The Smiths Albums + poll

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I mentioned before that ILM has done albums polls for just about all the major groups from the 80s. There must be more Smiths threads then just about anyone but no discography albums poll. Four albums really isn't enough but I know people love Louder Than Bombs for instance so why not add all their compilations as well? I didn't add any comps this century however, only ones that were around before. With this New Wave is closed for this go around and was a lot of fun.

Voted for the Queen. I love them all but that’s hands down my favorite.

Hatful.

Yeah agree H of H is their best, and I think the OG comps are an essential part of the discography (less so the Best/Singles ones IMO but interested to see if they get love here)

Hah no way, a chance to vote for Singles - Perfect compilation that (especially because it uses the album version of Hand in Glove, sorry all).

Yeah, Singles is a great single CD compilation.

I don't think the Best discs really work as separate parts, they should've made them an inseparable (and awesome) two-disc set. Also prefer the non-U.S. artwork, which looks better as an uncut photo. (aka Dennis Hopper's "Biker Couple, 1961.”)

The complete picture did appear as the cover of the corresponding VHS https://www.discogs.com/release/742451-The-Smiths-The-Complete-Picture

I grew up with the VHS and on CD: both Best... volumes, Singles, Hatful, Queen, Louder, Strangeways and the 1992 7-track This Charming Man single, all courtesy of my dad. There were cassettes of the debut and Meat Is Murder lying around but I didn't hear those - nor Rank and what was leftover on TWWL - for a little while.

Is there a definitive live document of the Smiths or is Rank really the best there is? They're so good on stage, and the TV footage I've seen has been so amazing, I feel like they must have one of THE great live recordings out there, but I don't think Rank is it.

It’s HoH but I voted for my sentimental favourite Strangeways.

I find the track order for Queen is Dead doesn’t do it any favours. There are no bad tracks but it doesn’t really get going until Cemetry Gates.

without hesitation — Meat is Murder. If that album only consisted of the first ~45 seconds of Headmaster Ritual, it’d still get my vote.

Never fails to blow my mind that Marr was still only 23 when they split up

singles could have been a cool comp if it stuck to the 7” versions with a few ringers thrown in. the original hand in glove and boy with the thorn, the edited short versions of how soon, barbarism, ask, and last night; the deleted a-side slower mix of you just haven’t earned it, the longer video mix of the queen is dead, the single remixes of charming man and what difference, and then the rest of the a-sides to pad it out.

hatful is their desert island disc but a remix of meat is murder that removes the cow noises and adds a bit of modern thump to the drums would win.

I really dislike the single ending of Ask - the singing coming to a stop and Johnny's playing coming to the fore is the pay-off of the whole record. Again I think Singles makes all the right decisions re:best versions used.

Has anyone in the Smiths ever expressed a preference between singles mixes and the album mixes? I generally prefer the album mixes with the Smiths, but I'm curious if those were ever considered the preferred versions and whether single mixes were done for other reasons like accommodating the quirks of radio play (broadcast compression, the likely listening environment, knowing how DJ's would transition between songs, etc.)

For me it's very, very close between The Queen Is Dead and Strangeways but the latter takes it as it includes their stunning masterpiece Paint A Vulgar Picture.

Rank!

Is there a definitive live document of the Smiths or is Rank really the best there is? They're so good on stage, and the TV footage I've seen has been so amazing, I feel like they must have one of THE great live recordings out there, but I don't think Rank is it.

― birdistheword, Wednesday, 4 June 2025 23:35 (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Try "The Queen is Dead" deluxe edition, one of the extra CDs is Live in Boston (recorded live at Great Woods, 5th August 1986.)

Boston is good, especially I Want the One I Can't Have. But I wish they'd release an uncut version of the Brixton Rank concert.

The 1983 Derby Assembly concert has been rebroadcast on BBC recently so good bootlegs must exist.

You'd lose a lot with audio only though. That stage invasion!

This was always thought of as *the* classic bootleg, notorious for the moment where Moz loses his rag with the heavy handed security.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1QmCpbsr-4

This one is my favourite. The Tube filmed some of this set for the infamous MARGOX feature so presumably more footage exists somewhere?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywxSc_XR6Zs

Thanks all! I see that the Boston show (or rather that whole deluxe set) is officially streaming. Also, found the Derby Assembly show on YouTube too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CSDHfsteto

Rank was my introduction to The Smiths. One of my best friends bought me a copy after expressing intertest in Morrissey's solo stuff. It floored me. By the time I got around to hearing my first proper album I was underwhelmed -- the energy of Rank is so massive. I came around to the albums a little while later but still, when I need a fix, Rank is still what I reach for.

That Boston gig on the Queen box is great as well!

Yeah I love the grandness of Rank too

I should probably listen to Tank again because my primary memory of it was thinking “good lord, Morrissey sounds like absolute shit” and then never listening to it again

*Rank

stupid phone

Best 1 and 2 were my introduction, and hard to argue with in terms of contents, but Louder Than Bombs is the one I've listened to a million bazillion times, so even though it's missing many of their biggest songs, and loses a lot of steam towards the end, it's somehow the perfect Smiths listening experience for me. Also one of the first batch of three CDs I ever bought, so that's a factor also.

https://ih1.redbubble.net/image.3948990374.4038/raf,360x360,075,t,fafafa:ca443f4786.jpg

Albums that placed on ILM's Albums poll for the 80s:

11. The Queen Is Dead
33. Louder Than Bombs
34. Hatful of Hollow
102. Meat Is Murder
199. Strangeways, Here We Come

Acclaimed Music:

3. 1984 The Smiths #28 Decade
12. 1984 Hatful of Hollow #96 Decade
12. 1985 Meat Is Murder #102 Decade
1. 1986 The Queen Is Dead #3 Decade
11. 1987 Strangeways, Here We Come #94 Decade

I messed up and was not able to fix as I was going on vacation to San Francisco. Decided that since I did all that research to post out those rankings anyways. Also the opening picture that I also forgot...

Voted Bombs because I found it first and it rarely left the car tape deck for quite a while. Strangeways will also get me singing loudly every time.

Someone broke into my car a few years ago and from the bunch of old tapes I had in the glovebox the only one they took was Louder Than Bombs.

> Is there a definitive live document of the Smiths or is Rank really the best there is?

they played 5 or so more songs during the gig that Rank was taken from, a couple of which feel like strange choices of things to remove to me:

> "The songs omitted from the recording of the Kilburn show are: "I Want the One I Can't Have", "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out", "Frankly, Mr. Shankly", "Never Had No One Ever", "Meat Is Murder", and "How Soon Is Now?"

the whole thing was recorded and broadcast by the bbc so it may be around

1984/5 is the sweet spot for me, and this Spanish TV concert is pretty great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlkl1qSbAjE

D'oh, koogs thanks for reminding me I meant Kilburn not Brixton above

ah, ok, i must've missed that.

i did have the whole thing on tape, taped off the radio. i wonder if it's still in the pile...

it *is* still in the pile, a tdk d90. 'The Smiths Live (aka Rank+)' it says, in pencil. i guess the + is the important bit.

technics tape deck hasn't been attached to the amp for ~10 years, maybe it's time...

ah, but

http://passionsjustlikemine.com/live/smiths-g861023.htm

> This concert was recorded by the BBC for later radio broadcast but the recording was never broadcast in full. The most complete sets still lacked "I Want The One I Can't Have", "Never Had No One Ever" and "Meat Is Murder".

Voting for Best... I because it was the actual release that opened them up for me, though Louder Than Bombs has a greater number of good songs and Meat is Murder is their most consistent release.

voted for louder than bombs

Best I is what I fell in love with as a teen so I am kind of obligated to vote for it here. I like all of the albums, but they never quite hang together as well as the comps for me.

world won’t listen followed by hatful and then the st. I guess maybe louder than bombs does tower above all but world won’t listen has all those queen is dead singles.

this is Queen to me, but HoH and the debut are kind of neck and neck behind it.

I had to go with one that included both "Ask" and "Panic" so that limited my choices.

wtf is the deal with all these comps and best-ofs, were they contract breakers of a sort? or different releases for different regions?

The three released while the band existed (HoH, TWWL, LTB) collected singles etc. for the most part. LTB was initially a US-only release that covered much the same territory as TWWL, but the tracklist was different enough that demand in the UK resulted in it being released there as well.

The album was intended to be a substitute for both The World Won't Listen and their 1984 compilation Hatful of Hollow, as these had not been released in the United States.

thanks, I figured it was something like that. weirdly, almost everyone I knew in HS/college had Hatful on release, but I don't remember WWL at all just Louder.

xposts I think it was because Morrissey liked compilations as the sixties was full of budget "The World of" type sets, and wanted some of his own.

Voted Louder Than Bombs because it has the most songs. The Smiths are so consistent that the release with the most songs has to win

hatful was v cheap iirc, first release anyway, which i think is why it's so common

i bought LTB as expensive US import (£15) only for it to be similar to the things i already had and then available as a uk release. but hey.

the two singles comps felt like cash-ins to me and i don't have copies. istr some large company buying the rights and releasing a lot of things in quick succession

when Best I & II came out all their actual albums were out of print in the UK, presumably because of the collapse of Rough Trade records. I bought them because there wasn't anything else available (I did have The Queen Is Dead on cassette which I'd bought a couple of years before). my sister ended up buying them all on import. they got reissued shortly after of course

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Feel that voting for a comp is cheating. I love those two albums in the middle most. The Queen Is Dead got it with a bit of arm twisting.

these days i go for Singles, but Queen is a stone cold classic

I wanted to listen to a few of these comps before voting, no time but ended up with my stand by HoH.

*standard answer Hatful

Louder Than Bombs is going to walk this. Isn't it?

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

That's a lot of votes, 88.

I guessed wrong on which would win.

Taking a break while I think about the next block.

I chose to savor the flavor of Murder