So…

my Blog posting has certainly realized itself a rare effort, lame and uninspired of late.

my only excuse has been the holidays and coaching an indoor and a Select Field Lacrosse team.

but, I did find the time to revisit a book that reminded me how much I have always favored alternative music, especially that from the ’80’s and early 90’s. in particular, I’ll have to mention and lift-up The Smiths. and, one of the best chronicles of their significant contribution was, and remains, Johnny Rogan’s Morrissey & Marr: The Severed Alliance.

that was a powerful, charismatic, dynamic and  creative team. likely on-par with Lennon and Mccarthy (Beatles). and, their crushing falling-out was equally telling within the history of musical collaboration.

to wit…

Rogan has offered us an account of the rise and inevitably agonizing fall of English indie phenom The Smiths that is a must-read for any music fan that understands how this band forever changed the music industry by pioneering the alternative recording scene. the book dives deep offering us insight within the steady development of the bands brilliant four albums. you’ll also have an accurate insight into the lives and thinking that drove an unprecedented string of hit singles.

NOTE: what is a bit unusual is this is a partial rewrite of the original book. the first effort famously drove Morrissey, himself, to publicly state that he wished Rogan would “…perish in a car crash”.

charming. but, so Morrissey.

a must read. do it!

meanwhile, enjoy How Soon Is Now by, by (the very same) The Smiths. the tune was recoded in 1984, the year I graduated from University, and released in 1985, the year I stormed Southern California. originally released as a B-side single to William, It Was Really Nothing, it soon after found a home on the Smiths album, Hatful of Hollow. more recently it’s showed-up on the refreshed the eponymously named album, The Sound of the Smiths. I tell you all of this because I suspect you should be wondering.

peace be to my Brothers and Sisters.

brian patrick cork