Featured

Playlists, albums, articles & videos from our Rhapsody music experts.

by Nick Dedina

The Smiths may just be one of the greatest indie rock bands of all time. They've certainly influenced a wealth of artists since their '80s heyday. The proof is in the enduring quality of their songbook and in the legions of new fans they continue to win all over the world. This is a band that can play a mix of 1950s rockabilly, '60s folk-rock, stark post-punk, lush orchestral pop and stately piano ballads. They had a punk rock drummer and a funk bassist, and Morrissey and Johnny Marr were one of the great songwriting partnerships. Marr was riding such a creative peak with The Smiths that he can't even remember what he did to come up with some of the guitar sounds he made. Likewise, Morrissey's game-changing lyrics are thought of as bookish and self-pitying, but they can be full of ribald, street-smart humor, brutal violence and moral complexity. For all the talk of heartache, the lyrics are often biting and witty.

Here, we celebrate their work with a Cheat Sheet featuring new, remastered versions of nearly every record in their catalog.

Strangeways, Here We Come

The Smiths

It came as a shock when guitarist Johnny Marr left the band after this album. Morrissey's often-surreally violent lyrics are leavened with further band experimentation (Marr's signature multilayered guitar sound is re-created on the opener without using guitars, for instance). Not a bad track here, though "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" is arguably the album's crowning triumph, with Moz's mad rush of lyrics revealing the tough, street-smart cad hidden behind the sensitive lad. With this, The Smiths went out at the top of their game.

The Queen Is Dead

The Smiths

This is widely viewed as The Smiths' greatest hour; while this claim may not hold up on a song-by-song basis, the whole album pulses with a special vitality. The Morrissey/Marr team is once again capable of anything but rock cliches -- "Bigmouth Strikes Again" starts like The Stones and ends like a West End comedy, while "I Know It's Over" plays out like the saddest Angry Young Man movie of the 1960s. "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" is a ringing teen anthem that remains intimate, as past heartache is looked upon with wisdom and humor: It's one of the band's most covered songs.

A good example of how you can't always capture a charismatic live band on record, Rank is complicated further by the fact that at this stage Morrissey blew out his concert voice pretty quickly. The rockabilly "Rusholme Ruffians" and the brilliantly melodramatic ballad "I Know Its Over" come off best. There are many better Smiths bootlegs out there.

The Smiths

The Smiths' debut introduced the brilliant Morrissey/Marr songwriting partnership and a sound that effortlessly married warm 1960s folk-rock, deft pop hooks and echoes of cement-gray post-punk with literate and often witty lyrics. Smartly produced by John Porter (organ fills included), the classics include "Hand in Glove," "What Difference Does It Make?," "This Charming Man" and "Suffer Little Children," which deals with the Moors serial murders of the band's Manchester youth. This is both a remarkably influential and underrated album.

Meat Is Murder

The Smiths

After a rash of brilliant singles, The Smiths took over production duties from mentor John Porter and put out this sophomore set. Meat Is Murder demonstrates the vast scope of their musical vision: the folk-abilly nostalgia of "Rusholme Ruffians," the jangle-funk of "Barbarism Begins at Home" and the breathtaking blast of Johnny Marr's stacked guitars on "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore." Likewise, Moz's Booker Prize-worthy lyrics to "I Want the One I Can't Have" fold seamlessly into the spare, haunting "Well I Wonder." The brilliant B-side "How Soon Is Now?" was added to future editions.

The World Won't Listen

The Smiths

Since most of the Smiths' amazing singles and B-sides were only available in Europe, Sire Records put out the two-record set Louder than Bombs for Americans. The rest of the world got this single disc summation, which included the instrumental "Money Changes Everything" (Johnny Marr brought the song to Bryan Ferry for "The Right Stuff" after Morrissey refused to write lyrics to it). Brilliant songs, though it does end with the execrable cover of "Golden Lights," the only wrong foot the Smiths ever put down. To get the rest of the bands non-album tracks try the double-disc version of The Sound Of The Smiths.

The Sound Of The Smiths [Deluxe Edition]

The Smiths

The Smiths bypassed the 1980s' musical stereotypes in favor of a fresh update of the Beatles/Byrds/Elvis shimmering guitar sound. The band also decided to unleash a torrent of singles at a time when the 7-inch single was dying out. These fantastic singles, collected here, show a restlessly creative band who could do more in three minutes than most bands can do across entire albums. But the Smiths were also the best B-sides band ever, often toning down the euphoric rush of the A-side in favor of melodic introspection. And fans get a couple of rarities and live tracks with this deluxe edition.

Louder Than Bombs

The Smiths

Along with singles, BBC sessions and B-sides, Louder Than Bombs contains a few tracks not available in the U.S. on any other collection, making this a must-have for fans of the Smiths. Released in 1987, Louder Than Bombs serves as a composite of the band's career thus far. Although a bit unwieldy, there are plenty of gems to be gleaned.

Featured

Cheat Sheet: The Smiths