They’re hailed as one of music’s most influential bands, but as The Smiths’ debut album’s producer John Porter tells us, they were more than a little green during those early studio sessions. Porter spoke to us to mark the auctioning of a huge array of original test pressings, acetates and original mixes which were discovered - unplayed since the 1980s - in his sister’s attic.
The auction is being put on by Wessex Auction Rooms on Friday 24th January. The team’s vinyl specialist, Martin Hughes, had this to say about the amazing assortment of 53 records, collector's items and first pressings up for bidding; “Spending time with John Porter has been such a fascinating experience. I am fortunate to deal with important collections of vinyl records every day, but those collections rarely come from the person who produced them. The auction catalogue has been online for a week and has attracted interest from some of the biggest collectors of The Smiths, vinyl records, and music memorabilia in the world. I am expecting some fierce bidding!”
John’s journey into record production stemmed from a deep love of R&B and the blues This evolved into a passion for recording - alongside a firm creative relationship with Roxy Music’s lynchpin, Bryan Ferry (more on that in the interview).
After a varied career, Porter met The Smiths whilst working on a BBC session. Impressed with his studio aptitude and dissatisfied with an early recording of their debut produced by The Teardrop Explodes’ Troy Tate, Porter was enlisted to take the production reins, re-record and re-produce the entire thing and eventually helm some of the biggest cuts of the band’s career.
Since then, John has, in his words, worked on close to 500 records, and after 30+ years in the US (between LA and New Orleans) collaborating with a range of blues, jazz and rock musicians, has returned to the UK.
We were intrigued to find out more about his life and career, but first, we wanted to know more about the upcoming auction.
MusicRadar: Thanks for speaking to us today, John. Firstly can you give us a bit of an overview of this upcoming auction, and what the items are that you’re putting up?
John Porter: “What’s strange is that I didn't know I had them. Sadly, my older sister died about six months ago and my younger sister was clearing out her house up in Leeds. She had somebody go into the attic to see what was up there. There were three bags of stuff up there. There were two bags of Marvel Comics that dated back to the 1960s. The other bag had, not all, but 95% of the stuff that's in the auction.
“I honestly don't know how it got there. I mean, obviously I must have left them there at some point.
“I used to live in Hampstead in London, and when I went to live in America, I left piles and piles of stuff in the attic of the house. I must have separated [the records up for auction] out and put them in the bag and took them up to Leeds.
“Over the 30 years I was in America, the house was rented out. As I say, I’d stashed lots of old records, tapes, cassettes and acetates up there. One of the tenants went up there and took everything so I’d assumed these [records] had been lost too.
“In those days, I used to mix a song and then I'd take a quarter-inch tape of the mix home to listen to the mix. If the mix was alright, I'd go to the mastering room - with the Smiths I usually mastered with Tim Young at CBS. I'd get an acetate or test pressing, or both. So, these are what's in the auction. They’ve probably been played only once - back when we were making those tracks.”
