The Smiths: A Charming Man in Amsterdam (purple vinyl) [OUTSIDER]

Why you'll love it

This purple vinyl LP captures the band on Dutch radio in the spring of their debut album. The set runs from "Hand in Glove" and "This Charming Man" to "Still Ill" and "Handsome Devil."

This edition

• Purple vinyl
• FM radio broadcast recording

About the album

Spring 1984 was a busy time to be a Smith. The debut album had come out in February, the singles were piling up, and the band were crossing the Channel to play to European audiences who were still catching up with the fuss. This set comes from the radio broadcast of their show at De Meervaart hall in Amsterdam on April 21.

Morrissey, Johnny Marr, Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce play like a band with something to prove. "Hand in Glove," "This Charming Man," "Still Ill" and "Miserable Lie" come from the first record and its singles, while "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" and its flip side "Girl Afraid" were still brand new. "Barbarism Begins at Home" turns up a year before it landed on Meat Is Murder, and Marr's guitar rings through "This Night Has Opened My Eyes" and "These Things Take Time."

It is a snapshot of four young men from Manchester in the year everything happened for them. Fair warning to the neighbours, "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" is somehow the most cheerful singalong on the record.

Also at Kops: more The Smiths on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Listen

On Outsider (cat# OUTS030), a reissue of the 1984 live album.