Any Smiths fans out there? I'm in the market for another Smiths CD. I'm currently obsessed with 'The Queen is Dead'. I also have 'Singles', but I have a hard time getting into it; it's just too much at once.

Should I get 'The Smiths', 'Meat is Murder', or 'Strangeways Here We Come' next? The reviews I've read all say that the first one and the last one are great, but I'd like advice from people with musical taste I can appreciate and relate to.


Thanks...

I was just about to start a Smiths thread. I was just listening to them
"Bigmouth Strikes Again" and "Ask" are amongst my all time favourites!

It's a matter of personal taste.. I like all of The Smiths albums. Strangeways is probably the closest to what you've heard, so you might want to try that one. Louder than Bombs is a great collection of different tracks.

(you'll have to excuse me, my Smiths knowledge is a bit patchy - I just put on whatever album without having an encyclopedic knowledge of their music like I do with Prince)

I was just about to suggest Louder Than Bombs, too.

And from The Queen Is Dead, the most natural progression would be to Strangeways Here We Come

As for the rest:
The Smiths (i.e. the album of that name) is a bit of an acquired taste and is certainly less polished than the later stuff, but still of interest.

Meat Is Murder is often overlooked and maybe doesn't have a stand-out track that would draw attention to it, but is again solid and worth a gamble.

Hatful Of Hollow - Pretty much a collection of Radio sessions and B-sides, so a companion to The Smiths with some pretty different versions of earlier songs. Worth checking out to see how flexible they were as arrangers of songs.

Rank - Live album from The Queen Is Dead tour..some good versions and spirited performances, but not for the casual observer.

There are other compilations available, including (UK release) The World Won't Listen, which was half old half new at the time of its release, but this is best substituted with the (originally US-only) compilation Louder Than Bombs



and do yourself a favour: Check out Morrissey's solo stuff!! A few duff albums there but go for:

Vauxhall And I
Your Arsenal
Bona Drag

Meat Is Murder is often overlooked and maybe doesn't have a stand-out track that would draw attention to it, but is again solid and worth a gamble
disagree MIM is a terrific, cold record ( get the original version without How Soo Is Now?) Barbarism Begins At Home is one of the scariest tracks that I've ever heard.
Vauxhall And I how I love Speedway
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[Edited 1/19/05 2:55am]

Love these:


and I must mention:




viva edit
[Edited 1/19/05 3:14am]

jn2 said:

Speedway = Fantastic track. And don't get me wrong, I love MIM - was once my fave Smiths LP, it's just, if I was trying to see it from an outsider's point of view, I'd probably wonder why there were no songs on it I knew (except of course How Soon Is Now, which as you point out wasn't really on the album in the first place). One thing does piss me off though: why has Morrissey played the title track live so often in his solo career? Not a great live favourite He played Hand In Glove when I saw him once though, so I guess I will let him off..

edit: maybe because Mozz is vegetarian
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[Edited 1/19/05 4:11am]

CinisterCee said:

Yes, you can't forget Viva Hate!

I love all these though.

ummm, I don't have much to add except:

I LOVE THE SMITHS!



I personally REALLY like their debut. It has more of a "demo" feel to it and I love Moz's falsetto. GOOD STUFF. But, y'all are prolly right. That album is probably best appreciated once you've really gotten into their other material.

The Smiths are gay.


















































Actually, they're one of my favorite bands of all time. This album is my favorite.

NWF said:

Mine too - I was JUST about to post to emphasize Hatful Of Hollow.

I'm only a casual fan, and I can only really name a few of their singles. I had a roommate in college who sort of overdosed on The Smiths/Morrissey, so I never really took the time to get to know individual albums. I'm gonna use this thread as a starting point.

i'm a fan

I vote for The Smiths and Hatful of Hollow as my favorites. I'm not as keen on Strangeways and Louder than Bombs - although "Girlfriend in a Coma" is one of my most favorite tracks.

I think the best summary of The Smiths is that one Chico has been pumpin' too:

Meat is Murder is your next step, queen is dead is their best, but meat is a clear example of Morrissey at his most egomanical.



Some girl’s mothers are bigger than other girl’s mothers

I'm listening to "Please, please, please, let me get what I want" right now.

Excellent... I'll be picking up another Smith's cd in a day or so.

How is the new Morrissey? Would it be a good introduction to his catalog as a solo artist, or should I start somewhere else?
[Edited 1/20/05 9:07am]

Axchi696 said:

Well, I like it. I started a thread about it a while back and no one else seemed to think much of it though.

Axchi696 said:

Get Strangeways Here We Come, it's their masterpiece. Then get Meat Is Murder, then The Smiths and Hatful of Hollow. Then get Louder than Bombs and Rank. Then you're done.

Now, Morrissey albums ....

minneapolisgenius said:

Mr Page, I'm not a huge fan of "You are the Quarry". It's ok, and there are a couple of good moments on it (First of the Gang and I'm Not Sorry), but all in all it's a pedestrian effort.

Compare that album to Your Arsenal, Vauxhall & I, Southpaw Grammar and half of Viva Hate and it just doesn't come up to scratch. The fact that he consigned not one but two of his finest songs to B-Sides and left dreck like "America Is Not the World" (forget the sentiment - those are the clumsiest lyrics he's ever written this side of "Bengali in Platforms") and "Come Back To Camden" on the album is mind-boggling.

Still, I saw the great man at Earls Court in December and he was superb.

CinisterCee said:

except for a couple of tracks I'm not to familiar with their music... but hey.. their album covers most certainly rank top notch amongst the most boring and unsinspired in music history

or there's some punchline in it I didn't get yet

hey, we have a new album. any ideas for the cover? - hmm... what about a picture of the head of some guy?

so we have another album out. any great ideas for the cover? - yes. why not a picture of the heaad of some guy?

cool, the new album is finished. any new ideas for the cover? - guess so... what about a picture of the head of some guy - four times!!

and there's the new album. so who has some ideas for the cover? - 'course... I thought about a picture of the head of some guy

so what we put on the cover of the new album? tel you waht... let's do one with the head of some guy...

ad-lib til fadeout

Shapeshifter said:

"Mr. Page"...

I don't have Southpaw Grammar, so I can't give my opinion on that one, but yeah, his earlier efforts are much better IMO. I do like You Are the Quarry though, but there are a few songs I skip over on it.

And I like "Bengali in Platforms".

Axchi696 said:

Yeah, I dig them. I got hip to them through this girl I was dating who was a huge fan of theirs. Johnny Marr's guitar playing is cool. On of my favorite songs is "Shoplifters Of The World". I ran a thread about that song quite awhile ago. The chorus is killing.

blackguitaristz said:

Hey there. Haven't seen you around here for a while.

minneapolisgenius said:

Hello.

Dancelot said:

Well that's the unique thing about the band. Instead of the tried and true band photo, they decided to not even put their faces on the cover. Instead they used either random photos of various British people or obscure British movie and pop stars.

NWF said:

I agree. The anonymity of the covers always took me off guard. You can't really settle on them because they're not trying to sell you anything and there's so little context. They're gritty and mildly campy like an experimental found footage film, images displaced from some garbage can I guess - therefore they read "underground". And at least you can say they're consistent.