Marr, saw the Tate
sessions consigned to the vaults as a failed first draft. Speaking to the _NME_ the following
year, Tate stressed "disappointment is not strong enough a word".
"Widely available on bootleg, when listening to the Troy Tate album today, Porter's criticisms
now seem very dubious. The two producers were poles apart in style and technique or, to quote
Andy Rourke, "Troy was lo-fi whereas John was more hi-fi". Yet while Porter played a pivotal role
in Marr's apprenticeship in the art of multi-layered production, which in itself pushed The
Smiths into a whole other stratosphere of studio innovation, at the other end of the scale Tate
captured the thrilling rawness of The Smiths in 1983 in a way that their eventual eponymous debut
failed to grasp. Rough around the edges, neat and undiluted, there are many -- Mike Joyce himself
and this author included -- who prefer Tate's album to Porter's....
"Rourke philosophically suggests that Tate was made a scapegoat for the band's lack of experience,
that Morrissey and Marr "wanted to make this big sounding album the we just weren't capable of
doing". He and Joyce also acknowledge the plausible suggestion that Tate's good working
relationship Johnny Marr was another key factor in his dismissal; that Morrissey, whose green-eyed
repulsion of those who got too close to his songwriting partner would deteriorate considerably
over the years that followed, wanted him out..."
Set 2
Set 3
Comment
Sources
| SHNID | Date | Venue | City | State | Archive Identifier |
|---|
Created At
Thu Jul 01 2004 19:50:03 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
Updated At
Thu Jul 01 2004 19:50:03 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
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| Ego Tripper | 389 | 3 |
| 2023-4-28 |