Rourke and Joyce reportedly felt over-awed by Porter’s presence, his wealth of experience as a producer and bass player often making them uncomfortable, but for Johnny the experience was a learning curve of the highest order, and as Marr developed his studio-awareness, so the entire band benefited. John Porter taught the band more about the production process than anyone to date had, taking Johnny under his wing almost as though he were a younger brother needing guidance. He recognised a stunning talent in Johnny, and felt almost beholden to help develop it. “He showed me how to make a record,” Johnny told Record Collector in 1992, and while Marr has clearly admitted that the album did not have the finish and the completeness that it might, The Smiths nevertheless arrived as a recording band under Porter’s guidance. Indeed a large part of the album was played on Porter’s 1954 Fender Telecaster, as well as on a Les Paul and Rickenbacker12-string. After the rest of the band went home, John and Johnny would often spend the entire night in the studio, layering guitar parts and piecing together the various pieces of the sonic jigsaw. By morning they would stagger from the studio exhausted, but with finished tapes to hand. It was a lesson in how to manage one’s time and concentration in the studio that would remain with Johnny throughout his career.
As the tracks came together, while working at Eden Studios in Chiswick, Porter decided to bring in one of his contacts to add a little extra colour to some of the songs. Paul Carrack knew John Porter through the mid-Seventies band Kokomo, and received the call from The Smiths’ producer out of the blue, as often happened to the increasingly in-demand ex-Ace and Squeeze player. “I used to do quite a bit of stuff in Chiswick when anyone needed any keyboards doing,” remembers Paul. Bands would be in urgent need of some piano or organ work, and Carrack would get the call. “John [Porter] said he was producing these guys, and that they had this real sort of cult following,” Carrack recalls. “And he said that it was a bit unusual.” Carrack remembers receiving a cassette from Porter, containing the Troy Tate tracks – “some sort of demos or tracks on cassette to get accustomed to,” as he describes them. Having listened over a few times, Carrack “just went up one evening and overdubbed,” appearing on three of the albums’ songs – ‘I Don’t Owe You Anything’, ‘Reel Around The Fountain’ and ‘You’ve Got Everything Now’. “They’d recorded the tracks and just said ‘feel free,’” remembers Paul. “I just instinctively played what happened, and I doubt if it was more than one or two takes per song.” The band relaxed around the studio as Carrack added what he describes as “the icing – a little bit of colour.” Morrisseywas, famously, impressed with Carrack’s trademark swirling Hammond organ sound on ‘You’ve Got Everything Now’, noting with typical dry wit that it sounded like ‘Reginald Dixon on acid,’ which Carrack took as “a huge compliment! I remember him just sort of huddled in the corner, quite shy,” says Paul.
Carrack remembers Johnny as being open and friendly throughout the sessions – as indeed were the whole band: “I don’t remember it being arduous… they were really nice.” Johnny in particular struck Paul as a little bit different to the usual punky guitarist with whom he often found himself working. “I thought Johnny was a nice guy – he talked about his parents, who were music lovers,” Carrack remembers, being impressed when Johnny engaged him in a conversation about the legendary country artist Jim Reeves. “We often used to find that, when you’re with the younger bands, they would be very ‘anti-’ anything like that. Going back twenty years, we were old farts then, and to be talking to this young guy about things like Jim Reeves… I thought, well – they must have something .”
This
As the tracks came together, while working at Eden Studios in Chiswick, Porter decided to bring in one of his contacts to add a little extra colour to some of the songs. Paul Carrack knew John Porter through the mid-Seventies band Kokomo, and received the call from The Smiths’ producer out of the blue, as often happened to the increasingly in-demand ex-Ace and Squeeze player. “I used to do quite a bit of stuff in Chiswick when anyone needed any keyboards doing,” remembers Paul. Bands would be in urgent need of some piano or organ work, and Carrack would get the call. “John [Porter] said he was producing these guys, and that they had this real sort of cult following,” Carrack recalls. “And he said that it was a bit unusual.” Carrack remembers receiving a cassette from Porter, containing the Troy Tate tracks – “some sort of demos or tracks on cassette to get accustomed to,” as he describes them. Having listened over a few times, Carrack “just went up one evening and overdubbed,” appearing on three of the albums’ songs – ‘I Don’t Owe You Anything’, ‘Reel Around The Fountain’ and ‘You’ve Got Everything Now’. “They’d recorded the tracks and just said ‘feel free,’” remembers Paul. “I just instinctively played what happened, and I doubt if it was more than one or two takes per song.” The band relaxed around the studio as Carrack added what he describes as “the icing – a little bit of colour.” Morrisseywas, famously, impressed with Carrack’s trademark swirling Hammond organ sound on ‘You’ve Got Everything Now’, noting with typical dry wit that it sounded like ‘Reginald Dixon on acid,’ which Carrack took as “a huge compliment! I remember him just sort of huddled in the corner, quite shy,” says Paul.
Carrack remembers Johnny as being open and friendly throughout the sessions – as indeed were the whole band: “I don’t remember it being arduous… they were really nice.” Johnny in particular struck Paul as a little bit different to the usual punky guitarist with whom he often found himself working. “I thought Johnny was a nice guy – he talked about his parents, who were music lovers,” Carrack remembers, being impressed when Johnny engaged him in a conversation about the legendary country artist Jim Reeves. “We often used to find that, when you’re with the younger bands, they would be very ‘anti-’ anything like that. Going back twenty years, we were old farts then, and to be talking to this young guy about things like Jim Reeves… I thought, well – they must have something .”
This
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