Sunday 9 December 2007

What the Caked Crusader chose to bake to this week (8 Dec 2007)

Don’t know what the weather’s like where you are at the moment but here in the South East of England it’s bleak. I’ve had to have lights on all day and it simply won’t stop raining. In other words, the perfect time to revisit The Smiths’ back catalogue.

It’s a while since I’ve listened to these albums and was a little concerned that they might not live up to the nostalgic pedestal I have placed them on. My fears were quickly allayed: they are as stonkingly good now as when I first heard them in my teens.

There are so many highlights but what I noticed listening to them today whilst baking, was the quality of the introductions – from the violent drum intro to “The Queen is Dead” to the mournful slow build of “Last Night I Dreamt that Somebody Loved Me”. What also surprised me was that I remembered most of the songs word for word. Admittedly, I was pretty obsessed with the band in my youth but it must be 5-10 years since I’d listened to some of these songs. This must surely indicate the quality of the work – a perfect marriage of lyric and melody.

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