From Amazon.co.uk
It's a shame that the people responsible for
The Very Best of The Smiths were neither shameless nor honest enough to include "Paint a Vulgar Picture" on this compilation. Morrissey's awesomely prescient analysis of record company rapacity ("Re-package! Re-package! Re-evaluate the songs/ Double-pack with a photograph/Extra track and a tacky badge") would have been a suitable introduction: The Smiths are already one of the most collected, compiled and anthologised bands in rock history (we've been here already with
Best. . . 1,
Best. . . 2,
The World Won't Listen,
Louder Than Bombs and
Singles, and there's nothing new on
The Very Best Of bar a claim that it is "Digitally Remastered", as if anyone can tell). However, it could reasonably be argued that
The Very Best Of is not entirely redundant: it appears at a time when the British indie tradition that The Smiths raised to heights still unequalled is now in the hands of people who never knew these songs, who were still in short pants when The Smiths split in 1988. It might be hoped, therefore, that this collection will serve two purposes: one, to inspire today's crop in pursuit of the heights scaled here; two, to remind an increasingly unfussy audience of just how dull, timid and witless the likes of Travis, Coldplay and Stereophonics sound alongside "This Charming Man", "The Boy With The Thorn in His Side" and "How Soon Is Now?".
--Andrew Mueller
Album Details
Import only 23 track collection. All tracks have been digitally remastered. Tracks, 'Panic', 'The Boy With The Thorn In His Side', 'Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now', 'Ask', 'Bigmouth Strikes Again', 'How Soon Is Now?', 'This Charming Man', 'What Difference Does It Make?', 'William, It Was Really Nothing', 'Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others', 'Girlfriend In A Coma', 'Hand In Glove', 'There Is A Light That Never Goes Out', 'Please Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want', 'That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore', 'I Know It's Over', 'Sheila Take A Bow', 'I Started Something I Couldn't Finish', 'Still Ill', 'Shakespeare's Sister', 'Shoplifters Of The World Unite', 'Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me' & 'Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before'.2001 release.
See all 23 tracks on this disc
