I’m sure there are other threads about sound quality, but if you at all care about that, I’d stay away from the remastered cds and vinyl. I’ve owned the Complete cd box and the Queen Is Dead cd box, and still have several of the remastered LP’s, but there are much better sounding versions available. I can’t give a definitive list of the best versions, but I really my original Rough Trade cds of Meat Is Murder, Hatful of Hollow, and Strangeways, and my original Sire cds of s/t, The Queen Is Dead, Louder Than Bombs, and Rank.
Sure, without Morrissey it wouldn't be the Smiths. But I think you severely underestimate Johnny Marr, especially because he wrote all the music. And the music wasn't a mere backdrop to the singing or the lyrics. Without Marr you'd have a very different band. I'd also argue that Andy Rourke is quite unsung. His bass lines further elevated Marr's material by intertwining with the guitar parts rather than simply being a foundation for them, thereby becoming an intregal element of the songs. He was an extraordinary bassist in the tradition of John Entwistle and Jean-Jacques Burnel of the Stranglers, both of whom were crucial to their band's sound and far beyond "supporting musician" status.
It’s ok, but to me, it mainly serves to demonstrate how much more gifted Morrissey is at coming up with melodies. I’ve often fantasized about what Morrissey might have come up with for those same backing tracks on The Messenger.
Like some are saying, also never cared much for the Mozzer's vocals, but it made them (all the more) unique at that time. I still dug 'em/dig 'em though. If Morrisey would've given in to the occasional cheeseburger and gotten laid more, maybe he wouldn't have been so depressed
About Morrissey, the early singles and b-sides compilation "Bona Drag" is excellent - I prefer the original CD which you can find easily. Morrissey's early singles produced by Stephen Street sound very close to The Smiths and are great songs. I pretty much lost interest in Morrissey after Your Arsenal.
There are only 70-something officially released Smiths songs and none are duds - but I even like the results of the infamous last recording session! So my advice would be to just start at the beginning with the self-titled record and go from there. And take your time - you will be up to Strangeways before you know it. To me Shoplifters Of The World Unite bears the strongest resemblance to How Soon Is Now.
First time I've heard anyone complaining about the remasters. These were all done under the watchful eye/ ear of Marr himself. They have been compared favourably to The Beatles remasters of two years previous, in terms of care and quality of work involved. Oh wait a second, I forgot there are still people here who prefer the non-descript 80s Beatles CDs to the remasters too...... But seriously, what is wrong with them in your opinion? They are not loud or compressed sounding at all. I have had a hard time getting used to having to turn them up all the time compared to contemporary CDs! I think they sound great and certainly QID gains from some spit and polishing.
Glad to see another person taking the plunge! I finally got around to giving them a chance back in 2008 after checking out The Queen Is Dead. After that there was no turning back. Their discography is just about perfect, without a dud in the bunch.
My thought on the Smiths is if you get one album, whatever it is, and like pretty much everything on it, don't bother with the greatest hits collections. Because you'll likely want to get all the studio albums eventually and then the GH collections will become redundant. If I had nothing, I'd start at the beginning with their S/T, then move on to Hatful of Hollow, Meat is Murder, Queen Is Dead, Louder than Bombs, and finally Strangeways. Then you'd have pretty much everything as far as studio recordings and be able to follow their evolution over time. Sometimes when an artist or group has a ton of albums, some mediocre, it can be a slog to go through in chronological order. But with the Smiths, everything is good and there's only 6 or so albums that will get you the vast majority of what's out there, so going through in order is a good way to do it.
Firstly, totally agree. Secondly, even though it has nothing to do with Smiths, I just had to say I love that avatar. A great show that was.
this is ridiculous! who ever says Morrissey has no sense of humour with the Smiths?? anyone who can't see the humour in his lyrics HAS no humour themselves. (drops mic)
The Smiths is an unusual case among bands. You can collect various songs of theirs together for a completely different take on them. And these are all valid, unlike say the Beatles. I don't think they really did albums cohesively. Their closest was The Queen is Dead. I never was much on the albums, which put me off as packages. I preferred singles, b-sides, Louder than Bombs, and perversely, Strangeways Here We Come, which was maudlin, funny, and yes, sounded like a coda.
The book is interesting and I’m only a casual Smiths fan. However reading it you can certainly understand why so many people think Morrissey is a twat. One of my memories from the book is a time when he’s playing (solo) in some European city to a crowd of a few thousand people (either 2 or 5 thousand I think). Yet he makes it sound like the city is overcome with swooning mass celebrations that Morrissey was in town. It’s an ego way out of kilter with his actual place in the world.
Did not know it was their favourite. I can't really listen to the other albums, they just seem off to me. Its the compilations and Strangeways!
If you want a real laugh, try this: Rob Sheffield Ranks All 73 Smiths Songs Rolling stone tying themselves in knots trying to rank Smiths songs, when they obviously don't care. sample: 71 - Paint a Vulgar Picture: A tacky badge of celebrity complaints, taking up too much space on their farewell album, Strangeways, Here We Come.
me too.... I can't imagine telling a new fan to ignore: A1 Is It Really So Strange? 3:02 ▸ A2 Sheila Take a Bow 2:41 ▸ A3 Shoplifters of the World Unite 2:57 A4 Sweet and Tender Hooligan 3:33 ▸ A5 Half a Person 3:35 ▸ A6 London 2:06 ▸ B1 Panic 2:17 ▸ B2 Girl Afraid 2:48 ▸ B3 Shakespeare's Sister 2:08 ▸ B4 William, It Was Really Nothing 2:10 B5 You Just Haven't Earned It Yet Baby 3:21 ▸ B6 Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now 3:3 Just because it's a "compilation"..... this is 2/3 of their best output...
