The Sound of the Smiths [Deluxe Edition] The Smiths

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CD - Remastered / Special Edition / Digi-Pak

  • Release Date: 11/11/2008
  • 2 Disc Set
  • Sales Rank: 10,925
  • Label: RHINO / WEA
  • UPC: 081227988890

Listener Rating: (2 ratings)

Detailed Rating: "Stimulating" See All

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CD - Remastered$14.89
 
  • Overview
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  • Editorial Reviews
  • Customer Reviews
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Track List
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The Sound of the Smiths [Deluxe Edition]

Disc 1
1LISTENHand in Glove 3:17
2LISTENThis Charming Man 2:43
3LISTENWhat Difference Does It Make? Peel Sessions Version 3:13
4LISTENStill Ill 3:22
5LISTENHeaven Knows I'm Miserable Now 3:35
6LISTENWilliam, It Was Really Nothing 2:12
7LISTENHow Soon Is Now? 12" Version 6:47
8LISTENNowhere Fast 2:38
9LISTENShakespeare's Sister 2:09
10LISTENBarbarism Begins at Home 7" Version 3:51
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Disc 2
1LISTENJeane 3:06
2LISTENHandsome Devil Live 2:56
3LISTENThis Charming Man New York Vocal 5:36
4LISTENWonderful Woman 3:10
5LISTENBack to the Old House 3:05
6LISTENThese Things Take Time 2:23
7LISTENGirl Afraid 2:46
8LISTENPlease, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want 1:52
9LISTENStretch out and Wait 2:45
10LISTENOscillate Wildly 3:28
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About this Artist

Editorial Reviews

Depending on your count, The Sound of the Smiths is the third or fourth posthumous Smiths compilation -- a number that may be a bit excessive considering the group's rather concise catalog, containing just four studio albums and singles rounded up on three singles compilations (and two of those covered the same essential territory, too). That's a lot of repetition but whether it's taken in either its single-disc or double-disc deluxe editions, The Sound of the Smiths is the best of these posthumous overviews. The single-disc -- which is the first disc of the deluxe set -- is the hits disc, containing every cut from the 18-track 1995 compilation Singles and expanding it with five cuts all dating from the mid-'80s: "Still Ill," "Nowhere Fast," "Barbarism Begins at Home," "The Headmaster Ritual" and "You Just Haven't Earned It Yet Baby." As a Smiths-basics goes, it's first-rate, an introduction and summary that's compulsively listenable. The second disc on the deluxe The Sound of the Smiths splits the difference between a rarities compilation and a "more of the best" collection of album tracks, rounding up non-LP singles and B-sides like "Jeane," "Wonderful Woman," "Money Changes Everything," and the New York Vocal version of "This Charming Man," live versions of "Handsome Devil," "Meat is Murder," "What's the World?" and "London," the Troy Tate demo of "Pretty Girls make Graves," and a bunch of great Smiths songs including a hefty chunk of The Queen Is Dead. It falls short of being the long-awaited collection of Smiths rarities, the absence of which remains a mystery, but it's the best stab at one to date and a pretty entertaining listen in its own right. Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

Customer Reviews

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  • Ratings: 2Reviews: 1

review: The Sound of The Smiths: treblezine.comby AE-Bernal

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November 14, 2008: I know what you're thinking, because I, myself, had these same infuriated thoughts: another Smiths compilation? Before you start quoting me the lyrics to that infamous song, track 8 to be precise, from Strangeways Here We Come, there's a reason for hearing out this collection dubbed <i>The Sound of The Smiths</i>. Johnny Marr supervised the mastering of the 45 tracks on this deluxe edition.

The Sound of The Smiths is like hearing my favorite Manchester band with new ears. The Smiths as nature intended. It takes me back to first time I ever heard The Smiths?some of you may remember I have written about it many times for Treble, in the back of mi hermano's car, as he was playing a cassette version of The Queen is Dead. The song was "There is a Light that Never Goes Out." And from the opening notes and lyrics of "Take me out tonight?" my life changed. It seems like every year since that moment, my connection to my beloved The Smiths grows more deeply and devotedly. They were the ones?Morrissey, Marr, Rourke and Joyce?whose music was there for me when I was a recluse alone in my room with only their songs as my only friend. Their songs are still the soundtrack to my younger days. Those times, although filled with days and nights of melancholy and longing, will always be a part of me.

As I have grown, The Smiths' music remains a constant in my ever changing blissful life. The Sound of the Smiths is exempt from my usual lambasting of compilations released by successful bands. It's the songs and the sound of these songs that save The Sound of The Smiths from being just another repackaged album. This remastering is something that needed to be done to the canon of one of my favorite bands. With The Beatles reissues looming around the horizon, The Smiths are equally as worthy of remastering, perhaps even more so. Being a product of their time, the '80s was an era of disillusionment, which The Smiths reflected in such songs as "Last Night I Dreamt that Somebody Loved Me" and "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore." The Smiths were our saviors from our sadness and static lives. Through Morrissey's lyrical dreams, The Smiths gave us hope through these songs that still remain as vibrant and timeless, more so than when we first laid ears to them many years before.

So what songs did Morrissey and Marr select for The Sound of The Smiths, you ask? It's every song from the magnificent Singles CD that came out in 1995 plus "Still Ill," "Nowhere Fast," " Barbarism Begins at Home," "The Headmaster Ritual" and "You Just Haven't Earned it Yet Baby" round up disc one. Disc two has some rarities, including a cover of James' "What's the World," as well as The title track from my favorite Smiths album "The Queen is Dead" sounds more powerfully poetic than ever before. You will hear the difference in: Morrissey's wailing vocals on "Hand in Glove" and "The Boy with the Thorn in His Side," Johnny Marr's echoing guitar greatness on "How Soon is Now," Andy Rourke's funked out bass lines in "Barbarism Begins at Home" and Mike Joyce's signature backbeat on the Peel Session version of "What Difference Does it Make?", all restored to their original sonic brilliance.

Adrian Ernesto Cepeda
11.12.2008
http://treblezine.com/reviews/2918-The_Smiths_The_Sound_of_the_Smiths.html