Today's SOTD is Smiths demo that has only fairly recently come to light, but that has been generating a fair number of blog posts etc. all over the internet. It's from a compilation of previously unreleased demos and instrumentals that was ripped and posted onto the internet just before Christmas. The full thing is available to download here, and there's a really good track-by-track of it here.
Billed by some as 'The Smiths go reggae', this early version of 'Girlfriend In A Coma', one of the high points on their best album, is actually more like first-wave ska, at least in the guitar part. The lilting, Caribbean feel to it gives the song an even more marked contrast between the mood of the lyrics and the music, which is what this song is all about. It seems to sit back a lot more than the officially released version, which I don't think works quite as well, but it's definitely an interesting take. Strange that it came from a man who was once quoted as saying 'Reggae is vile' to the NME (although this could well have been tongue-in-cheek, admittedly - the music press are no better than their more tabloid-focused cousins at reading subtext).
The Smiths - Girlfriend In A Coma (demo)
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