Johnny Marr Hints At Smiths Box Set/Re-Releases

Here's what Johnny recently told UK mag, The Word. Thanks for the heads up, Tripwire! - "I was approached by the record company a few years ago with the box set idea, and I was somewhat skeptical until I was sent some live concerts and monitor mixes... Then it started to sound like a really good prospect. There are some curios, instrumentals, a few odd films shot by people on these enormous old video cameras on the balcony at gigs in Wolverhampton in the 80s they are really impressive, they'd make great DVDs. There's the Troy Tate album [the first version of The Smiths debut album which was scrapped and never released] which is a really interesting sound & a great picture of the band at a time when most people aren't aware of us. They're putting the albums out shoddily with cheap sleeves, bad reproductions of the artwork. I’ve wanted to remaster the albums properly for years, but there is no-one at the record company whose job it is to look after The Smiths. I find it incredible and frustrating, and most fans of music would find it a ridiculous state of affairs."

And in an interview during Glastonbury, Johnny said: "Modest Mouse is my main concern, and I don’t think I can do it on my own. I wrote to Morrissey about it, he hasn’t replied so far but we'll see. I'm just pissed off because the music doesn't sound as good as it could. I'll settle for that, and re-releases with decent sleeves on. It's beautiful music and it's being treated like shit. But apart from that, I can't and won't run the band on my own."

MP3: The Smiths - Barbarism Begins At Home