Smile From The Streets You Hold

This arrived at my house today after a crazy day at work, and it cheered me up immensely. That may seem incongruous given the nature of the record, but it did. Many John fans might wonder why I want to own this album, or have anything to do with it. After all, it is incredibly painful to listen to in parts. We all know what John’s life was like when it was released, and why it was released.

A few weeks ago, I certainly wanted to avoid it. I was fresh from watching the ‘94 VPRO interviews with John, which made me cry and feel horrified and sad, even though I knew how things turned out. I didn’t really want to delve into his work from the 90s. Eventually, though, I gave Smile a listen (thanks to a friend) and persevered with it. As I opened up to it, I began to realise how much beauty existed on the record, especially in the guitar parts.

Apart from having the compulsion to own ALL the albums by my favourite artists and understand their whole body of work, my simple reason for wanting to own this album was that its beauty certainly outweighs its pain. In many parts, it’s simply gorgeous. That’s all, really.

-Mel

PS: For those wondering, I bought this for 20 pounds on Amazon UK.