... but with some not so often complied songs. The DoCD will be the interesting one...

A couple of interesting selections on cd 2,Must of taken Warner Bros an age to think of the imaginative title.

contrary to all the negative comments this topic will receive, im actually looking forward to this release.
yay!

They could have just released the second one. Who, in their target market, do they possibly think will not have any of the previous compilations? A bit dense, really.

It'll be nice to have remastered versions of Jeane, What is the World and Wonderful Woman among others!

I look forward to downloading it illegally, then picking up a used copy later on!!!

Mike Roe Penis

No need for the first CD. But the second CD is interesting, I didn't think I'd be interested in buying it but I might be now. I don't own copies of the likes of "Jeane" and "Wonderful Woman" etc. so this is my chance to finally get my hands on some proper versions!

Yes!!! The long lost 'instrumental' version of Oscillate Wildly to be released at last! (groan)

Ok, let's get serious now. If Disc 2 is chock-full of 'rarities', what of the supposed box set?

Just re-master the albums already! Re-issue them on 180 gram vinyl as well... I'd buy them all. How about a deluxe edition of Rank with the entire show... still with me???

easymeat

I don't begrudge the record companies from re-releasing their old material. This stuff is musical gold!

Sure, most of the people on this site already own all/most of these songs and don't need to pay to own them again. However, there are lots of people out there who hear about how great the Smiths were/are and this would be a good intro for them. As people continue to rediscover the Smiths, their music continues to be important and widely appreciated.

Nice of albumvote.co.uk to leak a non-100% cleared tracklisting.

Expect a few tweaks to that second CD when it finally appears, not in September but a month or so later.

Jack Warner.

because that will mean more money for the label and mike joyce

come on!

Morrissey must be thrilled with that.

The 2nd disk is going to be a really weird listen for anyone who isn't a diehard fan.

I already have all of these songs on CD so there really is no reason for me to buy it but it should be cool for people who don't.

there. are you happy?

I've just checked the download section and no one has posted these songs as a file to download. Yet.

If I get the chance later, I might give it a bash - I'm sure I have them all - unless someone beats me to it :)

Surely it won't break any rules about comercially available content :):):)

It's unbelievable that the same singer was involved in both 'projects'! Dear Lord.

You can make the same unflattering comparison with Marr's bloody awful Healers stuff too!

nothing that everyone have already...

As most have stated, disc 2 has some surprises. Nothing new that all the hard-core already have but but it's nice to see Warner trying to put some effort and including some "rarities". I know you can't always please everyone but how about the below for a disc 2? The logic is that there's noothing new on the list but at least it compiles most of the loose ends...

Handsome Devil (live Manchester Hacienda 4/2/83)
Hand In Glove (live London 29/6/83)
Pretty Girls Make Graves (Troy Tate demo)
Jeane
Accept Yourself
Wonderful Woman
This Charming Man (London)
Girl Afraid (live Glasgow 2/3/84)
Nowhere Fast (John Peel session 9/8/84)
William, It Was Really Nothing (Peel session 9/8/84)
Rusholme Ruffians (John Peel session 9/8/84)
How Soon Is Now? (alternate studio outtake from Italian single)
What's The World? (live Glasgow 25/9/85)
Rubber Ring (b-side version)
Asleep (b-side version)
Nowhere Fast (live Oxford 18/3/85)
Stretch Out And Wait (live Oxford 18/3/85)
Shakespeare's Sister (live Oxford 18/3/85)
Meat Is Murder (live Oxford 18/3/85)
The Draize Train
Work Is A Four Letter Word
I Keep Mine Hidden
Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others (live London 12/12/86)

Now some one hurry and get this list to Warner before they start pressing the disc.

...if nothing else...CD1 has a nice chronologocal order but I have to agree with the above post....is there anything left for a box set?

Sheridan

I think Warner's have done a reasonably good job. The selection of album tracks mixed in with the singles on the first disc are mostly well-chosen. (It's certainly a better and more wide-ranging selection of essential album tracks than were featured on the two previous 'Best Of' companion compilations.)Some of the 'rarities' on CD2 are exciting as well, and will be a boon to those of us who, despite our best efforts, have not been able to locate some of these tracks on CD. (I'm particularly pleased about the inclusion of TCM NY Vocal, a track that reminds us how dance-oriented The Smiths were in their initial phase - and a version I haven't heard since I foolishly sold my 12" copy of 'This Charming Man' all those years ago when I was a starving student! Dovetails nicely with 'Barbarism' on the first disc too.)

I will be buying this compilation. And even though many Smiths fans will have all of these tracks already, the compilation seems a fitting tribute to one of the greatest British bands of all time.

Let's all pray that the cover art doesn't suck a la 'The Very Best of The Smiths'.

Terence Stomp

I don't believe in you!

never heard of 'em

9xF

That's a pretty good effort for a major 'best of' release. Just goes to how how strong the smiths material is that they can release a disc of 'minor' material alongside the classic's.
If i were a young person coming fresh to the smiths i'd be buying that and be well happy!

Lord save us from the cover....

boring! The Smiths are fast becoming as over-rated and over hyped as The Beatles. Both good bands no question, but way too hyped. It's getting BORING.

great tracks! ecspecially if the best album released on two albums which i really tantalize with the second cd, interestin tracks! this is gonna hit really well on sales, than his last so'low' best album.

for stuff like this but as someone posted above, if I was 17 again as I was when I got into the Smiths afresh my tiny mind would be blown by this compliation, and would lead me to go through the entire back catalogue in a very short period.

That by itself is the highest complement one can pay a greatest hits, cash grab or not. Ultimately it is the much reviled Smiths Greatest Hits (Charles Hawtrey cover) that clicked me into the Smiths, and naturally as an outsider I didn't understand why it was much reviled until later on. The end result was the same - the back catalogue was snapped up by me very quickly.

Kudos to Warners for bothering to include more than the usual suspects too, in particular "I want the one I can't have" and "Headmaster Ritual". CD2 is equally nifty.

You can't complain about Moz being bitter about these reissues, and the Bowl DVD but I suppose for him it must be insanely difficult to remember the feelings these songs stir for the first time since the guys been playing them in various fashions for 25 years. Also it is kind of awkward to complain about the presentation of these things when (as again mentioned) his official Greatest Hits and Who Put...DVD didn't appear to have any thought put into the presentation side of things.

I personally like even his newest output as it kinda reflects the changes and growing gruff cynicism that comes with age but there is something hedonistically joyous, earnest and frank about the Smiths that should never ever be forgot...

From:
[http://www.music-wow.com/shop-item_details.php?id=WEA+12841] [music-wow.com]

CD1

1. Hand In Glove (2008 Remastered Version)
2. This Charming Man (2008 Remastered Version)
3. What Difference Does It Make? (2008 Remastered Version)
4. Still Ill (2008 Remastered Version)
5. Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now (2008 Remastered
Version)
6. William, It Was Really Nothing (2008 Remastered
Version)
7. How Soon Is Now (2008 Remastered Version)
8. I Want the One I Can't Have (2008 Remastered Version)
9. Shakespeare's Sister (2008 Remastered Version)
10. Barbarism Begins At Home (7" 2008 Remastered Version)
11. That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore (2008 Remastered
Version)
12. The Headmaster Ritual (2008 Remastered Version)
13. The Boy With The Thorn In His Side (2008 Remastered Version)
14. Bigmouth Strikes Again (2008 Remastered Version)
15. There Is A Light That Never Goes Out (2008 Remastered Version)
16. Panic (2008 Remastered Version)
17. Ask (2008 Remastered Version)
18. You Just Haven't Earned It Yet Baby (2008 Remastered Version)
19. Shoplifters Of The World Unite (2008 Remastered Version)
20. Sheila Take A Bow (2008 Remastered Version)
21. Girlfriend In A Coma (2008 Remastered Version)
22. I Started Something I Couldn't Finish (2008 Remastered Version)
23. Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me (2008 Remastered Version)

CD2

1. Jeane (2008 Remastered Version)
2. Handsome Devil (Live at Manchester Hacienda 4/2/83)
(2008 Remastered Version)
3. This Charming Man (New York Vocal) (2008 Remastered Version)
4. Wonderful Woman (2008 Remastered Version)
5. Back To The Old House (2008 Remastered Version)
6. These Things Take Time (2008 Remastered Version)
7. Girl Afraid (2008 Remastered Version)
8. Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want (2008 Remastered Version)
9. Stretch Out And Wait (2008 Remastered Version)
10. Oscillate Wildly (Instrumental) (2008 Remastered Version)
11. Meat Is Murder (Live at Oxford Apollo 18/3/85) (2008 Remastered Version)
12. Asleep (2008 Remastered Version)
13. Money Changes Everything (2008 Remastered Version)
14. The Queen Is Dead (2008 Remastered Version)
15. Vicar In A Tutu (2008 Remastered Version)
16. Cemetery Gates (2008 Remastered Version)
17. Half A Person (2008 Remastered Version)
18. Sweet And Tender Hooligan (2008 Remastered Version)
19. I Keep Mine Hidden (2008 Remastered Version)
20. Pretty Girls Make Graves [Troy Tate Version] (2008 Remastered Version)
21. Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before (2008 Remastered Version)
22. What's The World? (Recorded Live in 1985)
23. London (Live at National Ballroom, Kilburn, London 23/10/86) (2008 Remastered Version)

I think I'll probably buying this.

It will be nice to get a retrospective while I'm dancing with a dustpan and brush around the house.

Agree with a lot of the points on here; I got my first blast of the Smiths from the Charles Hawtree album and I think others will do the same. Whoever benefits and doesn't benefit there's no accounting for taste.. if it makes the kids put down the knives then why not...

I'm not a Smiths completest, certainly not as much as a lot of you, but I do own most of the stuff on the second disc and all of the tracks on the first - all I can think of is that it'd be very nice to have it all in one place, instead of digging out my my dusty 'Sweet and Tender Hooligan' CD single to get a blast of 'I Keep Mine Hidden' while I'm washing up the crocks.

I wonder if Warners approached Mike Joyce 'A Matter of Opinion', as mentioned in the wonderful 'Songs that Saved Your Life'. I think we'd all spend a tenner on the CD then!

Whilst it's nowhere near as horrific as Morrissey's "Greatest Hits", a tracklisting that may as well have been compiled by a chimp, it's still not definitive.

The infamous last very best of was perhaps better, bar the unforgiveable butchering of "Last Night It Dreamt" and it basically follows that but the omission of "I Know It's Over" is a fatal flaw, even if the excellent "Headmaster Ritual" is a great addition. "You Just Haven't Earned It Yet" is a pretty odd choice, and "I Want The One I Can't Have" and "Barbarism" aren't the most obvious album tracks - very Meat Is Murder heavy, someof the tracks on disc 2 are better like Cemetry Gates, Please Please Please and Asleep. Surely "Stop Me" deserves prominent placing on disc 1 after the Ronson success.

As for the second disc, predictably they add in the stray b-sides that otherwise are "unavailable" - Wonderful Woman, Jeane, I Keep Mine Hidden, What's The World - even if hardcore fans would have them on the This Charming Man reissue CDs and the for once thoughtfully compiled CD of "Sweet And Tender Hooligan" by US Warners which actually gave fans what they needed. They add some more unusual choices otherwise on this disc - Vicar In A Tutu, Money Changes Everything(!). Wonder if "Back To The Old House" will be the Peel session version. On the plus side, all this will be a treat to new fans just discovering them as was said and that version of "Meat Is Murder" is stunning and much better than the original, I wish they also added in the live versions of "Shakespear's Sister" and "Some Girls".

Nitpicking aside, it's pretty redundant really - what's the difference with 2008 remastered versions and the last set which was pretty damn recent. And Moz (and therefore The Smiths) has gained a new generation of young fans after the comeback with YATQ, so another release is unnecessary. What they could have done was do a more indepth 2 CD release, that might add something to their catalogue, rather than 1 disc and an optional extra one of rarities.

They have been compiled to death already, Singles remains definitive and the only hits album needed, those first two best ofs were taking the piss, as was The Very Best Of, now this. And to go back further, the root of the reissue/repackage gag was "Louder Than Bombs" wasn't it.. pity it wasn't just that that was released instead of "The World Won't Listen", because it was a genuine improvement. Americans do compilations better perhaps, The Best Of Morrissey is also his best solo compilation.

Another compilation...

Well, well, well... looks like we now see why Moz pushed back his new cd. He did not want to go up against his old band from the 80's that will probably outsell him. I'll still buy it!
thetexasbloke

looks like it's being released in america november 4 on rhino records. i can't find any info about the deluxe edition, though.
http://www.amazon.com/Hang-DJ-Very-Best-Smiths/dp/B001ED7C5S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1219196658&sr=1-1

shouldn't the digital revolution, which allows you to download, mix, and burn, kill these compilation CD's off?

I guess if you've been lapse in collecting some of the tracks, you might want 1/3 of this second disc, but the rest of it is an insult. Not only to the fans, but to the band. The Smiths really deserve something better than the same run-through of A-sides and the odd 12-inch B-side. This is a pure cash-in, the same stuff from "best" and "singles" now re-housed in what will absoultely be a crap sleeve. It's clear that WEA doesn't even know what they have, or care.

Suggestions: Complete BBC sessions, Oxford live 1985 in full, Amsterdam live 1984 in full, Troy Tate's LP in full, Strangeways original mix, non-LP tracks compiled... There's so many things you could do and they don't even try.

Maybe I should have been a fan of Supertramp instead.

all who buy this, and all true fans have every
track, even the live ones, were b-sedes, what's
the world is on a very good availble bootleg...
will hand his money over to Mike Joyce, maybe
Johnny will get some, but surely not Morrissey, cause its a UK release, and Andy, who settled
his royalties with Morrissey and Marr, I hope
Joyce be that social to hand over 20.000 BP
or so, cause, the Smiths are now everyones new band favourites, so this CD will be sold massive
by all the youngsters who are NME sheep/shit

byt we, true fans, must boycot it

How come no one ever gossips about this "Sarah" person he's always around?

Russell Brand mentioned being introduced to her, she's with the Moz in all the paparazzi shots, hell she's almost his constant companion...

So why haven't you people jumped on this? It seems like something the gossipers on here would like, forget that yesterday's news Jake stuff...

Please let it include a tacky badge...just for fun.

I am an American woman who just heard Morrissey (yes) for the first time on XFM about a year ago. Yes, it was a Smiths' song, but . . . I heard that voice and I was hooked. I asked my fiancee, who is English, who is that. He said that's Morrissey and something else I won't repeat but I didn't care. I was in love. Since then I have compiled over 12 Morriseey CDs/DVDs. Not one Smiths' CD. And guess what, I'm not going to buy the Smiths compilation. Why? I don't have to. Morrissey is the one that got my attention and guess what I have his CDs and can't wait until his new CD comes out. I will definitely buy that, but I will not spin a dime on the Smiths compilation (or complication). Sorry had to do that. Listen up PEOPLE. Good night.