Product Description

Hits collection from arguably the greatest singles band of all-time, The Smiths. With the lyrical wordplay of Morrisseyand the mercurial guitar-playing of Johnny Marr, The Smithsblazed a trail across the eighties with a slew of truly great singles, all of which are included here. Includes 'The Boy With The Thorn In His Side', 'Panic' and 'There Is A LightThat Never Goes Out'.

Track Listing

1. Panic
2. Boy With The Thorn In His Side
3. Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
4. Ask
5. Bigmouth Strikes Again
6. How Soon Is Now
7. This Charming Man
8. What Difference Does It Make
9. William It Was Really Nothing
10. Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others
11. Girlfriend In A Coma
12. Hand In Glove
13. There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
14. Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want
15. That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore
16. I Know It's Over
17. Sheila Take A Bow
18. I Started Something I Couldn't Finish
19. Still Ill
20. Shakespeare's Sister
21. Shoplifters Of The World Unite
22. Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
23. Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #810 in Music
• Released on: 2001-06-04
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
It's a shame that the people responsible for The Very Best of The Smiths were neither shameless nor honest enough to include "Paint a Vulgar Picture" on this compilation. Morrissey's awesomely prescient analysis of record company rapacity ("Re-package! Re-package! Re-evaluate the songs/ Double-pack with a photograph/Extra track and a tacky badge") would have been a suitable introduction: The Smiths are already one of the most collected, compiled and anthologised bands in rock history (we've been here already with Best. . . 1, Best. . . 2, The World Won't Listen, Louder Than Bombs and Singles, and there's nothing new on The Very Best Of bar a claim that it is "Digitally Remastered", as if anyone can tell). However, it could reasonably be argued that The Very Best Of is not entirely redundant: it appears at a time when the British indie tradition that The Smiths raised to heights still unequalled is now in the hands of people who never knew these songs, who were still in short pants when The Smiths split in 1988. It might be hoped, therefore, that this collection will serve two purposes: one, to inspire today's crop in pursuit of the heights scaled here; two, to remind an increasingly unfussy audience of just how dull, timid and witless the likes of Travis, Coldplay and Stereophonics sound alongside "This Charming Man", "The Boy With The Thorn in His Side" and "How Soon Is Now?". --Andrew Mueller

Customer Reviews

Oh dear.....
Don't get me wrong, these are great songs, but this time around they've been ruined by dreadful remastering. We didn't need another Smiths compilation anyway....of the existing ones, Louder Than Than Bombs has the most enduring track selection.

Great songs but only good for casual fans
This album has a special place in my heart as it was the first Smiths album I brought when I was 14 years old. It has some of the best Smiths songs and is a good introduction to my favourite band.

That said since I brought this album and was totally blown away by it I have brought all the other Smiths albums. I now barley listen to this one, it's handy to leave in the car or lend to friends. If you are an established fan I would not recommend this album as you can cheaply buy the other albums and get much better value for money and more songs.

I would recommend new fans to try the world won't listen or louder than bombs which are both also compilations. I would still recommend this for new/casual fans as an introduction to the Smiths. The only trouble will be you will enjoy this album so much you will have to buy everything they have ever released.

Great band, excellent songs, but......
If you don't own a Smiths album then you could do worse than buy this. They're my favourite band and this album isn't enough for a fan, indeed there's very little point owning it if you're a fan as all the songs are available on other compilations.
But the casual listener will get all their UK and US released singles plus a few other gems so in that sense it beats The Singles or any other single-volume compilation out there.
Any fan could list at least another 20 or 30 "essential" songs missing from this album but you could never get them all on.
Except for the omission of the album version's intro on Stop Me If You Think... (which would have spoiled the flow of the album had it been included) these are the full 12" versions; thankfully they've not used the shortened 7" single versions of That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore or How Soon Is Now.

Now the big moans on here seem to be that:
1) there are already lots of compilations; fair enough if you own them don't buy this.
2) the packaging is bad. Well i've seen better but Charles Hawtrey is in keeping with the general theme of Smiths cover designs.
3) the songs have been spoiled by remastering. Now i have several of their albums on vinyl as well as CD and trust me that the original albums don't sound as good on CD as they did on vinyl as they weren't digitally recorded.
The remastering is barely noticeable on most tracks BUT i don't like the way This Charming Man sounds on this album. As one of their greatest songs that's quite a big thing but the casual listener probably won't notice the difference.