Smiths bassist Andy Rourke passed away last weekend at the far too young age of 59. I never cease to be amazed by how young the band was in their time. Three-quarters of them were only nineteen when The Smiths made their first recordings. Regarding Rourke's importance to the band, I think the debate over individual contributions to The Smiths (and rock groups in general) has long since been settled. Singers and lead guitarists are often overrated, whereas rhythm sections are often underrated. One of the many great things about the Smiths was the perfect musical synergy between its members, each instrument functions as a lead instrument yet blends perfectly into the whole. Each part is intricate and complex, all the band members are equally busy, but nobody is showing off and trying to dominate over the others. In the same era, Joy Division were like this, but New Order weren't, except at their very best. The Stone Roses were like this on their debut album, but not afterwards.
If there was a tragic figure in The Smiths, it was Rourke (either him or Morrissey, depending on whether you consider his alt-right turn to be tragic or simply a case of getting what he deserves after years of excuses). His personal issues got him fired from the band, only to be brought back a couple of weeks later (in part, allegedly, because his parts were so difficult to play). In court, he settled with Morrissey and Marr for a fraction of his true worth, sacrificing millions of pounds of back and future revenues from his singular work with the Smiths. Morrissey might have trashed him in his court testimony, but he could have grabbed any number of session bassists for his early solo recordings. He chose Rourke time and again. The long-awaited reunion, the subject of endless discussion for over three decades, which I and countless others had assumed would eventually happen, never did.
And that brings us to the ninth in a series of albums that I haven't heard in over twenty years, since the start of this blog in January 2000. I bought a number of Smiths bootleg cassettes over the years, and this one is particularly famous for its encore, which showcases Rourke at his absolute best. The audio recording can be heard here.
At this point in their career, The Smiths were a taut live ensemble, infusing a manic energy into their live shows in part thanks to a general quickening of the tempos compared with the studio versions. The sound quality of this recording is poor, it's a standard audience recording likely done with a cheap tape recorder smuggled into the venue. These recordings tend to swallow the mid-range treble, thereby ruining the clarity of Johnny Marr's guitar playing. Morrissey's vocals seem to drift in and out occasionally. But Rourke's bass playing and Mike Joyce's drumming are accentuated, shining through the hazy mess on several songs but particularly on "Hand In Glove", "Shakespeare's Sister", "Still Ill" (I never liked the studio version of this song, but on live recordings it was always a highlight), and "The Headmaster Ritual".
I used to revisit this bootleg mainly for two reasons. The first was the touching and elegant version of "Reel Around the Fountain" that closes the first encore. It's always been one of my favourite Smiths songs and they rarely played it after 1984. The second reason is the famous third (!) encore, featuring the final and longest ever live version of "Barbarism Begins At Home", stretched out for an astonishing sixteen minutes. Marr does his best Nile Rodgers impression on guitar, and Joyce is a muscular machine on drums, but Rourke is the star. Such impressive funk workouts were unheard of for The Smiths (especially considering Morrissey's infamously dismissive attitude toward all forms of dance music), so it's clear that we have Rourke to thank for this song being the monster that it is.
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