The Smiths were the ultimate 1980s English indie band, but it could have been so very, very different.
A recording from 1981 has emerged of the group before Morrissey joined.
The Manchester Evening News reports the tape, recorded under the name Freak Party, features guitarist Johnny Marr, bassist Andy Rourke, and Craig Gannon, who years later would rejoin the band as a touring member.
The demo tape, called Kraak Therapy, is full-on funk music - a far cry from the jangling indie sound the Smiths mastered on songs like 'This Charming Man' and 'There Is a Light that Never Goes Out'.
It comes with guest vocals from a soul diva - Angie Brown - and a heavy dose of influences from Grandmaster Flash and Parliament.
Then-drummer Si Wolstencroft found the tape in an old flight case while moving house. He left the band six months after it was recorded, when Morrissey joined.
"The music wasn't funk any more, it was songs about the Moors murderers, and that wasn't for me," he told the paper.
The first song from the tape, 'Firefly', will be released on vinyl on Monday. There will only be 500 copies.
Newshub.
