With or without its companion volume, this remains a...rather strange compilation. Even when viewed with Volume 2, these collections include odd selections at the expense of...
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Best, Vol. 2 fills in the gaps from the first volume, but like its predecessor, it lacks cohesion or a sense of what made the Smiths important. Many great songs are...
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Several months after releasing their first album, the Smiths issued the singles and rarities collection Hatful of Hollow, establishing a tradition of repackaging their...
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The Smiths' second album isn't a great leap forward, but it does contain some fine guitar-pop, including "The Headmaster Ritual," "Rusholme Ruffians," and "That Joke Isn't...
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Recorded for John Peel's radio show at the BBC studios on May 18, 1983, these four songs see a very young Smiths fusing their poetic jangle with fierce doses of an energy...
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Arriving in an era dominated by synth pop and gloomy post-punk, the Smiths' eponymous debut was the bracing beginning of a new era. On the surface, the Smiths' sound wasn't...
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A compilation of singles, B-sides, album tracks, and BBC sessions assembled for the American market, Louder Than Bombs is an overlong and unfocused collection that...
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A mess. The band was becoming increasingly a side gig for all involved and the tension wasn't turning out great pop, but languid songs with no discernible purpose other than...
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Recorded as the relationship between Morrissey and Johnny Marr was beginning to splinter, Strangeways, Here We Come is the most carefully considered and elaborately produced...
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Meat Is Murder may have been a holding pattern, but The Queen Is Dead is the Smiths' great leap forward, taking the band to new musical and lyrical heights. Opening with the...
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For many Smiths fans, Rank is as close as they will get to a live performance from Morrissey, Johnny Marr, and company. Recorded live at The National Ballroom in London in...
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The Best of the Smiths collections didn't work because they didn't have a sense of history and distorted the underlying sense of urgency that helped make the Smiths...
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This single, released well after the Smiths' demise, is really just a clever way to package three oft-desired rarities: the campy "I Keep Mine Hidden," the almost-single...
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