Strangeways, Here We Come

Strangeways, Here We Come
Studio album by The Smiths
Released	22 September 1987
Recorded	Spring 1987 in Bath, England
Genre	Alternative rock
Length	36:37
Label	Rough Trade
Producer	Johnny Marr, Morrissey and Stephen Street
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Blender link Q link Robert Christgau (B) link Rolling Stone (favourable) link
The Smiths chronology
The Queen Is Dead (1986) Strangeways, Here We Come (1987)
Singles from Strangeways, Here We Come
"Girlfriend in a Coma" Released: August 10, 1987 "I Started Something I Couldn't Finish" Released: November 2, 1987 "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me" Released: December 7, 1987 "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" Released: 1987

Strangeways, Here We Come is the fourth and final studio album by English rock band The Smiths, released in 1987. All of the songs on the album were composed by Johnny Marr, with lyrics written and sung by Morrissey. The album was certified Gold by the RIAA on 19 September 1990.

About the album

The Smiths recorded what was to be their final studio album at the Wool Hall studios in Bath, England. Although still firmly an indie record, it finds the band experimenting with overtly synthesized saxophone and string arrangements and drum machine additions. It is also the only Smiths album to feature Morrissey playing a musical instrument. The piano playing in the song "Death of a Disco Dancer" came about as described by Marr when Morrissey "just fell on to a piano and began to bash away".

Musically, Marr was determined to get away from the group's previous sound, the so called 'jingle jangle' sound. Saying "...I was adamant that we weren't going to just repeat any kind of formula." He started to look for different influences, finding a primary interest in The White Album by The Beatles. "I knew there was an atmospheric aspect of The White Album that we could relate to musically...I wanted us to shed that skin and find a different direction...that's possibly why you don't hear a lot of it on Strangeways." Also relenting, "but it still sounds like us."

Between the record's recording in March and its release in September 1987 the band had broken up after Johnny Marr announced in July that he had left the band. The album rose to number two in the British and number fifty-five in the American charts.

Strangeways, Here We Come may be The Smiths' last album, but it does not feature their last-ever recordings, as two final songs were recorded in May 1987 to provide B-sides for the album's lead single, "Girlfriend in a Coma". Two more singles were taken off Strangeways, Here We Come; they were supplemented on their B-sides by archive recordings.

Recording in The Wool Hall made the sessions more relaxed, as the wine cellar was fully stocked and producer Stephen Street came slowly to understand the idea that the writing partners Morrissey and Marr were trying to put forth. Street (who engineered previous Smiths efforts) later said that after the recording days there would always be late night drinking. "That was always after Morrissey had gone to bed...it wasn't really his bag. We'd carry on finishing overdubs and then the records would come out. We'd be partying all hours." Marr would later defend this by saying "But only after ten or twelve hours of making some really good music, not as a substitute...It wasn't all one Spinal Tap mongo fest!"

All four ex-members have named Strangeways, Here We Come as their favourite Smiths album.^[1] Morrissey also stating "[Myself and Johnny are] in absolute accordance with that." Adding also, "We say it quite often. At the same time. In our sleep. But in different beds."

Contrary to the myth that Strangeways was recorded in a openly hostile environment, Andy Rourke has since reflected "It was the best time the four of us ever spent in a studio together."

Artwork and title

The sleeve for Strangeways, Here We Come, which was designed by Morrissey, features a murky shot of East of Eden co-star Richard Davalos. Davalos is looking at James Dean, who is cropped from the image. Dean was a hero of Morrissey's, about whom the singer wrote a book called James Dean Is Not Dead. Five years later, when designing the sleeve for WEA's Best compilations, Morrissey again chose Davalos as a cover star, and Davalos is looking at Dean, who is once again cropped.

As revealed in Jo Slee's collection of Smiths and Morrissey sleeve artwork, Peepholism, Davalos was not the original choice for cover star. Morrissey wanted to use a still of Harvey Keitel in Martin Scorsese's I Call First (also known as Who's That Knocking at My Door), but Keitel declined to allow him to use the image. In 1991 Keitel relented, and the image was used on t-shirts and stage backdrops for Morrissey's 1991 solo tour.

The album takes its title from Manchester's notorious (and now renamed) Strangeways Prison, whilst the line "Borstal, here we come" is taken from Billy Liar. "Strangeways, of course, is that hideous Victorian monstrosity of a prison operating 88 to a cell," Morrissey has explained.

On the title, Marr has said "I've learned to love the title...it was a bit over stating things somewhat. A little bit obvious. But it's OK. I was always intrigued by the word Strangeways. I remember as a kid, when I first heard that the prison was really called that, I wondered had it not occurred to anybody to change the name? It's still befuddling, really." Morrissey has also stated, "Really it's me throwing both arms to the skies and yelling 'Whatever next?'"

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Morrissey/Marr. 

Personnel

Band

• Morrissey – vocals, piano on "Death of a Disco Dancer"
• Johnny Marr – guitar, keyboards, harmonica, synthesized strings and saxophone arrangements
• Andy Rourke – bass guitar
• Mike Joyce – drums

Additional musicians

• Stephen Street – additional drum machine programming on "I Started Something I Couldn't Finish", "Paint a Vulgar Picture" and "Death at One's Elbow", and strings arrangement for "Girlfriend in a Coma"

The sleeve notes list "Orchestrazia Ardwick" as being responsible for performance of the strings and saxophone arrangements; in reality, this is Johnny Marr and his synthesizer.

Technical staff

• Johnny Marr, Morrissey, and Stephen Street – producers
• Steve Williams – assistant engineer

References

2. Goddard, Simon - "Mozipedia - The Encyclopedia of Morrissey and The Smiths" 2009, EBURY PRESS