The Boy With The Thorn In His Side
"...the guitars are a perpetual
marvel"
"Perhaps they have already exhausted their mine"
The Boy With
The Thorn In His Side
Asleep
Rubber Ring
Released in September, 1985
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Yea-Sayers: "Another
incisive little title in true Smiths stylee. And the jaunty toon is
nothing new either, with its guitar laden desire. The B-side's a more
intriguing proposition, with some fragile piano work drifting along." "The
Smiths' new three-cut, non-LP single sounds more like a progress report
than a real 45; 'The Boy With the Thorn in His Side' and 'Rubber Ring'
could be nice, melodic Meat Is Murder album cuts, and 'Asleep'
is a naively moving piano and voice lullaby." The
Smiths' 'Boy With The Thorn In His Side' finds Morrissey's crooning
(bordering on yodelling this time) wearing thin, but the guitars are
a perpetual marvel." Nay-Sayers: "Stuck
in the middle because that's how the record sounds. Seems like Morrissey
himself gives up on the song half-way through when he stops the words
and uses up the rest of the needletime with yodelling. If it's too much
to expect a revision of world music with every record, we could at least
ask for something a little less ennervating. Turn over and drift off
to 'Sleep' with Mo and a careful piano by his kinsman. Perhaps they
have already exhausted their mine. 'The Boy With The Thorn' is a symptom
of how a group try and slow up a brilliant start: its textures are sifted,
better judged than anything they did a year or so ago. But the economy
and energy are swiftly fading. It already seems unlikely that they will
ever muster another 'Hand In Glove'. And the best Smiths song this year
is probably Lloyd Cole's as yet unrecorded 'James'."
Smiths-Speak: "If
you listen to The Smiths' The Boy With The Thorn In His Side,
the rhythm part from verse two onwards - that chick-a-chick part - it's
pure Nile Rogers..." "That
was the first time I used a Strat on a record. I got it because I wanted
a twangy Hank Marvin sound, but it ended up sounding quite highlify."
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