SMITHS – SO MUCH TO ANSWER FOR: MANCHESTER 1985 – Limited Clear Vinyl

Description

In February 1985, The Smiths released their second album, “Meat Is Murder”, which differed from the first for its decidedly more polemical and “political” lyrics penned by Morrissey (the title track, “The Headmaster Ritual”) but also for the sound of songs like “Rusholme Ruffians” (with the rockabilly riffs of Johnny Marr’s guitar) and “Barbarism Begins At Home” (with the funky phrasing of Andy Rourke’s bass). Eight of the nine songs on that album appear in the setlist of this unofficial double LP on the Parachute label, which reproduces the home concert held by the quartet at the Palace Theatre in Manchester on March 31 of that same year, drawing on the radio broadcast of the time, a concert never before available on vinyl. The setlist is impeccable, with 4 songs taken from the debut album of the same name and singles such as “William, It Was Really Nothing”, “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now”, the hypnotic “How Soon Is Now?” (included in the American version of the LP) and the recently released “Shakespeare’s Sister”, performed together with the b-side “Stretch Out And Wait”.