A Light That Never Goes Out: The Enduring Saga of the Smiths Paperback – December 3, 2013

So far, I have finished about half of the book. Lots of pages and small print. I am not an avid reader anyway. Most of what I have read, I already knew about. I own another bio about the Smith's, but this one is a little more in depth. So for what I have read, I am pleased with and would recommend this book. I bought a hard cover first edition just out of habit. It is very heavy after holding it for awhile, so if soft copy is not an issue, I would recommend that as the one to get. I just buy first edition hard copies when possible as they sometimes increase in value and they also look much better on our library shelf. My partner is quite an avid reader and buys mostly soft copies,but we donate a lot of the soft backs to the local libraries.I have been a huge fan of The Smith's since I heard their first single in the early eighties. I remember that it was just a 12 inch two sided single in a white slip cover and it played at 45 rpm. I really miss records and i am considering buying a VPI Scout turntable in the near future. I had many of these early gems from several artist like New Order, Joy Division and other great U.K. bands from that era. I wish I still had the 12 inch singles, they sell for a lot on auction sites and I would like to replace the ones I gave away for the "new and supposedly better format", the CD.Great read so far,James

If you like the smiths! You will love this book!

A thick tome that covers the Smiths in great detail from each member’s birth and childhood to the breakup of the band. If you are a fan of the band, a worthwhile read.

I was very impressed on how this book was put together. As a huge Smith's fan and musician, I liked how the author put just the right amount of attention on the technical aspect of the song compositions and the context around them but mainly focused on the band members themselves. This book is not in the least bit sycophantic and left the reader to decide the rights and wrongs of the numerous interesting dramas. It's hard to imagine a better organized biography of the band. 5 stars.

A pleasure to read, it was formatted well and no spelling errors (that I noticed). I learned a lot about Manchester, GB, other bands and the music industry in the 80s. I’lol look for more from this author

I wanted to like this book, I really did. But this a book that claims to be about the Smiths, yet does not get into talking about the Smiths until around page 200. Before that we are treated to some history about the industrial revolution and Manchester's place in it. There is deep background on the slums and housing developments of Manchester and a lot of information about the family history of both Morrissey and Johnny Marr. There is a lot of information about the Manchester music scene prior to The Smiths. I mean, there is just SO MUCH INFORMATION about things that are peripherally related to the Smiths, but not actually related to the formation of the band or about the band itself in anything but the broadest sense. Yes, there would have been no Smiths if they hadn't both been raised in Manchester, but that's self evident. It doesn't need to be elaborated upon so thoroughly.It becomes frustrating pretty early on in the read, waiting for some juice, some info, the dirt on the band and instead being given the barest hint of detail about the band itself but loads and loads of info about Rough Trade and other Manchester bands. I felt like the author danced around everything but never really delivered the goods. Every time I thought, "Here we go, now we'll get into it," it meandered off again. The timeline of the Smiths is there, but the real story, the behind the scenes particulars that I was hoping for were frustratingly elusive.It also ends abruptly. The author references the lawsuit that Mike Joyce and Andy Rourke brought against the band several times but the book ended without any discussion at all about the what the members of the band did after the breakup. I would rather have skipped the lessons on the industrial revolution and Thatcherite England and read instead about Morrissey, Mars, et al post-Smiths. I think the years after the band broke up are a really interesting piece of their puzzle, but the author doesn't delve into it at all. Is there an "enduring saga" of the Smiths? We don't know because Tony Fletcher doesn't talk about it.Also, there is a general overuse of parentheses throughout the book. Some pages are covered in parenthetical information and the author has a really annoying habit of giving words or phrases dual or additional or contrasting meaning by using parenthetical appendages. For instance:"...it was another thing entirely to parade a (much younger) member of the aristocracy...""...his increasingly (and unapologetically) flamboyant changes...""...had remained under British rule (and neglect) for the past half century...""...immediate (if wary) interest...""...rescued (somewhat embarrassingly) by an elderly couple...""...infamous for listing the (cheap) production costs of their records on their (broadsheet-style) single sleeves...""...all enjoyed (their first) British top 10 singles...""...a moment of (men's) liberation...""...long standing (lack of) approach to business...""...dealing with it all as (ab)normal life in the Smiths...""...take greater responsibility for his own (in)actions...""...delegating some of his long-standing (and long suffering) responsibilities..."This is just a small percentage of the parentheses employed in this text. They are incredibly distracting and toward the end of the book I wasn't reading so much as looking for the parentheses and fuming. Then, when it ended suddenly and without a (certainly called for) epilogue I was disappointed (and angry).A Light That Never Goes Out is a missed opportunity. A good editor and an author more willing to discuss the band he's talking about instead of detailing every bit of his research into Manchester and England's industrial age could have turned this into a compelling portrait of a band that implodes under the pressure of two large personalities. Instead it flounders under Fletcher's inability to find and maintain a focus on his subject matter.

Bought this as a gift. He was so surprised and pleased. Not much ought there on The Smiths despite their part in Rock history.

If you can get through the first slogging 100 pages this is a well worth read... Not many in depth biographies of the Smiths and this will do for now.