One of the seminal groups of the Eighties, The Smiths' career was as brilliant as it was brief. Now, drawing on interviews with band members, producers, and colleagues, music journalist Simon Goddard presents a meticulous chronological survey of the group's musical evolution, from their first demos in 1982 to their final fractured studio session five years later.
Investigating the stories behind the songs, and detailing every British TV and radio session, he also offers a unique analysis of each track's concert life. Granted unprecedented access to The Smiths' studio archives and to the private collection of outtakes and rehearsals retained by drummer Mike Joyce, the author lifts the lid on unreleased material as well as the lost songs and alternate versions that have remained closely guarded secrets until now.
Ian McDonald developed the form of this book—a song-by-song chronological run through a band’s entire catalog—to explore the music of the Beatles. And the Smiths turn out to be the ideal band for the same treatment. Like the Beatles, they packed an incredible amount of astonishing music into a short amount of time, and it’s dizzying to take in the sheer volume of classic singles and album tracks they would record in a single month. The Smiths also demonstrated incremental changes in maturity from accomplished but crude early singles to the lush and orchestrated tracks found on Strangeways, Here We Come, and seeing those changes laid end-to-end highlights how even a band with an established and distinctive sound is never fixed in any one place. But laying aside the striking career arc of the Smiths, Simon Goddard’s book is a winner because it strikes such a perfect balance between immersive fandom and sharp criticism. Goddard, who also wrote the great (if for committed fans only) Mozipedia: The Encyclopaedia of Morrissey and the Smiths from last year, was granted access to the band’s archives and access to everyone in the band save Morrissey (Johnny Marr agreed to contribute only after the book was first published, so the updated later edition of this book is definitive), and he clearly knows and understands the band’s music on a very intimate scale. But his discussions of the tracks are packed with insight not only into how they were assembled, but for how they resonate with listeners. Songs That Saved Your Life is so successful, it makes you wish that every band you cared about would get such a loving and incisive treatment. –Mark Richardson
