The Smiths Rough Trade questions

Back in the day, I bought all the singles on Rough Trade import, as they were usually available on import before Sire got around to releasing them here in the colonies. Plus, the sleeves were cooler.

The Rough Trade albums were not as commonly available on import, because Sire did seem to manage to release the albums on time. Plus, in the case of the first two albums, Sire added "bonus" tracks ("This Charming Man" and "How Soon Is Now," respectively) that would have added perceived value to the U.S. pressings versus the U.K. pressings from the point of view of the non-audiophile/non-U.K. purist fan of the day. The exception to this rule were the two singles compilation albums, Hatfull of Hollow and The World Won't Listen which were only available in the U.S. on import. Hatfull of Hollow may have sold more copies on import than any British record since the Clash's debut album. I remember refusing to buy Louder Than Bombs at the time of its release, because it seemed like a pointless rehash of Hatfull of Hollow and The World Won't Listen, plus the cover was tacky by the Smiths' usual standards.

 

i never had to look very hard to find the rough trade over here in NYC. it was well stocked everywhere "cool" all the time, not just when new. we all bought the RT imports. they nicer covers, nicer carboard and paper, cooler inserts, more detal went into them so it seemed and we were fans and collectors. all my friends have imports of this stuff.

the stuff I didnt buy was by choice not because i couldnt find them. regrets now... I have a US copy of The Smiths album bought when it was pretty new, and it sounds pretty good to my ears, not like the RT i have of meat or queen though. still yards better than the cd.

 

This is all so true. Steve and others have described the experience of discovering UK imports of the Beatles and Stones records for the first time back in the 60s, and being amazed at the contrast with the "butchered" U.S. releases - this contrast still held true in the 80s - the Sire 12" of "How Soon Is Now" was "butchered" artwork-wise compared to the Rough Trade 12", for example. I may be wrong about this, but not all of the Smiths' singles even got a U.S. release on Sire - "The Boy With the Thorn In His Side" did, but its predecessor, "Shakespeare's Sister," didn't, iirc.

 

Out of curiosity I just compared my original Sire Queen Is Dead to the original Rough Trade, both bought when they came out and cared for very well. Overall I think the Rough Trade is better.. The sound stage seems a bit more focused in the RT and the sound seems more 'natural' to me. The Sire seems to be eq-ed with a little too much treble which I find distracting and there seems to be some sibilance in the vocals which isn't present on the RT.

Keep in mind that my meager system doesn't have super audiophile resolution like many on this board so these are just my basic impressions. I'll be curious to hear your opinion when you get the RT copy.

 

The Sire pressings of their UK acts generally weren't too bad. I have a couple of Echo and the Bunnymen/Ian McCulloch albums on Sire vinyl, and, while I'm sure the original UK Korova is better, the U.S. albums don't sound bad.

 

i'll let you know. should have it soon. it's shipping via media mail from SF to mountain view, which is approximately 35 miles. so any day now....

 

I once had a 12" Killing Moon single (the infamous "all night" version) on Sire that I liked so much I would take it to the college radio station I DJ'd at for a couple terms to play...until one day I left it in the car on a hot day and it turned into an ashtray.....

 

Quite right! The Sire isn't terrible by any means. Pressing quality is pretty good, vinyl is fairly quiet. I was just noting the subtle differences.

 

I just also dug out my two 12" singles of Morrissey...Sing Your Life and Our Frank and both are also fantastic sounding. Wish I'd collected more of these...

 

This is going to be rough on the wallet. Thanks guys.

 

well all the hard work is over and now i'm just listening to my needledrops. Reallly worth it, now that I can just put these on and enjoy them any time i want to. i didnt even do any declicking, really wasnt needed. these are pretty quiet slices of vinyl for the most part..

i think the single best sounding disc was The Queen is Dead album. I think the versions on that compared to the singles of the same songs sound even better than the singles.

so time and money well spent if you're a fan. Certainly find a UK Queen is Dead if nothing else.

Some of their U.S. cd's really should be recalled .

 

The one that knocked my socks off was the "Interesting Drug" 12". The overall instrumental and vocal punch and clarity and just "big-ness" was unreal considering I'd heard this track on the Bona Drag CD umpteen times before picking up the vinyl.

I always thought the UK RT Strangeways LP was a great sounding album as well versus the Sire CD. The acoustic guitars take on a whole different level of reality and presence.

 

yea i'm sure they are all better than anything on cd. I just assumed the Morrissey would not be as great as the RT vinyl being "his masters voice" RCA. Yeah, I will need to find copies of both Interesting Drug and Strangeways on vinyl at some point.

 

Yeah... I have THE QUEEN IS DEAD Rough Trade vinyl... but it's shot. Cover is in beautiful condition though...

 

I thought I'd mention that if anyone is a fan of the song 'Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before' the German 12" single (white vinyl) on Line Records is the best sounding version of that song I've ever heard. Don't know if I just happened to get a fantastic pressing or what but it's amazing.

 

I just checked my shelves and I do have this. I thought I may have sold it years ago but that was my white Sheila Take a Bow 12". I doubt I've ever listened to it, but it's among my favorite Smiths songs so I'll give it a spin tonight.

 

I'm glad to see the Smiths' pressings thread revived. Now that I'm in the UK, I'm finding the 12"s even harder to track down than in NYC.

Has anyone heard the vinyl pressing of the demo tapes for their first album (it's readily available, and called Hands that Rocks the Cradle (IIRC)?

 

For Hatful of Hollow, I must say, the original Rough Trade CD sounds a very great deal like the original Rough Trade LP. Pretty close. Every other record, you may be better off with the LP.

There are things that improve the sonic quality of the Smiths' records, but I don't smoke them anymore. Shoot, what can you expect from recordings that sought to emulate the sonic qualities of the New York Dolls?

 

yes I agree with this, I had done an a/b and agree, the RT CD i have on Hatful is really nice sounding and quite comparable to my vinyl.

that and Rank and The World wont listen are the only RT cds i have. Having the RT Meat and Queen vinyl, i've never thought to check out the cds even, the vinyl is that fantastic.

 

The Dolls were Morrissey's trip, not Marr's. And Marr probably had about ten times more influence on the sound of the records than Morrissey did. The one track where Marr consciously aimed to achieve a "trashy" sonic aesthetic was "The Queen Is Dead," and, by Marr's account, that track was intended to be an homage the James Williamson-era Stooges, not to the Dolls.

 

Getting back to CDs from vinyl for a moment...

Tonight I pulled out my old Rough Trade Queen Is Dead and found it has developed a rash of pinholes! Luckily I was able to rip a copy, seemingly intact. Who knows how long it has, though.

If you have one that you haven't looked at in a while, get it out and check. (Were all of the Rough Trade TQIDs "Made in France"?)

 

The UK 12" of ID is one of the great sonic triumphs of the 90s. It never ceases to re-amaze me whenever I throw it on.

November Spawned a Monster also sounds downright BOMBASTIC in its 12" form.

It's hard to find good quality copies of the UK 12" here in the states.. But there are a lot of Sire 12" promos floating around that have never been played.

 

I have an early Japanese (5-song) CD single of "Interesting Drug". Has anyone compared it to the vinyl 12"?

 

The ROUGH CD96 Queen I just acquired was made in Japan.

I searched long and hard, but I'm thrilled to have finally found a copy of this. It sounds terrific; not quite as nice as the UK RT vinyl, but ... it has fewer ticks and pops.

 

Grrr... I almost wish you hadn't mentioned those pinholes. All of my Smiths RT CDs were bought in 1987 on a trip to London and they are all "Made In France by M.P.O." i checked them all and yes, they all have pinholes. I wonder if they've always had them. Luckily I did proper EAC rips of all of them last year and the logs don't show any kind of errors. Are you sure your copy never had the pinholes and that this is a new development? I will be sad if my favorite CDs slowly disintegrate over the years. Sure I'll have bit perfect backups but it's just not the same thing as the original disc.

The discs I have are:

ROUGH CD61 The Smiths
ROUGH CD76 Hatful of Hollow
ROUGH CD81 Meat Is Murder
ROUGH CD96 The Queen Is Dead
ROUGH CD101 The World Won't Listen

I also have RTT 191CD The Boy With The Thorn In His Side CD single, also made in France by M.P.O. but this one doesn't have any pinholes. The top of the disc has a heavier colored design rather than the regular black over silver of the others.