Nobody will be surprised The Smiths are in the Top 50. Some may well be surprised that it's their fourth and final studio LP that makes it.
I'll let Johnny Marr explain for me.
In a TV interview on Channel 4 News last week as part of the promo work he's doing to support the release of his solo LP and upcoming tour, he was asked what was it about The Smiths that made them so special to folk of that era and ever since. In reply the god-like guitarist said somethimg along the lines of "We just got better and better as we went on."
Strangeways Here We Come is an album unlike any other they released - it doesn't rely solely on the jingle-jangle guitars. And Moz's vocal delivery is astounding.
Yup...their very best despite the inclusion of the rather humdrum Girlfriend In A Coma.
mp3 : The Smiths - A Rush and A Push and The Land Is Ours
mp3 : The Smiths - Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
mp3 : The Smiths - Paint A Vulgar Picture
Just very sorry they didn't stick together long enough to tour it.
8 comments:
I thought I was the only one who had this as my favourite smiths lp. its the hum drumness that I like in Girlfriend in a coma!
I was one of the unenlightened fools who just didn't get the Smiths for too long. This came out in my first year at college, and a friend insisted I listened to it.
For the next 12 months or more, the cassette I played more than any other on my Walkman on the journey to and from college had 'Lifes Rich Pageant' by REM on one side and 'Strangeways...' on the other.
And that's how I got into the Smiths. I look to 'The Queen Is Dead' now as my fave Smiths album (and one of my fave albums of all-time), but there will always be a place in my heart for this one. 'Paint A Vulgar Picture' still pulverises nearly every other song that was released that year.
Quite often my favourite Smiths lp too.
my first and my fave Smiths album. I remember shivering in the bus shelter listening to this in a grey west Yorkshire. Happy days...
Eh???
Jacques the Kipper
For me the best Smiths record, because it is complete. Here they show all of their talents in a very high range. I heard this record so often - nearly every song is burned in my heart.
I didn't quite get the meaning behind Paint A Vulgar Picture until I joined the music industry. Ironically, it was with Warners, who bought up The Smiths entire catalogue and was trying to sell, re-sell, re-packaged, re-market and re-release the works. And the albums did come with tacky promotional stuff too...
I'd always rated the Smiths highly since Hand In Glove came out. I loved their singles and their albums were a delight. Then (after a bit of a wait) came Strangeways... This was the first actual CD disc I ever bought. I cannot rate this album highly enough, from "A Rush and Push.." to the final chimes of Marr's mandolin on "I Wont Share You" this masterpiece just doesn't let up. And as for "Paint A Vulgar Picture", as a song it hits ALL the marks, then more and keeps going! In my opinion this song marks an alltime career high for The Smiths. Morrisey's vocals and lyric have you in the palm of his hand and Marr's sort of "anti-rock" solo sets a benchmark in how things should be done. It is the sound of a band on top of what they are doing. It cooks...
Then it was all over. What an exit.
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