Solo Morrissey doing Smiths songs

[Fiery Jack]

Am I the only Moz fan who hates it when he does Smiths songs? They always sound clunky and ham-fisted, like an overly aggressive karaoke machine. I'd much rather he stick to the songs his band are actually capable of playing...his solo material. Having just watched the awful version of This Charming Man on Jonathan Ross from 2009, does anyone know if any Moz guitarist has ever attempted to play Marr's riff, rather than just lazily hammering through the chords?

 

[Anonymous]

Am I the only Moz fan who hates it when he does Smiths songs? They always sound clunky and ham-fisted, like an overly aggressive karaoke machine. I'd much rather he stick to the songs his band are actually capable of playing...his solo material. Having just watched the awful version of This Charming Man on Jonathan Ross from 2009, does anyone know if any Moz guitarist has ever attempted to play Marr's riff, rather than just lazily hammering through the chords?

the versions of "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore", "Last Night i Dreamt..", "Stretch Out and Wait", "Shakespeares Sister", "I Know It's Over", "Hand In Glove" and others have been fantastic.

That version of "This Charming man" is abysmal, but it sounds exactly like Morrissey wanted it to sound

 

[Jamie]

Only one awful Morrissey guitarist has ever attempted This Charming Man live, so no. Reliable sources have reported Alain Whyte playing it note for note while soundchecking for a Red Lightning gig years ago.

 

[Chip]

They are obviously never going to sound the same as The Smiths records and no one who plays them will ever be as good a guitarist as Johnny Marr. Taking that into account I think Morrissey's band does The Smiths solo stuff as well as anyone who isn't Marr is going to. They sound quite good and the crowd loves them so I don't see why he should stop.

The only exception is, of course, This Charming Man. I have no idea what the f*** was up with that. It sounded like they used the same guitar tones for Years of Refusal as it or they were purposefully trying to sound like the Death Cab for Cutie cover. That was the only one that was awful and honestly I question if it didn't have all that distortion if it might have sounded…normal.

 

[Uncleskinny]

I remember Boz saying he struggled with The Headmaster Ritual. Perhaps it was unfair of him to even try. It's an uncommon tuning and Johnny wrote it. However, this is how to do it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-ye0EdCRgA

P.

 

[Young And Alive]

The attempt at This Charming Man was toe-curlingly bad.

But I don't have an issue with Morrissey doing Smiths song as a solo artist. But his current band can't do them justice.

The Vauxhall and I to Quarry era line-ups were Morrissey at his peak as a solo artist, when he still had the musicians who could pull off the Smiths tracks. I particularly like this version of There Is a Light:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvdudnc47aA&t=77m11s

In short, he really needs to bring back Alain Whyte. His best guitarist since Marr.

 

[Fiery Jack]

I recall the time when Moz finally acquiesced and started to chuck the occasional token Smiths song into the live set. It must have been through gritted teeth. A public acknowledgement of what(some of)the fans really want to hear. I bet it broke his heart. I wish he'd had the courage to know that the customer is rarely right.
I agree about Alain. A beautiful songwriter's guitarist who played for the song and nothing else. Always simple and melodic. Jesse, on the other hand, seems to make everything sound like Pearl Jam. Horrible.....

 

[CrystalGeezer]

Sometimes there's pretty transvestites and sometimes you can see their adam's apple and bone structure and think "Totally a dude." Playing Smiths songs are the same, it's hard to nail but that shouldn't stop us from enjoying fresh takes on it.

 

[prisoner77]

I enjoyed "This charming man" Totally different feel and sensible to go Marrless.

 

[Anonymous]

I spoke to Boz after one of the gigs a few years ago, and he said the band was instructed by Moz that's how he wanted it played, after playing them a cover version (possibly the Death Cab For Cutie version mentioned above, I honestly can't remember). Feel free to hate it - but it was a stylistic choice, not "argh f***, I can't work out the notes so I'm just bash out some power chords in a punk style - no one will notice' deal.

 

[Mozza220559]

Am I the only Moz fan who hates it when he does Smiths songs? They always sound clunky and ham-fisted, like an overly aggressive karaoke machine. I'd much rather he stick to the songs his band are actually capable of playing...his solo material. Having just watched the awful version of This Charming Man on Jonathan Ross from 2009, does anyone know if any Moz guitarist has ever attempted to play Marr's riff, rather than just lazily hammering through the chords?

Nice username

 

[Anonymous]

Am I the only Moz fan who hates it when he does Smiths songs? They always sound clunky and ham-fisted, like an overly aggressive karaoke machine. I'd much rather he stick to the songs his band are actually capable of playing...his solo material. Having just watched the awful version of This Charming Man on Jonathan Ross from 2009, does anyone know if any Moz guitarist has ever attempted to play Marr's riff, rather than just lazily hammering through the chords?

Oh dear. This has been said 7 trillion times before but once more for your benefit, MORRISSEY DOES NOT HAVE ANY SOLO MATERIAL.
He sings and he writes lyrics. For his entire career, he has relied on musicians and songwriters. He has now worked with about 10 songwriters.
His first big songwriting partnership (with J Marr) was marketed as the Smiths, his subsequent songwriting partnerships have been marked as 'Morrissey'.
If Morrissey's band should not be playing the Smiths because they didn't write the songs, why on earth should they be playing Street's songs, Nevin's songs, Whyte's songs, Langer's songs etc?
They are all as completely uncredited to Morrissey's current live band as the Johnny Marr songs.
Presumably, you think he should just be playing Tobias and Boorer composed songs? Nothing wrong with this belief but please just try and stop getting so confused about the concept of 'solo' songs as if Morrissey and his current band wrote everything that he's sung since 1987.

 

[Young And Alive]

Oh dear. This has been said 7 trillion times before but once more for your benefit, MORRISSEY DOES NOT HAVE ANY SOLO MATERIAL.
He sings and he writes lyrics. For his entire career, he has relied on musicians and songwriters. He has now worked with about 10 songwriters.
His first big songwriting partnership (with J Marr) was marketed as the Smiths, his subsequent songwriting partnerships have been marked as 'Morrissey'.
If Morrissey's band should not be playing the Smiths because they didn't write the songs, why on earth should they be playing Street's songs, Nevin's songs, Whyte's songs, Langer's songs etc?
They are all as completely uncredited to Morrissey's current live band as the Johnny Marr songs.
Presumably, you think he should just be playing Tobias and Boorer composed songs? Nothing wrong with this belief but please just try and stop getting so confused about the concept of 'solo' songs as if Morrissey and his current band wrote everything that he's sung since 1987.

Morrissey and Marr shared creative control of The Smiths.

Morrissey has had complete control of his output since 1987.

There is a difference. The Smiths were a group (or rather, a duo of equal partners, plus two session musicians effectively).

 

[Anonymous]

If you want to hear the music of the Smiths played live, perfectly recapturing the sound and feel of the original band, go and see Johnny Marr live.
If you want to hear the voice of those Smiths songs, go and see Morrissey.

Sadly - the two will never combine again, so half of the whole is all you are ever gonna get.

 

[Guernie]

So true Anonymouse .

 

[Fiery Jack]

Oh dear. This has been said 7 trillion times before but once more for your benefit, MORRISSEY DOES NOT HAVE ANY SOLO MATERIAL.
He sings and he writes lyrics. For his entire career, he has relied on musicians and songwriters. He has now worked with about 10 songwriters.
His first big songwriting partnership (with J Marr) was marketed as the Smiths, his subsequent songwriting partnerships have been marked as 'Morrissey'.
If Morrissey's band should not be playing the Smiths because they didn't write the songs, why on earth should they be playing Street's songs, Nevin's songs, Whyte's songs, Langer's songs etc?
They are all as completely uncredited to Morrissey's current live band as the Johnny Marr songs.
Presumably, you think he should just be playing Tobias and Boorer composed songs? Nothing wrong with this belief but please just try and stop getting so confused about the concept of 'solo' songs as if Morrissey and his current band wrote everything that he's sung since 1987.

I'm fully aware of the different writers Moz has worked with. There is no confusion her, thanks. It's simply a convenient term of reference. One I use in-order to point out the apparent difference in the way the songs are performed. In my humble onion, there's a definite loss of finesse and subtlety in the Smiths songs, aswell as an obvious difference in Morrissey's body language. He rarely appears to be truly feeling it. That's all. Don't get angry. You'll do yourself a mischief.

 

[troubleluvsme]

I remember Boz saying he struggled with The Headmaster Ritual. Perhaps it was unfair of him to even try. It's an uncommon tuning and Johnny wrote it. However, this is how to do it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-ye0EdCRgA

P.

That's beautiful...

 

[Chip]

I spoke to Boz after one of the gigs a few years ago, and he said the band was instructed by Moz that's how he wanted it played, after playing them a cover version (possibly the Death Cab For Cutie version mentioned above, I honestly can't remember). Feel free to hate it - but it was a stylistic choice, not "argh f***, I can't work out the notes so I'm just bash out some power chords in a punk style - no one will notice' deal.

There have been a few covers of This Charming Man, but the only one that sounds remotely similar is the Death Cab For Cutie one. The beginning sounds like some sort of weird 1980s arcade game, but after that it is extremely similar to the Morrissey live version.

Listen for yourself.



That is the only explanation I can think of for the weird version. That or they just decided to use the same guitar tones as Something is Squeezing My Skull.

 

[Amy]

Am I the only Moz fan who hates it when he does Smiths songs? They always sound clunky and ham-fisted, like an overly aggressive karaoke machine. I'd much rather he stick to the songs his band are actually capable of playing...his solo material. Having just watched the awful version of This Charming Man on Jonathan Ross from 2009, does anyone know if any Moz guitarist has ever attempted to play Marr's riff, rather than just lazily hammering through the chords?

Jesse Tobias lazily hammers everything he touches, he just cannot play or write anything worth a shit.

That said, I think some of the Smiths songs have worked better than others over the years. Headmaster Ritual and Shoplifters are always played too slowly so they end up sounding leaden and dreary. Attempts at This Charming Man and Cemetry Gates have been utterly God-awful, and Still Ill is botched every single time, but I think the band do a very decent version of I Want the One I Can't Have, There Is a Light..., A Rush and a Push among others.