The Smiths

The Smiths | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Warner Bros / Wea
• ASIN: B000002L5P
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #15,559 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

No Description Available.
Genre: Popular Music
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 20-JAN-1989

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Manchester, so much to answer for ...., February 7, 2002

By 

Melissa Hardie "mjh1963" (Potts Point, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Smiths (Audio CD)

The Smiths were the best musical moment of the 1980s -- I know, I lived through them. This album is probably my favourite, and must be in the canon of amazing debuts: nothing like it before, and nothing since. For one thing, there was the cover art. At at time when most bands favoured monochromatic "new wave" dots and blobs, the covers were sober, nostalgic, personal and iconic. Crushingly vivid colours and their signature style made it exciting just to *see* their albums. In this case, the murky photo of Joe Dellesandro gives a hint of the Morrissey world view and aestheticism, but it's ambiguous and out of context, meaning that the Smiths became very hard to "brand."

But of course the appeal of this record came from its musical beauty. Morrissey's plangent, steady voice was astonishing, but moreso were his lyrics. "I dreamt about you last night, and I fell out of bed twice/ you can pin and mount me, like a butterfly." Reel Around the Fountain still gives me goosebumps -- it's an anthem which evokes not just the usual teen angst, but what is unusual, and sad, and real about it as well.

I love every track, but most of all its wonderful beginning, the glorious insouciance of "Hand In Glove," and the mordant "Suffer Little Children" which evokes the grisly Moors Murders as a foundation myth for Mancusian angst, but also for all of us who were trying to sort out the sixties of our childhoods in the early eighties. Morrissey & Marr, along with Squeeze, were the poets of the eighties, and this cd will give you a rich sense of its virtues, rather than the gelled and synthesised excess most people know.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a tentative first step, April 1, 2002

By 

Erline Andrews (Brooklyn, N.Y.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Smiths (Audio CD)

Having heard first the best of/singles compilations, The Queen is Dead, Strangeways Here We Come and a number of Morrissey's solo albums, and having read of Morrissey's extravagant boasts prior to the release of this record, The Smiths was a surprise.
It's so quiet, so introspective, so humble almost.
It crept into my heart slowly, after repeated listens.
The structure of the songs is very simple. Their strength lies primarily in Morrissey's beautiful voice and lyrics. Overall, the latter seem more personal here than on any other Smiths/Morrissey album.
The Smiths is also the most haunting album, made so particularly by Suffer Little Children and The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, two beautiful but almost unbearably disturbing songs.
The 11 songs on The Smiths, with the exception of the last, explore dark, sometimes unsettling aspects of love and relationships.
I'm still learning and I won't call myself an expert by any means, but I can name no one who tackles personal dysfunction - desperation, insecurity, delusion, dependency - with as much honesty and with as sharp a ring of truth as does Morrissey.
Other bands use garish make-up, distorted guitars and vocals and other gimmicks to shock or disturb.
But The Smiths deliver a bigger emotional jolt using impeccable melody and a warm voice singing lyrics like these:
"... a child cries: 'find me, find me, nothing more/We're on a sullen misty moor/We may dead and we may be gone/But we will be right by your side/Until the day you die/This is no easy ride/We will haunt you when you laugh/Yes, you could say we're a team/You might sleep/But you will never dream'" (Suffer Little Children) and
"There'll be blood on the cleaver tonight/When darkness lifts and the room is bright/I'll still be by your side/For you are all that matters/And I'll love you till the day I die/There never need be longing in your eyes/As long as the hand that rock the cradle is mine."
Listen and squirm.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You have destroyed my flower-like life, not once but twice.., June 18, 2000

By 

"gottliebschaller" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Smiths (Audio CD)

The Smiths broke onto the scene in 1984 with this thought-provoking album. 16 Years later, the music is still powerful, the themes still poignant.

From this album, there are at least 5 songs that find themselves onto most Smith's greatest hits compilations (Reel around the Fountain, This Charming Man, Still Ill, Hand in Glove, and What difference does it Make?), so right there that's got to tell you that folks who like the Smiths have a pretty high regard for this album.

Personally, I enjoyed the lesser-known ones on this. "The Hand that Rocks the Cradle" is one of the most haunting ballads I've ever heard. "Pretty Girls Make Graves" shows Morrissey's delicate side as well as his loathing for those who try for the "quick and easy way." "Suffer Little Children" is the sad story of brutal child murders in Manchester. Morrissey and Co. give a very appropriate eulogy to these poor children.

Don't get the idea that this album is all a downer. There are plenty of upbeat songs and ones where Morrissey's subtle humor shines through. At some points the Smiths sound like the raw band that they were at that time. At other times, you'd think that they'd had been together for years since the music is so polished.

This probably isn't the first Smith's album to get if you're new to them because of the serious themes dealt with here. However, if you've heard something like "Smith's The Singles" or "Best of..." and are looking for something even deeper, this is the place to go.