Strangeways, Here We Come [Vinyl] [Original recording remastered]

The Smiths | Format: Vinyl

Product Details

• Vinyl (August 25, 2009)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Rhino Records
• ASIN: B002C39TUA
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (77 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #134,252 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Vinyl LP pressing. Newly re-mastered audio by Frank Arkwright (overseen by Johnny Marr, no less) and packaged in the original sleeves with original labels and original inner bags, pressed on high-quality 180 gram vinyl! This absolutely classic album from the Manchester quartet was originally released in 1987. Though the band only lasted four years as a recording unit, their influence can still be seen, heard and felt more than two decades after they officially split up. Rhino.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Smiths Say "Sayonara.", October 5, 2002

By 

The Groove (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Strangeways Here We Come (Audio CD)

"Strangeways, Here We Come" is the unexpected swan song of the Smiths, who disbanded in the months following the completion of this album. While it doesn't quite reach the heights of "The Queen is Dead" or their debut, there's enough to remind us why we fell in love with this Manchester group in the first place. Singer Morrissey gives us his twisted sense of humor in the single "Girlfriend in a Coma," makes a nail-on-the-head commentary on the recording industry's greed in "Paint a Vulgar Picture," and delivers a fine closer, the haunting "I Won't Share You." But "Strangeways"'s peak is the potent "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me." After a piano solo that seems to go on forever, the song blasts into a dramatic rocker in which Morrissey moans: "Last night I felt/ real arms around me/ No hope, no harm/ Just another false alarm." With four studio albums within 4 years, The Smiths have secured a place in pop as one of the most beloved and influential groups of all time. "Strangeways" only confirms that belief.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Smiths' absolute best!, March 3, 2000

By 

Terry Sean Huxter "Sean Huxter" (Norwood, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Strangeways Here We Come (Audio CD)

"Paint a Vulgar Picture" is as powerful a piece of art about the shallowness of the recording industry as you will EVER hear. It is poignant and serious, depicting the vulgar greed of record company executives as they eagerly plot to exploit the death of one of their stars. Sick and funny at the same time, as are most of the Smiths' songs. It even makes a topical reference to "You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby." A masterpiece!

Then just to show how you just CAN'T take them too seriously, listen to "Girlfriend in a Coma" and just SEE if you can keep a straight face. The peppy, upbeat music belies the morbid seriousness of a girlfriend placed in a coma by an obviously violent man who is secretly hoping she will die. Black humor at its best.

And "Unhappy Birthday" is a classic! "I've come to wish you an unhappy birthday/because you're evil and you lie/and if you should die/I may feel slightly sad/but I won't cry." Beautiful!

A MUST HAVE for a Smiths Fan who GETS IT!

Sean.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite album of theirs, and one of my favorite albums, period., October 3, 2005

By 

Mike Smith (Albuquerque, NM) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Strangeways Here We Come (Audio CD)

I can't say that this is The Smiths' best album--I can't, because, they have a lot of GREAT albums--but I can say it's my favorite.

"The Queen is Dead" is terrific, but this feels more anthemic, more forceful, alive, and vital.

"Louder than Bombs" is amazing--though many don't even consider it an album, just a compilation--but this feels more focused, directed, and much tighter.

"The Smiths," their first album is experimental and fun and jubilant and dark, but this is the work of a mature band that's seen too much and that, although they're bummed out about things, can't take it all too seriously anymore.

"Strangeways, Here We Come" is an amazing collection of songs. From lyrics like, "And the pain was enough to make a shy, bald, buddhist reflect and plan a mass murder," to a conflicted love song to a girlfriend in a coma, to an amazing, self-referential song about the record industry, lyrically Morrissey had never been better.

And musically, the songs are driving, haunting, deep...and even catchy. It's almost wrong to call this "Eighties music," because it has almost nothing in common with the Thomas Dolbys and the Duran Durans that once cluttered up the airwaves. This was music written ahead of its time, and music that's good anytime: depressing, enlivening, uplifting, thought provoking.

These songs got me through adolescense, and then they just stuck around. I don't think they'll ever leave me, and at this point, I don't want them to.