The Smiths Album: “The Sound Of The Smiths: The Very Best Of The Smit”

To SMITHS fans: PLEASE STOP with the "Best of, most of, satiate the need, re-issue, re-package..." references! Enough!

We've all heard "Paint a Vulgar Picture". It's not rare. It's not obscure. It doesn't make you more of a fan for knowing it. We've all heard what Morrissey said more than 21 years ago... Get over it now... Let it Go!

With that being said, what true Smiths fan doesn't want "Wonderful Woman" remastered??? And what about "Jeane"?? Seriously?! The Troy Tate sessions version of "Pretty Girls Make Graves"?? Superb! I know it was available on the "Stop Me" EP (Japan and Germany), but this sounds MUCH better.

By the way, Johnny Marr himself worked on the remastering with Frank Arkwright (who Marr hand-picked to remaster it with him). "They just made it louder", right? Wrong. They remastered it. They removed the lame equalizers, they removed the tape hiss, they restored it as closely to the original studio sound as Marr could get. If it just sounds louder, then stop listening to it on your computer and try a Real stereo.

This collection finally gives us rarities and things a bit tougher to find. I think it has a few obvious omissions (UNLOVEABLE, RUBBER RING, etc), but overall it's fantastic!

People whine about "Yet another Smiths collection", but let's understand that just because something has come first, it doesn't mean that it's better. This collection SHOULD have been made. What SHOULDN'T HAVE been made was "Best 1" and "Best 2" - which featured songs chosen by some old Warner Brothers record company exec, and "The Very Best of" (with the shockingly bad cover art) was a bit weak as well. THIS collection should have been the one made! Not the others. Somehow, this gets a bad wrap because the other discs were released first. Tell me, is your girlfriend's Ex better than you are? Well, he was first, so...??

Smiths fans: Grab this, you'll love it! People dismissing this as a money-making scheme are exhausting. EVERYTHING on the planet is a money-making scheme. Food is a money-making scheme. Clothing is a money-making scheme. Healthcare is a money-making scheme. If it's that tough to buy a 2CD set of one of the best, most influential bands of all time, perhaps you should get a new job, or change your work ethic so you can make more money. Perhaps trade in your "Best 1" and "Best 2" at your favorite used record shop to get this collection instead.

Don't miss out on the first proper Smiths collection for a true Smiths fan, or someone who already owns all of the albums. You know you'll love it. How could you not?

I'll skip the track-by-track, in-depth analysis and just make my points. Firstly, to my ears anyway, this definitely sounds MUCH different than the tracks on the original LPs (or CDs). And I hate to say it, but not for the better. I was excited that the somewhat muddled sound of the earlier albums might have been cleaned up with taste and subtlety, and mostly the tracks would be left alone except for the odd tweak here and there, but what greeted me in my headphones was a bit of a shock. Overly spacious and loud, yet also compressed in the ranges which matter, as if they were mastering it for FM radio. I wanted more true dynamic range; all this offers is that faux "roominess" (boominess is the better word) that some liberally applied digital reverb and spatialising offers. These were gee-whiz items in the early 90s when all of pop music was jumping on the effect for its ability to resonate even from cheap speakers, such as those on a computer or in a car, or where there was lots of ambient noise, such as in a club. But when *I* listen to music on headphones, or on a good system in an acoustically neutral room, I don't want all that bassy reverb - I'd go listen to the CDs in a big cave if I did. I want an intimate, upfront sound with a proper soundstage. To quote Mozzer, "Is that too much to ask?"

Sadly, I can't recommend this repackaging of songs from my favourite band. It's ok to have if you're a completist or just want to hear some spacy effects on your most cherished tracks (a bit like the way Depeche Mode or Bjork release tonnes of remixes of most of their songs)... it gives you another option, and options are a good thing. The songs themselves of course remain brilliant, I just personally don't like the new mastering. Fortunately it's not as though the original versions are being discontinued, otherwise I'd have to be even harsher on this set. Go ahead and try it out or even purchase it if you're keen - but don't say I didn't warn you if you find yourself shelving it very soon for the original John Porter / Stephen Street sound that was good enough for the majority of us in the 80s, and still sounds great to my ears in 2009. Although having said that, I'd *still* buy a "correctly" cleaned up remastering, something akin to the new Beatles releases... Thanks for reading my review!

Yeah, so you all knew it was coming. So here we have yet another Smiths hits release and yet again this collection is not a perfect fit for either newcomers, casual fans, or hardcore completists.

Newcomers and casual fans are simply seeking the bands biggest hits in their original versions. You're not going to be able to appreciate the subtle changes present in the Peel Sessions unless you're wholly familiar with the originals. The superiority of those and the originals are entirely subjective anyway, and the inclusion of these seeming randomly selected rare cuts here are confusing at best.

This newest collection is roughly half originals and half live/peel session/alternate takes etc. Some of which is labeled here, some isn't (for instance, the version of "Stretch Out and Wait" here is an alternate take with different lyrics than the one found on LOUDER THAN BOMBS).

The completists, such as myself, find it awfully irritating to have to sift through the material we already have to get to the rare tracks. Most of which are already available by other means, but never so nicely restored in sound quality.

A more logical release would entail a two-pronged approach in which one version featured all The Smiths hits as they originally appeared on their studio albums and singles. The other release would only contain the rarities, live cuts, demos, and all the related miscellany.

As it stands, this is a collection that tries vainly to be everything to everyone and succeeds at nothing. I'll pass.

I had to get this. There are some great rarities, and as a career retrospective, I don't think the track-listing could be better. In my opinion, nothing is missing here. Also, every track is completely remixed and remastered, but therein lies a problem. They sound different.

I heard Marr "supervised" the production (i.e. - remixing and remastering), but when hearing this one wonders what happened to the magic from the original mixes. It is nice to hear a more modern sounding version of the songs, but I often find myself missing the original treatments. A lot of effects have been removed, leaving the old Mozzah out on a limb in some cases, and the instruments are more distinguishable, but not always as bright as you may be used to.

Unfortunately, nearly every track suffers from this problem and cannot be considered a definitive version. Where was Stephen Street?

Anyway, apart from all that, the discs contain some wonderful treasures like the live cut of "Meat Is Murder", interestingly in a different key, and "Jeane" which is hard to come by anymore and oddly sounds better than some of the other songs. I had never heard the instrumental, "Money Changes Everything" either so I'm pleased to have acquired some great new cuts. Never mind "What's The World". It still sounds like crap.

If you are trying to get into The Smiths, I recommend "The Queen is Dead" and "Louder Than Bombs" for starters and branching out from there, as you can't really go wrong, although the self-titled album and some of the tracks on "Hatful of Hollow" sound a bit raw to one who prefers their more polished work.

Combine an introverted bedroom wordsmith (Morrissey) with an extroverted understated guitar genius (johnny Marr) and you have arguably England's best musical marriage since Lennon and McCartney. The Smiths live on in the hearts and minds of those who survived the eighties and those naive youngsters who wish they had been there. Hopeful romantics may want to pick up this latest greatest collection from England's Kings of Melancholy. The Sounds of The Smiths is a wonderful compilation for Smiths completists and newbies alike.

The great tunes are all here (How Soon is Now, This Charming Man, Panic) along with b-sides from their import singles (Jeane, Handsome Devil). We're told they've been remastered but this it is hardly noticable to these concert worn ears. What you're really getting here is a generous sampling of some of the finest music and lyrics written and recorded in the last 25 years.

If you've never heard Morrissey's mournful croon, I'd suggest checking out a sample before buying this CD (his unique voice is a deal breaker for some.) But if you appreciate cruel irony and wicked wit mixed with shimmering melodic guitar in an indie-rock supermodel package then The Sound of The Smiths should be your next purchase. With apologies to Natalie Portman and The Shins, this is the music that could change your life...