The Smiths: The Early Years

By Paul Slattery

(Omnibus Press). This is a stunning photographic record of The Smiths' formative years. For many, The Smiths were the definitive alternative rock band of the '80s. A bracing antidote to Thatcher's Britain for the youth of the day, Manchester-based Morrissey, Marr, and Co. even approached something like mainstream success towards the end. But at the start, they were scruffy, uncompromising rebels. Paul Slattery was there, and took a series of band photos of great intimacy and power. Slattery was particularly close to The Smiths in those early days, and his images many of them seen for the first time here were an insider's work: informal, brash, exciting, and revealing. Seen together these photos form an exciting visual narrative on the work of an influential band that, for a few turbulent years, cornered the market in lyrical gloom laced with mordant wit.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1846098580
• ISBN13: 9781846098581
• Release Date: February 2008
• Publisher: Omnibus Pr & Schirmer Trade Books
• Length: 159 Pages
• Weight: 2.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 12.8" x 0.5" x 9.8"