Five years back Kevin Cummins had an exhibition on down in Manchester, titled "
Manchester, So Much to Answer For: Morrissey &The Smiths", promising unknown pleasures from the KC archive. There were maybe 70 prints on show, freshly pinned and mounted. Here is what í made of it then, a lifetime ago ~
"í arrived in Manchester Wednesday lunchtime and after making my way to my hotel, amidst a cutting Lancashire windchill that's akin to having someone strafe your face with bullets of ice, í unpack and, why wait?, head back out to hunt for Sevendale House, location of the KC exhibit. Doesn't take long to find it and as í approach, looking up at the fine old Victorian facade of the building (very SLC), í resist the temptation to pop into the basement bridal boutique beneath and instead enter the, er, 'gallery space'. '
David Bowie at the V&A' this is not! The bare concrete floor is broken up, stray pipes and wires hang from the ceiling, and the whole place has an aroma pitched somewhere between deisel fuel and turpentine. But, Oh!, the wonders on the walls....
With the iPod in one far corner filling the petroleum air with Smiths-related pop we begin with eight in a row from Kevin's first shoot with the band at Dunham Massey (Tatton Park) on the 7th September 1983: The pond shoot.
These are all black and white silver gelatin prints and, 'in the flesh', have a beautiful, soft, pastoral quality that must have marked them out in their day from the Industrial Urban FAC gloom of contemporary band imagery. Even now they have a transcendent and timeless quality to them, as well as a touching innocence, a four-lads-lounging-about-in-the-park type of quality. There is also a lovely reference to the cover sleeve of '
This Charming Man' with a couple of the shots featuring Morrissey-as-Marais, reflected in the water of the pond.
Next up are four from the 'Oxford Road Show' TV recording 22nd February 1985, all of them instantly recognisable and 'classic' - including my particular favourite from this session. Morrissey, back of hands drawn up to his cheeks forcing out a dramatic 'Oh!', looking heavenwards...
Oh the drama!
Again this one is printed in beautiful creamy black and white and uncropped, so you see every detail on that face.
Next up we have one classic live shot of Morrisey from Sheffield City Hall January 1984 and a shot of Andy Rourke in Blackpool ~
Anyone who has ever been to Blackpool has felt like this, at one time or another...
Next up we have a cheeky juxtaposition ~ Johnny in August 1990 with his 'chicken' 'Ex-Smith' tattoo side by side with Morrissey's response 13 months later - the Smiths Is Dead shirt shot. Again the printing on these is fantastic - Johnny's is rendered in deep, saturated colour doing full justice to the Sunset Strip setting. The monochrome Morrissey pose, shot simply in a hotel room, still has a sadness to it, with the shadows falling downwards on the wall behind Moz, as the arms are half-raised in a classic 'Smiths pose' (or is it 'stay away, please'?)
Next up there's the classic shot of Morrissey at his debut solo Wolverhampton concert ~
Seeing it uncropped and up close you can almost smell the blood, sweat and tears (and whatever else is smeared on that stage...crushed pollen?!) What astonishes anew is that amidst this masculine melee of clenched fists, stretched fabric and grasping hands is the sad, becalmed downcast eyes at the centre of it - and the traces of the sweetest smile. And one recalls the 'NME' interview a month later where he stated that prior to this encounter he'd sat in his flat in Manchester for "
months...seeing practically nobody". Sweet memories...
Morrissey's back, Back, BACK is next ~
The excellent print of this really brings out the juxtaposition of the pebbledash of the wall with the texture of the pomade in Morrissey's hair. As well as the glory of that nape. And is he pounding that pebbledash? Or weeping? Or smirking at the Bowie reference?
Next up is the first virgin treasure, at least to these veteran peepers. And it's one of my favourites of all 70 or so on show. It's from Nagoya, September 1991, and is a thing of chiaroscuro majesty, like a monochrome Caravaggio. It's a simple enough set-up ~ just Morrissey sat atop a flight case on stage, straining slightly to listen to, presumably, the band soundchecking. Moz is in black T-shirt, black 501s (with turn-ups), black DMs. His skin is rendered like milk poured on porcelain. His right arm is V-d across his t-shirt, with his hand held behind his left ear (listening?), left arm braced straight onto his left knee. Lit from above, his face is darkly defined by ink-black brow, softly shaded eyes and perfect cupid's bow lips. It's barely framed by a lightly defined relaxed quiff. The whole mise en scène is one of ivory limbs and face blooming forth from pervasive blackness.
This...I would think about paying a grand for? Do they take kidneys?
This is a crappy alternate, but you get the general idea ~
Next up is that nape again, this time from Dublin April 27th 1991, and another soundcheck ~
The visual textures on this print are simply delightful ~ the distant twinkling of the stage lights, the foregrounded, stretched-and-draped glitter of Morrissey's daywear, the neat precision and then chaos of the barnet ~ all are rendered in glorious grain and grit.
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