On May 19th of last year, Andy Rourke passed away. Bassist of the seminal Smiths, he did much after that, most recently teaming up with Kav Sandhu of Happy Mondays as Blitz Vega. Between the pandemic, Rourke’s health, and visa issues, the group never really got to tour, but they have given us Rourke’s final release, Northern Gentleman.
While certainly containing the emotion you remember from The Smiths way back when, Northern leans decidedly more into the rock, pressing into the light with opener “Disconnected”. The following “Strong Forever” is going to be the song that people most remember, between its soaring now-posthumous hope and featuring Smiths’ Johnny Marr on guest guitar (the first release to ever feature a reunion of any Smiths members). From there, Gentleman shifts in different rock styles, including the torch-loss “Lost Myself”, procession “Lost & Found”, slow “High Gravity”, and slyer “LA Vampire”, but it’s the killer up-rock energy on the pressing “Love City” (QRO review) that is the standout.
There is a tendency to look at a beloved artist’s final release with rose-colored glasses (this album didn’t need the record-scratch rap/rock closer “Pass the Gun”, but we’ll allow it), but Northern Gentleman stands on its own, as well as a strong capstone to a great career & life.
