MORRISSEY, MORRISSEY, MORRISSEY.......

I have no doubts that most of the audience going along to this evening's show at the Alhambra Theatre, Dunfermline will be doing the chant.  I will observe quietly from the sidelines all thw while hoping (and expecting) that the great man delivers a memorable performance and praying that the butchering of the classics from his old band is kept to a minimum.

I dont keep an exhaustive list of gigs that I've been to, but flicking through this excellent site makes me think tonight could be the 13th time I've gone to a Morrissey solo gig - and the seventh different Scottish city or town I'll have seen him perform.  I also was fortunate enough to see The Smiths play live on six occasions, so I've spent a fair amount of money on tickets, t-shirts and paraphernalia over the years, and most of it has been worth it.

I wanted to do something a wee bit different to mark tonight's event, and so I scoured the internet for something I knew existed but didn't have a copy. 

The NME and Morrissey have had an on-off relationship over the years.  Simon Goddard sums up succinctly:-

His history with the NME is a tragicomedy unto itself. In the 1970s, they shunned his attempts to join their exclusive club as a freelance writer, barring him at the threshold of their letter page and the classified columns.  Exacting the ultimate revenge, in the 1980s they lauded him as their pop saviour, the would-be critic having transformed himself into the object of their stupified desire. In the 1990s, as if suddenly humiliated by their sycophancy, they would try to destroy him.  And in the 2000s they would beg him back on bended knee only to end their affair once and for all with an act of monumental dull-wittedness.

The bended-knee approach incorporated a Morrissey-curated free CD given away with the 19 June 2004 edition of the NME.  The editor at the time, Conor McNicholas, penned these words:-

Morrissey hopes this compilation will say everything to you about your life, and maybe a little about his. Over the course of this CD Morrissey leads you by the hand from spiky punk to sun-kissed country grooves via bands he's influenced and new acts he's now consciously endorsing as the legacy of his talent and work.  It's a fascinating compilation and we're very proud to present it. Now it's all yours.

A wee bit over the top perhaps, but to be fair the 17 tracks are extremely diverse and as a free CD it is better than most (unbeatable value!!)/ I was going to be selective and pick out a handful, but thought it better to go for the bumper give-away.  There really should be something for everyone who reads TVV. At the same time, there will inevitably be stuff that gets on your tits.....

mp3 : Morrissey - The Never Played Symphonies
mp3 : The Killers - Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine
mp3 : Gene - Fighting Fit
mp3 : Sparks - Barbecutie
mp3 : The Slits - Love Und Romance
mp3 : The Ordinary Boys - (Little) Bubble
mp3 : New York Dolls - Vietnamese Baby
mp3 : Franz Ferdinand - Jacqueline (live)
mp3 : Raymonde - No One Can Hold A Candle To You
mp3 : Ludus - Let Me Go Where My Pictures Go
mp3 : Sack - Colorado Springs
mp3 : Remma - Worry Young (Demo Version)
mp3 : Pony Club - Single
mp3 : Jobriath - Morning Star Ship
mp3 : Damien Dempsey - Factories
mp3 : The Libertines - Time For Heroes
mp3 : Sir John Betjeman - A Child Ill

Morrissey himself would release a copy of the Raymonde track later that year as a b-side:-

mp3 : Morrissey - No One Can Hold A Candle To You

Happy Listening one and all.