back to browsing

Complete [Box]

The Smiths
8 discs

0. DISC 1:
1. Reel Around the Fountain
2. You've Got Everything Now
3. Miserable Lie
4. Pretty Girls Make Graves
5. Hand That Rocks the Cradle, The
6. This Charming Man
7. Still Ill
8. Hand in Glove
9. What Difference Does It Make?
10. I Don't Owe You Anything
11. Suffer Little Children
0. DISC 2:
1. Headmaster Ritual, The
2. Rusholme Ruffians
3. I Want the One I Can't Have
4. What She Said
5. That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore
6. Nowhere Fast
7. Well I Wonder
8. Barbarism Begins at Home
9. Meat Is Murder
0. DISC 3:
1. Queen Is Dead, The
2. Frankly, Mr. Shankly
3. I Know It's Over
4. Never Had No One Ever
5. Cemetry Gates
6. Bigmouth Strikes Again
7. Boy with the Thorn in His Side, The
8. Vicar in a Tutu
9. There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
10. Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others
0. DISC 4:
1. Rush and a Push and the Land Is Ours, A
2. I Started Something I Couldn't Finish
3. Death of a Disco Dancer
4. Girlfriend in a Coma
5. Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before
6. Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
7. Unhappy Birthday
8. Painting a Vulgar Picture
9. Death at One's Elbow
10. I Won't Share You
0. DISC 5:
1. Queen Is Dead, The
2. Panic
3. Vicar in a Tutu
4. Ask
5. His Latest Flame/Rusholme Ruffians
6. Boy with the Thorn in His Side, The
7. Rubber Ring/What She Said
8. Is It Really So Strange?
9. Cemetry Gates
10. London
11. I Know It's Over
12. Draize Train, The
13. Still Ill
14. Bigmouth Strikes Again
0. DISC 6:
1. William, It Was Really Nothing
2. What Difference Does It Make?
3. These Things Take Time
4. This Charming Man
5. How Soon Is Now?
6. Handsome Devil
7. Hand in Glove
8. Still Ill
9. Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
10. This Night Has Opened My Eyes
11. You've Got Everything Now
12. Accept Yourself
13. Girl Afraid
14. Back to the Old House
15. Reel Around the Fountain
16. Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want
0. DISC 7:
1. Panic
2. Ask
3. London
4. Bigmouth Strikes Again
5. Shakespeare's Sister
6. There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
7. Shoplifters of the World Unite
8. Boy with the Thorn in His Side, The
9. Money Changes Everything
10. Asleep
11. Unloveable
12. Half a Person
13. Stretch Out and Wait
14. That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore
15. Oscillate Wildly
16. You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby
17. Rubber Ring
18. Golden Lights
0. DISC 8:
1. Is It Really So Strange
2. Sheila Take a Bow
3. Shoplifters of the World Unite
4. Sweet and Tender Hooligan
5. Half a Person
6. London
7. Panic
8. Girl Afraid
9. Shakespeare's Sister
10. William, It Was Really Nothing
11. You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby
12. Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
13. Ask
14. Golden Lights
15. Oscillate Wildly
16. These Things Take Time
17. Rubber Ring
18. Back to the Old House
19. Hand in Glove
20. Stretch Out and Wait
21. Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want
22. This Night Has Opened My Eyes
23. Unloveable
24. Asleep
Read More...
Additional Info

Manufacturer Part Number (MPN): 2564665907
Credits

Producer John Porter; Johnny Marr; Morrissey; Stephen Street; The Smiths
Engineer Grant Showbiz; Neill King; Phil Bush; Stephen Street
Personnel: Morrissey (vocals); Johnny Marr (guitar, mandolin, harmonica, piano, harmonium); Craig Gannon (guitar); Andy Rourke (cello, bass guitar); Mike Joyce (drums); Orchestrazia Ardwick.
Liner Note Author: Ivor Jones.
Photographers: Ian Tilton; Steve Wright; Jolle Depnt; Andy Catlin.
First off, no, this box set doesn't contain the Complete Smiths, not even in its super-deluxe edition containing vinyl replicas of the group's singles and LPs. Stray B-sides don't appear here, nor do the scrapped sessions for the first album and a few other heavily bootlegged numbers, but what is here are sterling remasters -- allegedly supervised by Johnny Marr -- of the band's four albums, three compilations, and lone live album, all released during the band's exceedingly brief lifespan. What matters is that the remastering is exceptional, the best comparison being the Beatles 2009 remasters, where layers of grime seemed to be removed from familiar recordings, so the songs sounded vibrant and alive, yet didn't sound tweaked, buttressed, or burnished for a new millennium. That is what makes The Complete Smiths essential: no surprises in terms of material, but the presentation is exquisite, sounding familiar and fresh, a stunning re-presentation of records that were teetering on the edge of over-familiarity. Guitars and vocals pop equally, the original mixes simply brightened, a task harder to achieve than it is to imagine, the music sounding part of its time yet easily transcending it. Far from a vulgar picture, this is what Smiths fans have been waiting years for. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Critic Reviews

Magnet (p.51) - "[W]hate emerges from COMPLETE is a guitarist equal to the likes of Ry Cooder and Mark Ribot: a master musician capable of creating new worlds as easily as he inhabited and recombined old ones without ever hogging the spotlight."
Record Collector (magazine) (p.99) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "Marr's the one who soars on these records -- now more than ever....Morrissey sounds sensual -- check him out on 'Stretch Out And Wait' -- and altogether adult."
Uncut (magazine) (p.96) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "It took one single to make them seem interesting, another to confirm that they were special, and then an early 1984 b-side to prove that they were magnificent."