Despite being one of the most miserable men in music, Morrissey has a staunchly loyal fanbase. A lot of the fans of The Smiths have followed him as a solo artist, so it is interesting to see where his heritage began. This best of collection gathers fourteen of their hits and is a good starting point to get people interested in their sound. The Smiths sound is quite unique, quirky guitar music with biting intelligent lyrics and plenty of hooks thrown in for good measure. 'William It Was Really Nothing' is a prime example of their sound. Morrissey's vocals are engaging and seem to float away on their own, highs and lows in the melody and a rambling feel about ...  Read the complete review

This CD sits alongside Best Of... 2 to present a pretty much definitive collection of Smiths tracks. Of the two, this is perhaps slightly the weaker, although it does include some of their most well-known and generally popular songs, such as This Charming Man and How Soon Is Now. These excellent tracks though are offset by the odd inclusion of some of their weaker material which lets the album down slightly. As a collection, you really need this (14 tracks) and it's companion as well, or it falls very short. Even across this and the other CD, there are some glaring ommisions, such as Barbarism Begins At Home, one of the Smiths' greatest songs, and ...  Read the complete review