The Miracle of the Smiths

I would assume that those B-sides are just the original tracks, except (here's hoping) Rubber Ring/Asleep might segue into each other to lovely effect as they did on the original 12" – not released since.

Plus there's a DVD of the Jarman film/s and some live gig or other

http://www.superdeluxeedition.com/news/the-smiths-the-queen-is-dead-reissue/

Not sure why a new master needed making of an album that was remastered only a few years ago but still

Re-issue! Re-package! Re-package!
Re-evaluate the songs

Really wish they had released Salford 86. Check out Frankly, Mr Shankly from that show. This is the year the album got released, and the crowd go crazy for a random album track. Incredible. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYeRMrz4pC8

31 years ago today!

Demos - meh. What I want is a complete Peel sessions!

2017 master? Does this mean this is different from the remastered discography that was released a few years ago? That's my least favorite reissue strategy, the unnecessary re-remaster, like the nu-Sgt. Pepper, and the upcoming Pet Shop Boys.

Yeah,but people be buying it for the demos.

And the 'segued together' Rubber Ring/Asleep. It must be. Surely.

The re-remaster is just a bonus.

Just seen this factoid on the Facebook (Simon Reynolds just wrote an article about the TQID reissue and it was in reply to his post)

"Possibly my favourite little thing about TQID is the way Marr lets us know that "Cemetry Gates" is about Linder by borrowing the riff from Ludus' "Patient" as the intro/outro."

Is this a stretch? I kinda hear it in the bass but I'm not totally convinced.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYo38Dy2lGM

listening to this via streaming only, not positive this is a remaster beyond the one from a couple of years ago. also, at least via apple music, the 'full version' of the queen is dead isn't the one that was slipped out on that nice leaked bootleg a few years ago, which had a very extended intro; other than not having the bar song on it I'm not even sure what's different about this track. The demos are interesting but they're very very slick demos, to the point where some, I think, might be the same as used on the album just stripped of some tracks and production? anyway: I'm not buying this for $100 or whatever.

Stephen Street said they were rough mixes, not demos. I took the distinction to be that the main parts of the finished track are all there, but the mixing/overdubs hadn't been done.

ah, that makes sense. that is exactly what they seem to be. are they interesting? yeah, I suppose.

they still hsould have put that long ass version of the title track on there though.

Steve H forum seem to think that Frank Arkwright/Marr weren't involved on this and that Moz is now back in charge of reissues etc?
Surely the complete BBC sessions/ Troy Tate mixes are next?

Anyway the TQID 'demos' are mostly pretty pointless imo but the artwork is nice; amusing to see this as the inside cover artwork

https://www.morrissey-solo.com/data/attachment-files/2017/10/40937_Smiths-800x530.jpg

I believe that was something Johnny Marr saw and sent it to Morrissey with a "have you seen this?" message, M said no he hadn't but wow.

It's in Johnny's book, I believe.

ha yeah it's a great picture.

Artwork overall is shit though. They ruined an iconic sleeve, then replicated the shite format across 2 other LPs and a box. Very, very poor, imo. I wish Morrissey would leave the artwork alone. I won't buy any of his solo reissues because the sleeves / running order has been destroyed. The green and pink on TQID is iconic and he fucked it up with this plain, black shit. Expect everyone else to say they love it, but whatever.

Hatful of Hollow should have stayed blue.

Louder Than Bombs needs to be orange -- don't tell me it's not orange anymore!?
Agree about original color schemes of Smiths albums in particular. Maybe just because I stared at them a lot.

hatful of hollow not being blue is abominable

how the fuck do you not include the Salford Lads Club image? It's ridiculous. Can't believe Moz removed it because he hates Mike Joyce.

I can believe Moz removed it because he hates Mike Joyce.

little moz, what now?

someone rip me a copy of the reissue because I don't want to give Moz any more of my money

happy to do that for you Dan

at least he used the same picture for the cover, unlike whatever the fuck he keeps doing with his solo catalog

It's on Spotify. No chance of me giving real money to Ukip.

oh actually it's a different picture but at least it's close enough, not some garish full color photo of morrissey's face

xp Fairly easy to find on Soulseek too

don't Smiths royalties all still go to Joyce anyway?

Do they? I was just making an assumption.

unlikely

all Morrissey's royalties on Smiths sales were supposedly going to Joyce until the judgement on his second lawsuit was paid off (basically bcz Moz refused to go to court, so Joyce got a default judgment placing a lien on Moz's cut)

this was in 2001 from a 1996 lawsuit, so maybe they've sold enough millions of records since then to polish off the debt. seems

unlikely

though

what's this about Hatful not being blue anymore??

https://www.discogs.com/The-Smiths-Hatful-Of-Hollow/release/6342695

i think people are mistaking a t-shirt in a photo for the actual album

also, the CD has always cropped sleeve dow

n

yeah that CD cover has been around for 30+ years, the reissue CD in the 'Complete' box went back to the original vinyl sleeve; replica stickers and all.

I bought my vinyl copy of Hatful in 1988 or 1989, by which time Rough Trade had already changed the blue gatefold to a no-border single sleeve like this:

https://i.imgur.com/7sR98ZN.jpg

TBH I was joking upthread and actually prefer it that way. The blue is kind of garish.

ah, the Australian CD had the full blue-bordered sleeve, I never knew that wasn't standard

iirc the Salford Lads pic on the original was the one shot from the photoshoot that Johnny told Moz not to use. Can easily believe he vetoed it and insisted on the student protest one.

My copy of Hatful has the same cover as Alba's, I think I prefer it to the original too but on the other hand it is missing the great inner photo from the gatefold:

https://davidduffin.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/smiths-hatful-of-hollow-gatefold-2.jpg

There's just something quite 80s corporate training manual about the blue.

The outside/inside of the live CD/vinyl in this new reissue is quite tasty

https://img.discogs.com/9DB8oFgLR2IJ-EMk9kJKpsUGHVw=/fit-in/600x588/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-11023833-1508591212-5632.jpeg.jpg

https://img.discogs.com/DK1xhjmdtJG07Dr72kIG9S1YoJ4=/fit-in/600x596/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-11023833-1508591939-9403.jpeg.jpg

burroughs and kerouac, not bad

Any new Smiths cover stars at this point just feel like pastiche to me.

But I don't know if anyone has remarked yet on how wonderful it is to hear the Boston concert. I've been listening to I Want the One I Can't Have on repeat.

i can really relate to the OT. when i first started getting into the Smiths (post-HS living w hardcore punk rockers) i really went through a Smiths phase where i listened to them over and over. there was something special, something like a warm blanket, an emotional realm they manage to always hit perfectly. the music really is the archetypal emo music, music for rainy days, music for self indulgent misery and acting like a fool. they have that echoey drum sound, they are just another guitar band, but they are perfect at capturing a mood.

i was listening to "Strangeways" the other day and paying close attention to the arrangements. "A Rush and a Push" has this minor key Stones-Kinks thing going, with some harpsichord and is that marimba? giving off "Under My Thumb" feels a bit but also sort of being a harpsichord ska track. Morrisey is the key to it all, he glides over these songs, wailing and moaning the songs into phantasmagorical form like a wailing ghost. plenty of acts in the 80s had the emotional crooner thing going on but Morrisey really stands out in his performance. the whole band is great and the music is lovely and on top of that you have this singular voice.

"Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Love Me" is beyond classic, it is legendary. post-apocalyptic 50s broken heart waltz of doom. one of the saddest songs ever, it is self-aware without losing any of the poignancy of the emotional dream of the work: "this story is old, i know, but it goes on". devastating.