THE SMITHS – LONDON
For their fourth and final Peel session in 1986, The Smiths recorded four songs: IS IT REALLY SO STRANGE? • LONDON • HALF A PERSON • SWEET AND TENDER HOOLIGAN.
LONDON was a frantic punky workout, Marr emulating the locomotion of a train with his scratchy, choppy guitar work and Mike Joyce rolling out a hefty beat.
“Alongside `Is It Really So Strange?' and ‘Half a Person’, 'London' formed part of a triptych of songs written between the spring and autumn of 1986, each taking a different perspective on the exodus from north to south,” wrote Simon Goddard in his excellent ‘Mozipedia’.
“Of the three, 'London' was Morrissey's most removed (written in the second person), juxtaposing the uncertainty of the nervous traveller boarding a train to Euston with the resentment of those still stuck in the dull northern province they're escaping.”
“Among The Smiths' most forceful tunes, Joyce's express-train rhythm and Marr's telegraphic feedback provided a brilliant onomatopoeic foil for Morrissey's train-carriage drama. Marr also praises Craig Gannon for his work on its powerful end section.”
“'The high picking part on the end is all Craig,' admitted Marr. 'He did a good job on that.'”