Morrissey Cover Lovers: Reintroducing Morrissey, Smiths Songbook on Cassette, and Little Cinema's Adventure

Read More Morrissey Also, Morrissey announced that he was dropped by his record label, Harvest Records... then within weeks, his latest album, World Peace is None of Your Business, was quickly removed from all digital outlets, …

MORRISSEY
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Introducing Morrissey was originally released in 1995 on VHS, but thanks to Rhino Entertainment, they have gone back and digitally remastered the film for the modern age. As I recall, Introducing Morrissey was the second live film, but it was much superior to Live in Dallas, which only had two cameras!

I had no idea, but apparently the VHS was only available as a limited collector's item... and yes, of course, I own this, along with Live in Dallas and Hulmerist, and The Malady Lingers On.

As much as I like old things and old technology, I am deeply looking forward to seeing the film for the first time in clean, clear video and audio.

Introducing Morrissey full tracklisting:

1. Billy Budd
2. Have-A-Go Merchant
3. Spring-Heeled Jim
4. You're The One For Me, Fatty
5. The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get
6. Whatever Happens, I Love You
7. We'll Let You Know
8. Jack The Ripper
9. Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself
10. The National Front Disco
11. Moon River
12. Hold On To Your Friends
13. Boxers
14. Now My Heart Is Full
15. Speedway

Rhino Entertainment's Introducing Morrissey came out September 9, 2014. Check out this clip of "Jack the Ripper" on youtube.com

Read More Cassette Store Day Obviously, the whole CSD was inspired by the success of Record Store Day, but I do not believe the two are associated in anyway. The CSD movement started in the UK last year with only about 28 record shops selling about 50 …

THE SMITHS SONGBOOK
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As if you didn't need to be reminded, but the second annual Cassette Store Day is taking place tomorrow, September 27th.

Among the 300+ releases, there is this Smiths cover cassette called Allen & Dennis Callaci Sing/Aaron Alcala Plays The Smiths Songbook (Shrimper Records). The Callaci are two-third of a band called Refrigerator and Alcala previously recorded with Refrigerator... why not just re-titled it Refrigerator on The Smiths?

The cover artwork is a drawing of the Smiths' Rank live album, featuring star Alexandra Bastedo.

Details of the release:

Recorded over 3 evenings this summer, this 2014 Shrimper cassette store day release features 9 Smiths songs reinterpreted by Allen & Dennis Callaci (Refrigerator) with Aaron Alcala (previous recordings w/ Refrigerator & Adam Lipman) on guitar/piano. All songs were recorded live with the brothers harmonizing onto one mic offering dramatic reinterpretations of some classics & some slightly obscure songs in the Smiths canon.

The cassette is a limited edition of 200 hand numbered copies w/ cover art by Dennis Callaci. Tapes hand dubbed and hand labeled. Light In The Attic is the exclusive distributor of this release.

Track List:

1. Unloveable
2. Stop Me If You Think That You’ve Heard This One Before
3. This Night Has Opened My Eyes
4. Bigmouth Strikes Again
5. I Know It’s Over
6. Golden Lights
7. The Death of a Disco Dancer
8. I Won’t Share You

Read More the Lucksmiths Fans who are just discovering the Lucksmiths, good news for you, there is a 'greatest hits' double disc compilation called Cartography For Beginners out now. ……

LITTLE CINEMA
littlecinema.bandcamp.com

Check out this promotional picture of Little Cinema, featuring singer/songwriter Tyler Womack in a yellow Smiths T-Shirt. It's also a nod to films and movies, given his band name.

A little trivia, but the Richard Davalos image was from the film East of Eden (1955) and was later used on The Smiths' ... Best I (US Cover) in 1992. Image was handpicked by Morrissey, and according to Jo Slee's excellent Peepholism book, she writes:

In return for the customary creative control offered him by Sire Records in the US, Morrissey agreed to design all three sleeves, including the video compilation [VHS]. The UK versions, including the three singles re-releases ('This Charming Man', 'How Soon Is Now?' and 'There is a Light that Never Goes Out'), were designed by WEA UK without Morrissey's involvement. Warners had originally planned to use the title Paint a Vulgar Picture Vols I and II, but dropped it in favor of Morrissey's simpler "...Best".

The press release described Little Cinema as "a long-distance musical affair between Tyler Womack and Shawn Jones." It later compared their music with all the cool indie bands you know and love (including our personal favorite the Lucksmiths):

The record takes cues from early-oughts indie pop mainstays like the Lucksmiths, Beulah and Saturday Looks Good to Me. Meanwhile, the lyrics and storytelling hearken back to early Belle & Sebastian, or mid-career Mountain Goats. “Diving Board” is a bouncy love song intermixed with a story of breaking-and-entering and swimming in the nude. “Chinese Tobacco” presents a rough, one-taken travelogue that would make John Darnielle smile. Meanwhile, “When You Think of Me” swings with a Morrissey strut, as a self-aggrandizing eulogy for one still living.

It might be worth checking out, if you're a fan of those bands... Little Cinema's Adventure album comes out October 14, 2014.

Little Cinema photo by Eliot Black

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