Louder than bombs LP
Release date: 1987, March
UK Chart: 38
Cover Star: Playwrighter Shelagh Delaney in Manchester, 1961, photographed by Arnold Newman one month before the film ‘A Taste of Honey’ (based on her play).
Louder than Bombs 2LP was first released in US only but later released in UK in order to avoid raising imports price.
Etchings on the single’s matrix: none
Poster Available Here
Louther than bombs – The Smiths poster, 1987, Mar
Louder than Bombs
| 1. Is It Really So Strange?
2. Sheila Take a Bow 3. Shoplifters of the World Unite 4. Sweet and Tender Hooligan 5. Half a Person 6. London 7. Panic 8. Girl Afraid 9. Shakespeare’s Sister 10.William, It Was Really Nothing 11. You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet, Baby 12. Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now |
13. Ask
14. Golden Lights 15. Oscillate Wildly 16. These Things Take Time 17. Rubber Ring 18. Back to the Old House 19. Hand in Glove 20. Stretch Out and Wait 21. Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want 22. This Night Has Opened My Eyes 23. Unloveable 24. Asleep |
Sheila take a bow
Release date: 1987, April
UK Chart: 10
Cover Star: American transsexual actor and model Candy Darling, also one of the Andy Warhol superstars, in the movie Women in revolt, a film directed by Paul Morrissey and produced by Warhol in 1971.
Etchings on the single’s matrix: A- COOK BERNARD MATTHEWS*
*Britain’s leading turkey producer, obviously a sarcastic message.
Listen to the song here
Sheila take a bow - The Smiths,1987, April
Sheila take a bow
Is it wrong to want to live on your own ?
No, it’s not wrong – but I must know
How can someone so young
Sing words so sad ?
Sheila take a, Sheila take a bow
Boot the grime of this world in the crotch, dear
And don’t go home tonight
Come out and find the one that you love and who loves you
The one that you love and who loves you
Oh …
Is it wrong not to always be glad ?
No, it’s not wrong – but I must add
How can someone so young
Sing words so sad ?
Sheila take a, Sheila take a bow
Boot the grime of this world in the crotch, dear
Continue reading
Girlfriend in a coma
Release date: 1987, August
UK Chart: 13
Cover Star: British playwright Shelagh Delaney, in her play Taste of Honey, 1958.
Etchings on the single’s matrix: 7”• B- SO FAR, SO BAD
12”• A- EVERYBODY IS A FLASHER AT HEART / B- AND NEVER MORE SHALL BE SO
Listen to the song here
Poster Available Here
Girlfriend in a coma - The Smiths,1987, aug
Girlfriend in a coma
Girlfriend in a coma, I know
I know – it’s serious
Girlfriend in a coma, I know
I know – it’s really serious
There were times when I could
Have “murdered” her
(But you know, I would hate
Anything to happen to her)
NO, I DON’T WANT TO SEE HER
Do you really think
She’ll pull through ?
Do you really think
She’ll pull through ?
Pull through …
Girlfriend in a coma, I know
I know – it’s serious
My, my, my, my, my, my baby, goodbye
Strangeways, here we come
Release date: 1987, September
UK Chart: 2
Cover Star: Richard Davalos, in the movie East of Eden, the 1955 film directed by Elia Kazan.
Etchings on the single’s matrix: 1- GUY FAWKES WAS A GENIUS
*13 April 1570 – 31 January 1606, also known as Guido Fawkes, the name he adopted while fighting for the Spanish in the Low Countries, was a member of a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. He tried to destroy the Westminster Palace with some catholics more.
Poster Available Here
Strangeways here we come - The Smiths, 1987, Sept
Strangeways here we come
1. A Rush and a Push and the Land Is Ours
2. I Started Something I Couldn’t Finish
3. Death of a Disco Dancer
4. Girlfriend in a Coma
5. Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before
6. Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
7. Unhappy Birthday
8. Paint a Vulgar Picture
9. Death at One’s Elbow
10. I Won’t Share You
I started something I couldn’t finish
Release date: 1987, November
UK Chart: 23
Cover Star: Avril Angers, from the movie The Family Way, a 1966 movie directed by Roy Boulting.
Etchings on the single’s matrix: A- “MURDER AT THE WOOL HALL” (X) STARRING SHERIDAN WHITESIDE / B- YOU ARE BELIEVING, YOU DO NOT WANT TO SLEEP
UK 7″ and 12″: “MURDER AT THE WOOL HALL”(X)STARRING SHERIDAN WHITESIDE / YOU ARE BELIEVING, YOU DO NOT WANT TO SLEEP
* The Wool Hall was the recording studio in Bath where The Smiths had recorded their latest album Strangeways, Here We Come. Sheridan Whiteside was one of Morrissey’s pseudonyms. .
Listen to the song here
Poster Available Here
I started something I couldn’t finish – The Smiths,1987, nov
I’ve started something I couldn’t Finish
The lanes were silent
There was nothing, no one, nothing around for miles
I doused our friendly venture
With a hard-faced
Three-word gesture
I started something
I forced you to a zone
And you were clearly
Never meant to go
Hair brushed and parted
Typical me, typical me
Typical me
I started something
…And now I’m not too sure
I grabbed you by the guilded beams
Uh, that’s what tradition means
And I doused another venture
With a gesture
That was … absolutely vile
Last night I dreamt that somebody loved me
Release date: 1987, December
UK Chart: 30
Cover Star: Billy Fury, english singer. In a 1984 interview Morrissey included Billy Fury’s singles in his brief collection of most treasured people and possessions. Morrissey has told that Billy “was discovered working on the docks in Liverpool, was dragged to London, styled and forced to make records. He always wanted to make very emotional overblown ballads but found himself in the midst of the popular arena. He despised almost every aspect of the music industry and was very, very ill from early age”.
Etchings on the single’s matrix: A- “THE RETURN OF THE SUBMISSIVE SOCIETY” (X) STARRING SHERIDAN WHITESIDE* / B-“ THE BIZARRE ORIENTAL VIBRATING PALM DEATH” (X) STARRING SHERIDAN WHITESIDE
*Sheridan Whiteside was one of Morrissey’s pseudonyms.
Listen to the song here
Poster Available Here
Last night I dreamt - The Smiths, 1987, Dec
Last night I dreamed that somebody loved me
Last night I dreamt
That somebody loved me
No hope, but no harm
Just another false alarm
Last night I felt
real arms around me
No hope, no harm
Just another false alarm
So, tell me how long
Before the last one ?
And tell me how long
Before the right one ?
The story is old – I KNOW
But it goes on
The story is old – I KNOW
But it goes on
Oh, GOES ON
And on
Oh, goes on
And on
Bigmouth strikes again
Release date: 1986, May
UK Chart: 26
Cover star: James Dean, this photograph was taken in 1948 by his friend Nelva Jean Thomas in his hometown Fairmount, Indiana. Dean is riding his first motorcycle, a Czech Whizzer.
Etchings on the single’s matrix: A- BE AWARE THE WRATH TO COME / B- TALENT BORROWS, GENIUS STEALS
Listen to the song here
Poster Available Here
Bigmouth strikes a. - The Smiths, 1986, May
Bigmouth strikes again
Sweetness, sweetness I was only joking
When I said I’d like to smash every tooth
In your head
Oh … sweetness, sweetness, I was only joking
When I said by rights you should be
Bludgeoned in your bed
And now I know how Joan of Arc felt
Now I know how Joan of Arc felt, oh
As the flames rose to her roman nose
And her Walkman started to melt
Oh …
Bigmouth, la … bigmouth, la …
Bigmouth strikes again
I’ve got no right to take my place
In the Human race
Oh, bigmouth, ha ha … bigmouth, la
Continue reading
The Queen is dead
Release date: 1986, June
UK Chart: 2
Cover star: French actor Alain Delon. The picture is a still from the movie L’Insoumis, directed by Alain Cavalier in 1964. After The Smiths had broke up, Morrissey told that he’d thrown away all personal memorabilia connected with the group with the exception of a letter from Delon about this particular album sleeve.
Etchings on the single’s matrix: 1- FEAR OF MANCHESTER / 2- THEM WAS ROTTEN DAYS
Poster Available Here
The queen is dead - The Smiths, 1986, June
The Queen is dead
1. The Queen Is Dead
2. Frankly, Mr. Shankly
3. I Know It’s Over
4. Never Had No One Ever
5. Cemetry Gates
6. Bigmouth Strikes Again
7. The Boy with the Thorn in His Side
8. Vicar in a Tutu
9. There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
10. Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others
Panic
Release date: 1986, July
UK Chart: 11
Cover star: Richard Bradford, Texas-born actor, star of the 1967 British series The Man in a Suitcase. The actor said he liked being on the cover because he was informed The Smiths were a good band but he never heard any of them. He was expecting to received a copy of the single but the record company sent hom the single without vinyl inside.
Etchings on the single’s matrix: B- I DREAMT ABOUT STEW LAST NIGHT
Listen to the song here
Posters Available Here
Panic - The Smiths poster, 1986, July
Panic
Panic on the streets of London
Panic on the streets of Birmingham
I wonder to myself
Could life ever be sane again ?
The Leeds side-streets that you slip down
I wonder to myself
Hopes may rise on the Grasmere
But Honey Pie, you’re not safe here
So you run down
To the safety of the town
But there’s Panic on the streets of Carlisle
Dublin, Dundee, Humberside
I wonder to myself
Burn down the disco
Hang the blessed DJ
Because the music that they constantly play
IT SAYS NOTHING TO ME ABOUT MY LIFE
Hang the blessed DJ
Because the music they constantly play
Panic B- The Smiths poster, 1986, July
On the Leeds side-streets that you slip down
Provincial towns you jog ’round
Hang the DJ, Hang the DJ, Hang the DJ
Hang the DJ, Hang the DJ, Hang the DJ
HANG THE DJ, HANG THE DJ, HANG THE DJ
HANG THE DJ, HANG THE DJ
HANG THE DJ, HANG THE DJ
Hang the DJ, Hang the DJ, Hang the DJ
HANG THE DJ, HANG THE DJ
HANG THE DJ, HANG THE DJ
Hang the DJ, Hang the DJ, Hang the DJ
HANG THE DJ, HANG THE DJ
HANG THE DJ, HANG THE DJ
Hang the DJ, Hang the DJ, Hang the DJ
HANG THE DJ