The Smiths - Complete box set coming from Rhino in October

Finally! Definitely going to pick up the CD set.

 

I will wait for the inevitable price drop on the super deluxe set, which should come within 3 to 6 months of the release date.

 

I'll bet the original Rough Trade cds will still be the best cd versions, but who knows?

 

Did anyone notice from the tracking listing for the cds on the website that the debut self-titled cd will mimic the Sire running order, hence the Sire record label on the cd, yet it looks like Meat Is Murder will retain it's UK running order and drop "How Soon Is Now?", hence the Rough Trade label on the cd?

I can see the logic for "This Charming Man" since it wasn't on any of the of the UK compilations cds until the Singles and The Best Of sets came out and "How Soon Is Now" was released on Hatful of Hollow making it kind of redundant in two places, I guess. Though, there is still quite a bit of overlap in the set anyway with both Louder Than Bombs and The World Won't Listen being in there.

 

Also, it would have been nice to have a rarities disc with all of those B-sides that didn't make it to the compilations.

 

does it come with a tacky badge?

sad the way the Smiths and Moz have become what they so brilliantly railed against...

 

Fixed

 

The curse of the CD collector, I tell you. After hemming and hawing for some time, I spent several weeks and a fair bit of cash tracking down 5 Rough Trades in April / May. I suppose I should be happy about the prospects of this release, but still the old "re-issue re-issue re-package re-package" line comes to mind (not picking on The Smiths here because this is the first time they've done something and thus they are quite innocent when it comes to this sort of thing, but still...). In this case I really wish we did have an album's worth of those "extra tracks" but having read what you guys mentioned about the Morrissey-Joyce squabble I can understand why not.

Either way, I'll keep an open mind but will definitely wait to hear from others how these sound before taking the plunge. Definitely not a pre-order item for me!

 

That's disappointing - and rather odd. I was hoping that only 'Louder Than Bombs' would use the Sire label.

And, of course, if they ARE using the original master tapes for these, why would they use the US edition of the running order.

 

And I won't buy this or any other releases as a means of preventing Morrissey from profiting financially from me.

I like the Smiths but can't stand him. What a twat.

 

Most likely, but if they're better than the WEAs, I'll dump the few Rough Trades I have. Too hard to get those in decent condition.

 

+1. I'll probably pass on this unless something like this is included.

 

Great set !!

 

...until it's not.

 

Well, Mike Joyce, I believe it was rumored, not long ago passed along the Troy Tate mixes to some "audio enthusiasts" who have presented them in very good fidelity. I'm not sure if they are technically the original masters but the sound quality is great. Listening to them right now...but for all of the hype surrounding these, I still prefer the s/t in its released form.

 

What did the people here think about The Sound of The Smiths compilation? I think they remastered all the albums in that occasion, so I suppose they will sound exactly as that (quite loud, but not a complete disaster).

 

I have this, and it's excellent!

 

I was not crazy about the sound on "Sound of the Smiths", but then again I didn't ever care much for SQ on the original 80s cds I had either (granted, they weren't the Rough Trade ones. I will definitely wait and see on this release and see what kind of reviews get posted here.

 

I think you're going to be (eventually) proved right in this assumption.

 

Only a 1000 copies of vinyl set, they will be gone in a flash. I am tempted to order now from Rhino than take a chance on saving a few $$ from Amazon.

 

OK, I got into Morrissey and The Smiths only within the last 5 years. But I've avoided digging deeply into the Smiths back catalog, knowing/hoping some kind of box was in the works. (I've got the recent 2-disc 'GH/B-sides' set on Rhino, but that's all I've got for The Smiths.)

So am I understanding right, that this new box just replicates the SAME discographical mess that's always existed with the Smiths catalog?? -- with regular albums, and multiple compilations (with unique tracks, but also with tracks from their other albums).

I was really hoping for something like the Jam box set "Direction Reaction Creation" -- which gave you nearly everything, in a fairly logical sequencing. (I only got into the Jam quite recently too, maybe 2 years ago, and bought the entire Jam box as my FIRST ever purchase of anything by the group.)

And this new Smiths box just replicates the same mess we've always had? A mess which I've steadfastly tried to avoid, aparently in vain.

 

Yes, and in some ways it makes it worse. The deluxe set spreads out various b-sides and non-album tracks over 25 7" singles, so it will present a more or less complete discography but on some, shall we say, less convenient formats.

And for the cheaper CDs only version - unless they change the tracklists somewhere, it won't be complete because a few stray tracks (IIRC: Jeane, Wonderful Woman & I Keep Mine Hidden) don't appear on any album including the compilations.

It's a nice looking package of course, but hardly essential except for hard-core collectors. Quite disappointing for those of us interested in previously unreleased material.

 

> All eight albums on 180g 12” vinyl LPs (5 singles, 3 doubles)

3 doubles?
Louder Than Bombs was a 2xLP
and ???

 

I was wondering about that myself... neither of the other comps was a 2xLP, but I suppose you could make them that way if you wanted to. It would certainly allow for some loosening of the grooves and perhaps improved fidelity.

 

I think that perhaps comparing the mastering to the already issued remastered vinyl releases on Rhino is a better idea because the vinyl versions at least will be those exact same releases, simply all shoved in a box together. And again, those sound pretty good across the board.