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Vanyaland Premiere: Listen to Seapony cover The Smiths for new Reimagine tribute comp


Tributes to the Smiths are no stranger to this website; some would say Vanyaland is one big shrine to the works of Steven Patrick Morrissey and Johnny Marr (and when Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce are in the news, they get attention here as well).

But the best kind of tribute is a musical one, and now Massachusetts-based Reimagine Music has pulled together 14 artists reeling around Morrissey and Marr’s creative fountain for Tease Torment and Tantalize: A Tribute to The Smiths’ Debut.

The compilation is out today, and we are proud to premiere Seattle indie-pop trio Seapony’s free-wheeling take on enduring 1984 single “What Difference Does It Make,” which you can listen to below.

The rest of the collection features covers by Kevin Devine, Male Bonding, Blackbird Blackbird, Heidemann, Faded Paper Figures, Mother Falcon, Field Mouse, Jaymay, Brothertiger, The Night VI, Soft Metals, Young Statues, and Our Broken Garden. The full track list is below, and you can preview the entire comp here.

Says Reimagine founder Jim Sampas: “Thanks to the blood, sweat, and tears of the most talented artists on the scene today, this project possesses a sonic cohesion, more like an album by one band rather than a compilation. Approaching the source material was no easy task. Morrissey challenged his listeners with uninhibited lyrics of shadowy sexuality, excitements, and remorse. As collaborators, Johnny Marr and Morrissey of The Smiths were not interested in being trendy. These guys simply set out to make great, timeless art, avoiding the blaring guitars and biting ‘tear the house down’ lyrics of the day and instead augmenting deeply personal lyrics with distinctive, elliptical, guitar phrases that seem to emanate from the ether.”

Previous Reimagine compilations have tackled Nirvana, the Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan. This tribute to the Smiths is Reimagine’s sixth such collection.


Tease Torment Tantalize: A 30th Anniversary Tribute To The Smiths’ Debut
1. Kevin Devine – “Reel around the Fountain”
2. Mother Falcon – “You’ve Got Everything Now”
3. Field Mouse – “Miserable Lie”
4. Jaymay – “Pretty Girls Make Graves”
5. Blackbird Blackbird – “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle”
6. Brothertiger – “This Charming Man”
7. Male Bonding – “Still Ill”
8. Faded Paper Figures – “Hand in Glove”
9. Seapony – “What Difference Does It Make?”
10. The Night VI – “I Don’t Owe You Anything”
11. Soft Metals – “Suffer Little Children”

Bonus Tracks:
12. Young Statues – “Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want”
13. Heidemann – “Bigmouth Strikes Again”
14. Our Broken Garden – “I Don’t Owe You Anything”


Smiths