A new vinyl single by The Smiths is set to be released – featuring two unheard tracks from the archives.

As fan site and official Morrissey mouth-piece True-To-You reports, the new 45 is being released by record label Warner featuring as unissued dem0-mix version of ‘The Boy With The Thorn In His Side’ as the A-side, and an unreleased version of ‘Rubber Ring’ as the B-side.

The artwork has also been revealed. Designed by Morrissey, the sleeve is of the classic Smiths aesthetic – featuring Oscar-nominated Murder on the Orient Express and Erin Brockovich actor Albert Finney from their native Manchester. More release details are set to follow.




This comes after last month saw the release of two previously ‘lost’ songs from guitarist Johnny Marr and bassist Andy Rourke’s pre-Smiths band Freak Party. The band were formed by Marr, Rourke and drummer Si Wolstencroft, and were working on music together before forming The Smiths with Morrissey and drummer Mike Joyce just six month later. Wolstencroft unearthed an old tape of songs recorded in 1981 before releasing the tracks on 500 vinyl only copies of it into record shops on his Funky Si Records label.

Meanwhile, Morrissey was recently forced to cancel a run of US gigs after his keyboardist collapsed.