IF IT'S NOT LOVE THEN IT'S THE POLL THAT WILL BRING US TOGETHER - ILM Artist Poll #72 - THE SMITHS - RESULTS THREAD

Even stranger, or not, was Marr's incredible lack of ego, going on to such a journeyman career, where even when he did officially join bands (Electronic, The The, Modest Mouse, the Cribs) he seemed as much a support player as when he played session guy.

http://i.imgur.com/03Y6FcD.jpg

2. MEAT IS MURDER (studio album, 1985)
1485 points | 45 votes | 8 first place votes

The best - my number one. Every track great (including the title track). A total showcase for Marr's most inventive playing.

whoa, kind of surprised by that, even though i like MiM (it was #5 on my ballot). just kind of shocked that Hatful didn't make it!

But wait, what was number 3?

Never mind, I missed it.

I am also shocked Hatful got bounced (because I cannot imagine that TQID isn't #1)

Whoa! Was just quietly mourning it's likely non-appearance, behind Strangeways, which felt like an outrage. Phew!

xxxxxxxp:

Yeah, absolutely... for all the praise that Marr has had, either as a guitarist or for his songwriting, he comes across as being quite modest. Even during videos where you see him demonstrating his guitar parts and talking you through it, there seems to be no ego there in a "yeah, I wrote this, aren't I amazing?" sense. Morrissey, on the other hand, I get the feeling he believes every single amount of positive press he's ever had.

Meat is Murder is perfect from start to finish. The title track is so haunting...really disturbing song.

Yeah, I think we can all guess what's #1 at this point.

I really prefer the cassette version of the album cover with the single image

http://eil.com/images/main/The+Smiths+Meat+Is+Murder+345583.jpg

I never play Meat Is Murder as a complete album but I like most, if not all, of it as individual songs

It's probably Rourke's best album in terms of his bass playing: 'Barbarism Begins At Home' has, of course, already been mentioned, but also 'Rusholme Ruffians' wouldn't be anywhere near the song it is without that nimble baseline that runs throughout the whole track... and to think they fired the guy at one point!

As you listened to the catalog for this project, did any new favorite songs emerge? Did any particular album surprise you in any way?

Since I've worked in the United States, in the last six or seven years, I've picked up on the fact that Meat is Murder was the record that was the introduction to the Smiths for a lot of people. Living in Portland meant that I would meet people who heard that record first. I know now that that record is more important to a lot of people than I realized. So I guess I kind of listened to it differently because a lot of my friends know that record best. I always have really liked "The Headmaster Ritual" off that record, and "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore."

I'll be very disappointed if 'That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore' isn't up there in at least the Top 15. That one has never lost its potency for me.

I still think Rourke was pretty great from the very first single onwards, but yeah, plenty of memorable bass on MIM. I actually get a bit impatient with the final 1/3 or so of MIM, and tend to underrate it when I'm not listening to it. But I think voted for at least 5 of 9 tracks.

Nate seriously dragging out this painfully obvious #1 result here :P

The Smiths s/t was my #1 pick. This might sound daft, but, for me, the very muddiness of the sound actually felt like an integral part of the band's whole aesthetic. I always remember my first experience of it - sat on a draughty train station platform, waiting for a delayed train home, and this gloomily pretty music bathed in murk coming out of my cassette Walkman speakers. It fit. Like watching an unremastered early '60s kitchen-sink drama on the telly; all grubby greys and thin sound. The CD-era sleekness of Strangeways, and the stadium-filling drums of TQiD, never appealed to me as much. It wasn't quite the Smiths I fell in love with.

http://i.imgur.com/iVtbK8t.jpg

1. THE QUEEN IS DEAD (studio album, 1986)
1821 points | 51 votes | 16 first place votes

Meat is Murder is my favorite in terms of production, too. Gleaming, saphirric sound...

queen has never been my favorite smiths record bc of its wacky sequencing and at least three songs i have no use for

53 album ballots and 51 votes for TQiD - so who was the other person who didn't put it in their top 5?

Non shocker #1 but still great album. MIM was mine with TQID second.

It always surprises me that MIM appears to be their worst album in terms of critical reception. Guess the title track (which I really like) irritates a lot of people.

QiD was pushed out of my ballot to make room for RANK - which I have a nostalgic soft-spot for that won't budge.

Struggling to comprehend how someone can pick a top 5 from a band that only has four studio albums, one of which is TQID, and not include that in their ballot.

there's always the strategic vote

Totally dig DavidM's description the debut. While I had Hatful at #1, there's not much in it. 1983-84 Smiths will likely always be the very best Smiths in my mind. (Even though I barely heard them until about the time they broke up!)

i have to say, though, coming at the smiths catalog years after it all happened, i don't really see TQID as a slam dunk #1 (although it was #1 on my ballot). i can see reasonable arguments for all four. and if someone happened to like the other three a little better, and also wanted to throw in a vote for a live album or hatful or one of the other collections, i could see that too

Yeah I agree about the sound of the first album - it fits the mood of the songs perfectly, it sounds like what I imagine rainy Manchester in the early '80s to feel like (xpost).

Can we get the results without compilations? Compilations are not albums.

Yes they are. They cohere and play as units.

I feel like I short-changed the debut on my tracks ballot. The voting window was a rough time for me, and the listening time I allocated to it was stuck being a few days prior to revisiting the rest of the catalogue en masse (I've got the 'Complete' box and The Sound of... at hand)., so stuff was forgotten.

It was impossible for me to hear Louder Than Bombs -- impossible now knowing all I know -- as anything except a unit.

There's only one comp in the list, isn't there? Just pretend it isn't there it it offends thee.

Ah, my mistake. I mistook the image of Louder Than Bombs and the entry for Louder than Bombs to be 2 different compilation entries. Still, you wouldn't call a Single and Album would you? Here are the actual album results, though it does appear that i'm the only person who cares, so i'll just let it go after this post.

4. Strangeways
3. The Smiths
2. Meat Is Murder
1. The Queen Is Dead

Favorite Compilation: Louder Than Bombs

STUDIO ALBUMS

1. THE QUEEN IS DEAD (studio album, 1986) 1821 points | 51 votes | 16 first place votes
2. MEAT IS MURDER (studio album, 1985) 1485 points | 45 votes | 8 first place votes
3. THE SMITHS (studio album, 1984) 1228 points | 39 votes | 4 first place votes
4. STRANGEWAYS, HERE WE COME (studio album, 1987) 1109 points | 35 votes | 4 first place votes

COMPS

1. LOUDER THAN BOMBS (compilation album, 1987) 1398 points | 40 votes | 11 first place votes
2. HATFUL OF HOLLOW (compilation album, 1984) 1009 points | 29 votes | 9 first place votes
3. THE WORLD WON'T LISTEN (compilation album, 1987) 201 points | 6 votes | 0 first place votes
4. SINGLES (compilation album, 1995) 104 points | 3 votes | 1 first place votes
5. THE SOUND OF THE SMITHS (compilation album, 2008) 33 points | 1 votes | 0 first place votes
6. ...BEST II (compilation album, 1992) 28 points | 1 votes | 0 first place votes

ALL ALBUMS

1. THE QUEEN IS DEAD (studio album, 1986) 1821 points | 51 votes | 16 first place votes
2. MEAT IS MURDER (studio album, 1985) 1485 points | 45 votes | 8 first place votes
3. LOUDER THAN BOMBS (compilation album, 1987) 1398 points | 40 votes | 11 first place votes
4. THE SMITHS (studio album, 1984) 1228 points | 39 votes | 4 first place votes
5. STRANGEWAYS, HERE WE COME (studio album, 1987) 1109 points | 35 votes | 4 first place votes
6. HATFUL OF HOLLOW (compilation album, 1984) 1009 points | 29 votes | 9 first place votes
7. THE WORLD WON'T LISTEN (compilation album, 1987) 201 points | 6 votes | 0 first place votes
8. RANK (live album, 1988) 174 points | 6 votes | 0 first place votes
9. SINGLES (compilation album, 1995) 104 points | 3 votes | 1 first place votes
10. THE SOUND OF THE SMITHS (compilation album, 2008) 33 points | 1 votes | 0 first place votes
11. ...BEST II (compilation album, 1992) 28 points | 1 votes | 0 first place votes

Having an issue with comps placing seems a bit weird in the case of a band like The Smiths where a bunch of most essential material where non-lp singles and BBC sessions that make up most of their tracklistings.

...and by "their" I mean Hatful and the two '87 sets.

So, what's the planned schedule?

I was the lone voter for Best II - I'd already heard most of the first volume (my brother had it) but getting that one out of the local library in 1995 was what really got me into the band. I don't own a copy anymore but I put it as a sentimental #5. Also nine of its 14 songs are on my ballot.

(xxpost) Somewhat related: when I moderated at a user-built music database site there were constant arguments about whether Hatful should even be classed as a 'compilation', given that a slight majority (IIRC) of the tracks (the BBC ones) hadn't even had a previous commercial release. :)

Hatful feels distinct from the other compilations in that all the songs are from the same period and none appear (in the same form) on any other album.

surprised Hatful of Hollow didn't do better, I thought it was more loved than that. The only reason it wasn't my #1 is some of the live versions being inferior, but it's probably their best collection of songs (and best sequenced) though not their best collection of recordings.

astonished this got 80 ballots and beat Steely Dan's 77 ballots.

i didn't even get a chance to vote despite listening to the Smiths catalog, real life got in the way.

BTW, nate here is the link to the Moderator Request Forum, they can help you with your mistakes: http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/NewAnswersControllerServlet?boardid=56

There's footage of them playing it at a gig in Germany on Youtube and when the track breaks down to just the bass and drums, Marr takes off his guitar and begins to shimmy around onstage, dancing with Moz.

at 26:07
https://youtu.be/2Y7YnL9SPjs

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, March 2, 2016 7:50 PM

There's footage of them playing it at a gig in Germany on Youtube and when the track breaks down to just the bass and drums, Marr takes off his guitar and begins to shimmy around onstage, dancing with Moz.

yeah, love that video. and the song. I wish there were more funky smiths tracks !

Most regrettable white man dancing I've seen in weeks