The Best of Morrissey

1	The More You Ignore Me, the Closer I Get 3:43
2	Suedehead 3:54
3	Everyday Is Like Sunday 3:32
4	Glamorous Glue 4:08
5	Do Your Best and Don't Worry 4:07
6	November Spawned a Monster 5:23
7	The Last of the Famous International Playboys 3:39
8	Sing Your Life 3:26
9	Hairdresser on Fire 3:50
10	Interesting Drug 3:27
11	We Hat It When Our Friends Become Successful 2:30
12	Certain People I Know 3:11
13	Now My Heart Is Full 4:08
14	I Know It's Gonna Happen Someday 4:22
15	Sunny 2:41
16	Alma Matters 4:48
17	Hold on to Your Friends 4:04
18	Sister I'm a Poet 2:25
19	Disappointed 3:05
20	Tomorrow 3:54
21	Lost 3:54

Barnes & Noble

There was a lot of competition, but Manchester's Smiths were arguably one of the best British bands of the 1980s (sorry, New Order). And their influence extended beyond just music: The quartet made it cool to be a bookish, cardigan-sporting smart-nerd, and it ended up passing the torch to current pop acts like Belle & Sebastian, who have been known to cover "The Boy with the Thorn in His Side" in concert. Leading this revolution was the bespectacled and charismatic singer-lyricist Morrissey, an unlikely sex symbol who is worshiped like Sinatra, Michael Jackson, and Elvis, albeit on a smaller scale. Smiths fans originally objected to Morrissey sans his guitar-pal Johnny Marr but quickly came around once his solo career took off. This collection features 21 tracks Moz selected from his six albums and countless singles. There's the smart, funny gems such as "Sister I'm a Poet," "We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful," and "Interesting Drug," along with songs so familiar one might mistake them for Smiths tunes: "Every Day Is like Sunday," "Sing Your Life," and "November Spawned a Monster." A nearly perfect comp in a most imperfect world. Gail O'Hara

All Music Guide

As any Mozzer fan knows, his catalog is cluttered with compilations -- some good, some middling, many unnecessary. So, why the need for Rhino's 2001 collection The Best of Morrissey? Well, according to the press release, it's because there is no Morrissey hits collection available in the U.S., which is technically true, but compilations like Bona Drag, World of Morrissey, and My Early Burglary Years have certainly been on the American market (the catch is they're not hits compilations; actually, I have no idea what they are, since they're always album tracks, singles, and B-sides, playing like your resident Morrissey fanatic's favorite mix tape). This, however, is a genuine hits collection, attempting to gather the best of the EMI/Parlophone years and his tour of U.K. major labels (most of which were released on Sire/Warner in the U.S.). There are singles missing here, but they're by and large minor hits and personal favorites (Southpaw Grammar gets slighted, with no "Dagenham Dave" or "Boyracer"), and nearly every iconic Morrissey song is here. They might not be in chronological order, but they're present and accounted for, and it flows nicely, proving that Morrissey could always deliver gems, from "Suedehead" and "Everyday Is Like Sunday," through "Tomorrow," "I Know It's Gonna Happen Someday," and "The More You Ignore Me the Closer I Get," to the brilliant, underappreciated "Alma Matters." So, this very well may be the Morrissey album for those who don't need every Morrissey album -- but since this is a Morrissey compilation, it does have one piece of bait for collectors, the final Island single, "Lost," from 1998, which I can't even remember coming out and I collect these things. And you know what -- I really wouldn't want Morrissey any other way (which is why us Morrissey fans are considered a sado-masochistic lot, I guess). Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Blender

This is Morrissey’s best album, alas. John Aizlewood