The "Smiths" and Beyond Book

When The Smiths emerged from Manchester in 1983, Kevin Cummins was ideally placed to record the group's progress. The former art and design student has been photographing bands in his hometown from the late '70s onwards, carving out a niche as the city's music photographer laureate. His portraits of the late Ian Curtis, frontman with the influential Joy Division, had helped immortalise the singer around the world. As far as local boy turned semi-tragic hero was concerned, Smiths singer Morrissey was Curtis' more flamboyant successor and as The Smiths turned into one of the great British bands of the '80s, bringing poetry, miserablism, celibacy chic and gladioli-waving to a grey post-punk music scene, it was entirely natural that Cummins would become one of their most intimate and astute visual chroniclers. Cummins did their publicity stills, shot countless features for the NME and other magazines, tracked their gigs and travelled the world with Morrissey, Marr, Rourke and Joyce. The arch conceptualiser in Cummins and the self-mythologiser in Morrissey was a fecund combination, producing photos which transcend their status as memorabilia. The Smiths and Beyond by Cummins may not be the last word on the band, but it's certainly the last transparency.Read More