Somewhere near the beginning of High Fidelity, John Cusack’s character Rob Gordon says his record store survives on the fandom of young men “who spend a disproportionate amount of their time looking for deleted Smiths singles.” The line was pretty preposterous, considering the sheer amount of unreleased material from The Smiths that was collected on greatest hits collections and compilations.
Apparently, Morrissey wants to ensure that Rob and other future name-droppers refrain from over-fetishizing out-of-print music with his upcoming release, Swords, a collection of 18 B-sides culled from singles from his past four albums. The album is due October 26 in the U.K. and November 3 in the U.S. and (might) come with a limited-edition bonus disc.
The Swords tracklist:
1. Good Looking Man About Town
2. Don't Make Fun Of Daddy's Voice
3. If You Don't Like Me, Don't Look At Me
4. Ganglord
5. My Dearest Love
6. The Never-Played Symphonies
7. Sweetie-Pie
8. Christian Dior
9. Shame Is The Name
10. Munich Air Disaster 1958
11. I Knew I Was Next
12. It's Hard To Walk Tall When You're Small
13. Teenage Dad On His Estate
14. Children In Pieces
15. Friday Mourning
16. My Life Is A Succession Of People Saying Goodbye
17. Drive-In Saturday
18. Because Of My Poor Education
You can also catch Morrissey on a little nine-date tour of the West Coast:
11.29.09 - Seattle, WA - Paramount
11.30.09 - Portland, OR - Roseland Theatre
12.02.09 - Oakland, CA - Paramount
12.04.09 - Indio, CA - Fantasy Springs
12.05.09 - Las Vegas, NV - The Joint
12.07.09 - Pomona, CA - Fox Theatre
12.08.09 - San Diego, CA - Copley Symphony Hall
12.10.09 - Los Angeles, CA - Gibson Amphitheatre
12.11.09 - Ventura, CA - Ventura Theatre