One of a string of brilliant singles by The Smiths, "Ask" was released in 1986 - and despite being 32 years old for goodness sake, it still stacks up pretty well. Most great singles don't clock in over three minutes and this was no exception.
Johnny Marr's trademark guitars are there, multi-tracked to provide a wall of sound and Morrissey comes up with his usual lyrical tomfoolery. All in all, it could only be The Smiths.
At the time I bought all their albums and singles, often the latter didn't appear on any original album ("Ask" doesn't). Mrs P and I also saw them live at Portsmouth Guildhall in 1985, and they were certainly a great live act too. Marr is one of the all-time great guitarists in my opinion. Support that night came from an emerging Mancunian band called James...
As ever with The Smiths' releases the cover was also a work of art. This time featuring Yootha Joyce of 'George & Mildred' fame.
Here's the music:
https://youtu.be/zoo9Vu1a9bU
