Shoplifters Of The World Unite (Louder Than Bombs - The Smiths)

Member Name: Jake Speed

Product:	Louder Than Bombs - The Smiths
Date:	16/05/08 (152 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A remarkable compilation

Disadvantages: You might have some of these songs

Louder Than Bombs is a compilation album by the fondly remembered British indie pop icons The Smiths. It was first released in 1987. The collection was primarily intended for the US market as much of the material had been released elsewhere previously. Today though it stands as an amazing collection of songs for anyone new to the group.

The remarkable thing about the compilation is that most of the songs were b-sides thrown out by Morrissey and Marr. The high standard of these 'flipsides' is quite astonishing at times.


COVER ART

Playwright Shelagh Delaney, a hero of Morrissey.


CONTENT;


IS IT REALLY SO STRANGE?

A breezy, slightly comic opening to the compilation. Morrissey doesn't say an awful lot in the lyrics of any note while the music is very upbeat in the 'Shiela Take a Bow' mode. It's ok but not The Smiths at their best by any stretch of the imagination.


SHIELA TAKE A BOW

"Sheila take a bow, boot the grime of this world in the crotch, dear," sings Morrissey in this very enjoyable and famous single. Shiela Take A Bow is a very hummable song with pleasantly silly and sexually ambigous lyrics. Morrissey and Marr had a seemingly endless supply of great pop songs at the height of their powers and this is one of them.


SHOPLIFTERS OF THE WORLD UNITE

Another great pop song with funny Morrissey lyrics. A plaintive vocal encourages the alienated masses to rise up and meshes perfectly with Johnny Marr's neverending supply of great guitar pop. Morrissey's vocal contortions and delivery of phrases are great fun in this song, as are his lyrics.


SWEET AND TENDER HOOLIGAN

One of the more obstreperous and punky songs in The Smiths canon, it's also great and rattles along without missing a beat. The lyrics are really good in this song too as Morrissey spins a tale about an out of control hooligan and crime and punishment in general ("Poor old man/He had an "accident" with a three-bar fire/But that's OK/Because he wasn't very happy anyway"). By the end of the song though Morrissey laments that the punishment will probably not fit the crime;

"Jury, you've heard every word
So before you decide
Would you look into those 'Mother me' eyes?"



HALF A PERSON

An absolutely gorgeous and classic Smiths song with wonderful lyrics by Morrissey. The singer tells the listener that if he has five seconds to spare he tell the story of his life. Morrissey's tale revolves around a visit down to the YMCA in London where he asks if they have a vacancy for a 'backscrubber'! "Sixteen, clumsy and shy/That's the story of my life" confesses the singer at the end. Johnny Marr supplies some lovely acoustic music for this languid and brilliant song.


LONDON

A relatively simple tune that never really goes anywhere. It's a fast song but doesn't really have much of a hook or melody. Morrissey returns to the theme of escape and leaving the family nest but not to classic effect this time. It's ok but nothing special in the context of this collection.


PANIC

Apparently inspired by DJ Steve Wright's insensitive playing of Wham's "I'm Your Man" directly after a news report of the Chernobyl disaster and Morrissey's dislike of mainstream radio generally. This song attacks the vaccous nature of music radio and DJs at the time and features a chorus of children joining in with Morrissey to sing "Hang the DJ!":

"Because the music that they constantly play,
IT SAYS NOTHING TO ME ABOUT MY LIFE."

The song is vey catchy and immediate with a great intro and sense of drama. Johnny Marr's composition is not one of his most complicated but the chorus is great and Morrissey's lyrics, as usual, are frequently very funny and suprising.


GIRL AFRAID

A thumping bass by Andy Rourke and aggressive guitars from Johnny Marr make Girl Afraid stand out from some of the more introspective songs on the compilation. It's pretty good with lyrics about two people that secretly like each other but never act on it because they each mistakenly think the other one dislikes them.


SHAKESPEARE'S SISTER

A fast and somewhat underrated waltzer that steams past fairly quickly with an atmospheric quality and some interesting lyrical flourishes from Morrissey. It's an offbeat pop song really. The song was inspired by a Virginia Woolf essay.


WILLIAM, IT WAS REALLY NOTHING

"The rain falls hard on a humdrum town" sings Morrissey at the start of William, It Was Nothing, a song that could be fairly described as a stereotypical Smiths song. It's a short, fast single with Morrissey veering into his Carry On/Music Hall side with lyrics about marriage proposals and plump girls who think only of getting a ring on their finger.




YOU JUST HAVEN'T EARNED IT YET, BABY

A pleasant middle-ranking Smiths song with a simple lyric by Morrissey (presumably about an aspiring singer) that exhorts the object of his attention to cry for a little bit longer because they just haven't earnt it yet. It's ok.


HEAVEN KNOWS I'M MISERABLE NOW

"I was happy in the haze of a drunken hour but heaven knows I'm miserable now." The stereotypical reputation of The Smiths as the patron saints of miserable gits everywhere was greatly enhanced by this early song. That view, like The Smiths as whole, misses the humour and self-deprecation that was often present in their work. This song has got some funny lines and the maudlin air of resignation that runs through the lyric by Morrissey makes it more tender than downbeat in a one-dimensional manner. I find the song amusing bcause it's clearly all about Morrissey getting the terrible experiences he had in the world of work (and unemployment) before he was famous off his chest.


ASK

A light, sweet pop song with backing vocals by the late Kirsty Maccoll. Morrissey is even a tad upbeat here as he ruminates on shyness and love in a whimsical fashion. Includes lines only Morrissey could probably dream up. Like the following!;

"Spending warm Summer days indoors
Writing frightening verse
To a buck-toothed girl in Luxembourg"


GOLDEN LIGHTS

A cover of a song by a little known sixties artist called 'Twinkle'. It's bearable but hardly essential or notably arresting. Johnny Marr was not happy at all to have to record this but gave in to one of Morrissey's (numerous?!) eccentric whims.


OSCILLATE WILDLY

A purely instrumental piece by Johnny Marr that is very evocative and quite brilliant.


THESE THINGS TAKE TIME

"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the sacred wunderkind/You took me behind a dis-used railway line" wails Morrissey on this breezy song that becomes quite moving towards the end because of the lyrics. I quite like this song overall although it's far from the best tune on offer here.


RUBBER RING

Quite a complex and interesting song in which Morrissey seems to be speaking directly to Smiths fans who might be moving on from his music. It's a poignant 'don't forget me plea' and the tune is pretty good too.

"And when you're dancing and laughing
And finally living
Hear my voice in your head
And think of me kindly"


BACK TO THE OLD HOUSE

Another very pleasant and touching song. The twist here is that Morrissey opts for a very spare, minimalist vocal and lyrical style and allows Johnny Marr's music to be the star of the show. I find this song quite impressive whenever I have a listen to Louder Than Bombs.


HAND IN GLOVE

The Smiths' first ever single introduces us to the distinctive world view of the young Morrissey;

"Hand in glove,
The sun shines out of our behinds,
Yes, we may be hidden by rags,
But we've something they'll never have."

In The Smiths' landscape the outsider is celebrated through self-deprecation and drama and humour go side by side. The song is poppy and homemade sounding and great fun.


STRETCH OUT AND WAIT

A lovely, gentle and catchy song with lilting vocals by Morrissey about love, fumblings and alienation on a high-rise estate. It's a really nice tune and Morrissey's lyrics are constantly interesting and in sync with the music;

"Two icy-cold hands conducting the way
It's the Eskimo blood in my veins
Amid concrete and clay
And general decay
Nature must still find a way"


PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, LET ME GET WHAT I WANT

A stunningly simple and beautiful acoustic song that ends far too quickly but is very memorable nonetheless thanks to the straightforward lyrics and heartfelt vocal.

"Haven't had a dream in a long time
See, the life I've had
Can make a good man bad"

You might have heard a snatch of this song in the last ever episode of Ricky Gervais' 'Extras'.


THIS NIGHT HAS OPENED MY EYES

Another haunting song amazingly thrown out as a b-side. This includes several lines from Shelagh Delaney's "A Taste Of Honey" and reminds me very much of The Smiths first album with its complex and long Morrissey lyrics and a general air of doomed provincal dreams and drama.


UNLOVEABLE

"I don't have much in my life/But take it - it's yours " sings Morrissey on another lovely song that sounds completely effortless and natural. Johnny Marr adds little plateaus and sparks of drama within his music as Morrissey spins his vocal around it.


ASLEEP

Asleep is one Smiths song that you could probably term dark and downbeat without too much dispute. Morrissey asks for someone to 'Sing me to sleep' over a melancholic piano tune. It's a competent well crafted song but the subject matter (Suicide) makes it a delicate one that might be a tad too gloomy for some tastes.


Overall

Louder Than Bombs is a superb compilation by a unique group. As ever though it all depends on how familiar the listener is with the material. If you own other Smiths compilations and albums you might want to check how many songs you already own. More casual music followers or anyone not familiar at all with The Smiths but curious will find this a rewarding and bumper collection of classic British indie music.

Highly recommended.


Morrissey - Singing/Lyrics
Johnny Marr - Guitars/Music
Andy Rourke - Bass Guitar
Mike Joyce - Drums
Craig Gannon - Guitar (on six songs only)

Summary: b-side heaven