The Smiths - Complete flac mp3 download

I appreciate the intention of remastering these releases; Johnny Marr's work on the guitar/vox/bass sounds utterly phenomenal, but Rhino should have commissioned someone else to work on the drums. They're almost unbearable at times (like on Shoplifters of the World Unite and various cuts off of their s/t). It may just be personal preference, but if you're wary of drum production and its effect upon basically every other aspect of a song, I recommend sticking to the original releases of these era-defining albums.

Original UK version of 'The Smiths' didn't have "This Charming Man" but here that song is included, even though 'Meat Is Murder' conforms to its original UK version in not having "How Soon Is Now?"--presumably, because 'Hatful of Hollow' has the BBC version of "This Charming Man". Still, this discrepancy with the original, like those pointed out below by ekewebb, only remind us of how annoying this compilation is, though we've been waiting for it forever. If they'd added, say, a double disc with the BBC sessions not on 'Hatful', B-side tracks not on 'Hatful or 'The World Won't Listen', and other uncollected tracks, they could've had "This Charming Man" in its original single version (and the other versions) on it.

The original UK cassette of 'The Smiths' did, in fact, include "This Charming Man" so it's at least somewhat logical to have included that track here (the original cassette of "Meat is Murder" still didn't include 'How Soon is Now?' though). This box took the same approach with 'The World Won't Listen' by including the two bonus tracks ("Money Changes Everything" and "Golden Lights") from its original cassette release as well. I am a bit annoyed by the inclusion of the bonus tracks from 'The World Won't Listen' on the vinyl edition of this box set though. That just makes no sense at all; None of the other vinyl editions have been changed in any way from the original UK editions (except for 'Rank' which has been spread out to two LPs for some reason). Speaking of 'Rank,' that CD edition in the box set shows the tracklisting on the back of the sleeve to match this new double-LP version (sides one through four are indicated). Why? That certainly doesn't correspond to the original version. More nonsense.

To quote Paint A Vulgar Picture: Re-issue! Re-package!, Re-evaluate the songs, Double-pack with a photograph, Extra Track (and a tacky badge)". Unfortunately we're not in for a single extra track, I fail to see how this in any way is "Complete"? Where are for instance "The Draize Train" or "Jeane" b-sides?

The Boy With The Thorn In His Side on The World Won't Listen is the album mix rather than the single mix featured on previous versions.You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby on Louder Than Bombs is the pitch corrected version of the UK mix as found on The Sound of The Smiths rather than the US mix featured on previous versions.

I didn't mean to imply they were egregious errors, I think the box set is fantastic in all respects. The attention to detail on the sleeves made me almost as happy as the quality of the remastering.

Only 3 egregious errors on a boxset?! We should count ourselves lucky!! I'm listening to The Queen Is Dead now, the mastering engineer obviously did his homework, the EQ choices mirror my original rough trade CD. There is some compression and peak limiting, but the dynamics are still intact. The most surprising thing to me is how well the 1986 CDs holds up in my level matched comparisons (I didn't go crazy just a few snippets).