posted by davidt on Monday September 05 2005, @11:00AM
Jim Royle writes:
An interview with Stephen Street about the recording of The Queen Is Dead is now available online at:

CLASSIC TRACKS: The Smiths 'The Queen Is Dead' - Sound On Sound

Stephen Street made his name as an engineer working with one of the most influential indie bands ever. He describes the sessions that created the title track of the Smiths' most celebrated album.

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  • Wrote so many amazing songs in the early Moz days.
    Everyday is like Sunday, Maudlin Street, Suedehead, Last of the Famous, Will Never Marry, Dial a Cliche, Hairdresser, I know very well how I got my name etc.
    Imagine how amazing the 90's might have been for Morrissey if only he and Street had remained friends...
    Anonymous -- Monday September 05 2005, @11:07AM (#177417)
    • Re:Street is an absolute musical genius... by Anonymous (Score:0) Monday September 05 2005, @11:55AM
      • Stephen Street often gets too much credit whenever Viva Hate gets discussed.

        Sure, he's credited with the songwriting, but how can we forget Vini Reilly, one of the greatest guitarists Morrissey's ever worked with (second to Johnny, in my opinion) at the time?

        Aside from the songwriting controversy (which I do think Reilly had some 'uncredited' involvement; look at "Dial-A-Cliche" and "Late Night Maudlin Street" for example), Viva Hate is a brilliant record.

        The Street collaboration started a downside after Reilly's departure; just look at the following two singles and b-sides (all of which are indeed great work, but the spark had been lost, despite the ex-Smiths coming back into the picture).
        Foster -- Monday September 05 2005, @03:18PM (#177455)
        (User #14088 Info)
      • Re:Street is an absolute musical genius... by and2rew (Score:1) Wednesday September 07 2005, @02:48AM
  • I was just listening to Viva Hate today. Vini Reilly is a great guitarist who looks to me very much like Shaggy from Scooby-Doo.
    Anonymous -- Monday September 05 2005, @07:07PM (#177473)
  • between Street , Reilly and Moz?
    Anonymous -- Monday September 05 2005, @08:42PM (#177476)
    • Re:So what happened (Score:2, Interesting)

      Depends who you talk to.

      Reilly says he didn't want to do any more pop music, but in Songs That Saved Your Life it says that he was going to work for Morrissey again but Tony Wilson refused to release him from Factory without a large fee and EMI refused to pay it.

      Street says he was sacked by Morrissey after threatening to take him to court because Morrissey hadn't got his contract sorted out. However Craig Gannon has said that Morrissey got pissed off with Street because he sulked when Morrissey spent too much time rehearsing for the Wolverhampton gig instead of working on Street's new songs. Street has confirmed there was friction at that time and he was jealous of the former members of the Smiths coming back into the fold.
      Anonymous -- Tuesday September 06 2005, @12:30AM (#177485)
  • pleasure to read (Score:2, Interesting)

    about the technical/recording details

    I always wonder what is there to write about the
    Smiths what havent been done earlier, this was a
    little piece

    4 biographies would be nice also, or 6
    Celibate Cry <[email protected]> -- Tuesday September 06 2005, @12:57AM (#177488)
    (User #220 Info)
    and the hills are alive with celibate cries
  • Actually, I don't think Stephen Street gets enough credit for his writing, but more importantly, he doesn't get enough credit for his production. He really seemed to fill the void musically after Johnny left because he was a big part of the Smiths sound since "Heaven Knows.." and understood the Smiths songwriting interests. The Smiths production vastly improved at that time. He even admits that "Suedehead" was an intentional Johnny Marr lift, which seemed like an incredibly difficult thing to do well.

    Vini Really givs me a creepy vibe. He seems a bit loopy, and claims to have written "Viva Hate." Street offered up the demo tapes of the sessions to prove that he was the proper writer for the songs. Street also confesses that he felt that the beginning of the end with Morrissey occurred when he asked if he could play on stage at Wolverhampton.

    Personally, I never really did like Reilly's lead work It sounds incredibly dated.
    Anonymous -- Tuesday September 06 2005, @02:24AM (#177497)
    • Re:Street by Anonymous (Score:0) Tuesday September 06 2005, @05:37AM
      • Re:Street by Anonymous (Score:0) Tuesday September 06 2005, @06:52AM
    • Re:Street by Foster (Score:1) Tuesday September 06 2005, @05:59AM
  • When this interview was published in the print version of this magazine, I sent the item of news into Moz solo and it wasn't printed! Typical!

    Anonymous -- Tuesday September 06 2005, @10:08AM (#177538)
    • Re:Hmmmm by Anonymous (Score:0) Tuesday September 06 2005, @04:29PM
  • This sounds incredibly ignorant, but how can you tell what is good production, what is bad? What is a good guitar line, what is not?

    Particularly regarding production, what are the hallmarks of bad or good production?

    Educate me my knowledge-sodden friends.
    BigmouthSA -- Tuesday September 06 2005, @01:52PM (#177559)
    (User #14642 Info)
    • Re:hmm... by Anonymous (Score:0) Tuesday September 06 2005, @01:55PM
    • Re:hmm... by Anonymous (Score:0) Tuesday September 06 2005, @03:16PM
    • Quuntin strikes again... by Anonymous (Score:0) Tuesday September 06 2005, @08:32PM
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    • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • Something I've often thought, this.

    The Smiths, while a great album, sounds like an album that was recorded in 1983.

    Meat Is Murder, while a great album, at times sounds very much like an album recorded in 1984.

    Strangeways, while a great album, is a bit of a mixed bag - some tracks (particularly Rush And A Push and Girlfriend...) still sound pretty fresh and contemporary, while some do sound like they're from c. 1986.

    Viva Hate, while a great album, does at times sound like Mark King's about to come in with some slap bass.

    The Queen Is Dead, on the whole, is still pretty much ageless to me. If I'd never heard it before, and someone played it to me today, I'd believe completely that it had been recorded this year.

    None of this is any kind of criticism against any of the other albums, but I just think that TQID is one of those rare albums that is so well played, so well sung and so well recorded and produced, that it will always find young new fans that may not necessarily know that it's decades old.
    lutewhine -- Wednesday September 07 2005, @10:09AM (#177614)
    (User #10051 Info)
  • Hey moderator, waste another of your precious points on this you fucking little cunt.
    David Tseng is a yellow bastard who smells of soy sauce and should be stabbed to death with a pitchfork.
    He posted that scurrilous rumour about Moz not paying his roadcrew and, because of it, Morrissey hates his guts and wants this site closed down.
    You are working for a discredited Chinese liar.
    I hope your parents die in a hurricane.
    Anonymous -- Thursday September 08 2005, @02:29AM (#177675)
  • Street definitely has his supporters and detractors, but "shoddy" is not a word I've ever heard associated with him. In fact, the detractors usually don't like his work because it's too "clean" and "perfect".

    So you think albums like "No Need to Argue", "Employment", or "Parklife" sound bad? Even for people who don't like those records, I think you'd have a hard time finding anybody (audio experience or not) who thinks that they sound bad.
    king leer -- Tuesday September 06 2005, @09:02AM (#177529)
    (User #80 Info)
  • It's good to have you back Quentin, you crazy old fruit! LOL!
    Anonymous -- Tuesday September 06 2005, @11:02AM (#177542)
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