The Smiths "Sheila Take A Bow" Review

THE SMITHS: Sheila Take A Bow (Rough Trade)

An adequate, rather than particularly inspired, Smiths single still shreds the rest of the week's pop dross with Morrissey, in a 2:40 burst, urging Sheila to "boot the grime of this world in the crotch, dear". Glints of Smiths sparkle shine most clearly through the "Sheila take a, Sheila take a bow" chorus while the rest of the song cruises through typical ponderings about living alone, melancholia, homework and sad songs. With Candy Darling on the cover, this is, as always, the sleeve of the week.

On the B-side's 'Is It Really So Strange?', Morrissey's extraordinary interest in ludicrous misfortune swells with crazed absurdity as he careers between the North and the South, sighing all the while that "oh yes you can kick me, and you can punch me and you can break my face".

Inevitably, he can't "help the way I feel" and so he lapses into confusion before killing a horse, murdering a man and losing his bag in Newport Pagnell. This, of course, is a perfectly reasonable lifestyle for a Morrissey character to follow and the song chugs along familiar Smiths lines.

'Sweet & Tender Hooligan' is far more frenetic - a thrashing shuffle of a Marr tune. Like the two other tracks it improves with repetition and Morrisey does squeeze in a brief rolling, muted moan, two-thirds of the way through, which is as distinctive as his "hooligan" phrasing.