The Smiths Album: “Very Best Of [Remaster]”

....to the rants by the hardcore, judgemental ,lockstep internet fans who have planted some of the above negative reviews. First off, This CD sounds about a million percent better than any of the previous issues of these tracks. How could someone not hear this? I guess that's what happens when you listen to music only on your PC! A big plus is the correct versions of some singles are finally used on CD! Second ,it is a pretty perfect selection and it is sequenced great. Thirdly,the mediocre cover and careless packaging are inexcusable but not fatal. It just makes a 5-star rating a 4-star... Buy it.

yeah, a lot of hardcore smiths fans trash this album, but its because they're insulted by the grotesque cover art and the mispelling of a couple song titles on the back (WTF?), and because the smiths' music has already been repackaged and rereleased so much. however, "Very Best Of" is the best album available to introduce new listeners to the smiths, or give casual fans a bunch of their best songs for cheap. Also, the argument that greatest hits collections aren't as good as "real" albums doesn't really apply to the smiths; they released their music over a period of only a couple years, and specialized in producing tons of great singles which stood on their own, which were then slapped together onto various albums. Its true that you'll eventually need to buy several more smiths albums since they have so many great songs scattered on different LPs, but this collection is a good place to start if you're not a hardcore fan yet.

I'm from the uk, so I got this rather cheaper than it is here. Anyhoo, this is an exellent album and I'm listening to it right now. I chose this from the many Smiths compilations as it had the most songs I liked on it. Nearly every track is amazing, 'I know its over' makes me cry, and there are very catchy happy songs like 'This charming man' and 'Shiela take a bow'. In fact if i listed my favourite tracks I would be listing half the album!

I would definetly reccomend this, never mind if they didnt want it released or the cover is 'wrong'. And you get all their best songs in one place! The booklet also has the song lyrics in it, which is useful. The track order is good, like all the good tracks arn't at the beginning and then its gets crappy, oh no.

I'm quite impressed by The Smiths, they have a sound you dont get nowadays, they are happy but sad at the same time. All the lyrics are very interesting and unique, some lyrics make you laugh, and you can listen to the songs over and over without getting tired of them. I can also relate to a few songs, which isnt usual for me.

A band as great as The Smiths deserves better than this. When I first saw this listed for release I couldn't believe what I was seeing. That cover shot is so wrong on so many levels. It tells me that the compilation compilers really don't understand The Smiths. 3 stars is warranted strictly due to the fact that this release is digitally remastered - but truth be told, most people wouldn't notice the difference. So, do yourself a favour - DO NOT buy this Best Of (or Best Of Vol. 1 & 2 for that matter) and find a copy of Singles. Then buy the individual albums - hell, Amazon is practially giving them away - at least in Canada!

I am surprised to see so many comments on this release that are not on the positive side. This is the best compilation of the Smiths out there, plain and simple. It covers all of the classics and the remastering on it sounds fantastic! Way better than the 2 best of CDs out there now.

I heard this CD was not authorized by the band, but even if that is the case, the sound quality is too good to pass up. Why haven't they given the same treatment to all their releases I will never know!?