Superb hidden Smiths collection... {updated} (Louder Than Bombs - The Smiths)

Member Name: ronniec

Product:	Louder Than Bombs - The Smiths
Date:	11/11/00 (120 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Superb blend of famous and less well-known tracks.

Disadvantages: Curious track ordering, not a definitive collection.

Any fan of The Smiths, the 80s British band fronted by Morrissey and also featuring the superb Johnny Marr on guitars, will most likely have heard of this album. However, for those of you that are unfamiliar with the band, and for fans who have not come across this hidden gem, I shall attempt to explain the beauty of this album.

Louder Than Bombs is more of a compilation album than anything, featuring Smiths tracks right back from their earliest days, up to their last songs. It also has a number of lesser-known tracks which are really the jewels in the crown. Although a consistently good album throughout, Louder Than Bombs is highlighted by these rare tracks which in my opinion, are among the best the Smiths ever produced.

The tone of the album is particularly hard to describe. Being a collection of Smiths work, there is no natural progression as with their previous works, and the track ordering does as times seem a little strange - switching from Half A Person to the little-known London, for example. On the whole, this is a darker album than most of its sisters, featuring some of the most painfully self-obsessive work Morrissey ever came out with.

Opening with Is It Really So Strange?, a whimsical BBC recording, sets the album off on a strange footing. It certainly sits uneasily alongside the material yet to come. Many of The Smiths' most well-known songs are included, such as Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now and Hand In Glove - although notably, there is no place for This Charming Man. That said, it should be remembered that this is not strictly a compilation album in the vein of the Best Of... CDs, but a collection aimed at the American market which had not seen the releases of the two prior albums. Personally I find this to be one of the album's strong points. It covers material which had previously been neglected and is all the better for it.

The pick of the "obscure" songs are You Just Haven't Earned
It Yet, Baby, a fast-paced track which could really have been released as a single, and This Night Has Opened My Eyes, another BBC recording which ranks alongside the finest of their work. While I love the singles releases and the classic collection of the two Best Of... CDs, Louder Than Bombs offers something totally different, an even deeper side to the group that even I thought was not there. At times it is very disheartening to hear even Morrissey wallow in his own self-loathing, and indeed, I do not recommend mixing this CD with alcohol - the faint promise of better things to come in much of their work is shattered in one swoop by the anguished tone of This Night Has Opened My Eyes.

Lyrically the album is superb. As well as the familiar cries of, "William, it was really nothing", we're treated to, "I know I'm unloveable/you don't have to tell me." It loses something in the translation, but I can only reiterate the lyrical genius of Morrissey. The rare tracks on this album will be heard by few, but will have something to say to everyone who does. In particular, I suspect the story behind Back To The Old House will ring a bell with everyone who hears it.

I was lucky enough to stumble across this album in a sale and picked it up for a ludicrous £2. Under normal circumstances, I would have come to DooYoo before purchasing this CD, as it is fair to say that if you own any other Smiths albums, you will probably own much of this CD already, despite it weighing in at a hefty twenty-four tracks.

However, I can only recommend this album heartily, particularly for Smiths fans who may only be familiar with their more famous work. The inclusion of the rare tracks makes this album worth buying any number of times over.

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