The Smiths: The Queen Is Dead Vinyl LP

Why you'll love it

NME named The Queen Is Dead the greatest album of all time in 2013, and it peaked at No. 2 in the U.K. "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out," "Bigmouth Strikes Again" and "The Boy with the Thorn in His Side" are all on side two. Some side.

This edition

Warner reissue (cat# 1658879)
Original 10-song album produced by Morrissey and Johnny Marr with engineer Stephen Street

About the album

The Smiths were always a bit of a take-it-or-leave-it proposition, but if you're down with what the short-lived Manchester quartet was up to during its heady five-year run in the mid-1980s, The Queen Is Dead is the album to beat.

The band simply got it right here. Drolly self-loathing frontman and lyricist Steven Patrick Morrissey was never sharper nor funnier. Johnny Marr's guitar work never danced and sparkled as brightly. And the underrated rhythm section of drummer Mike Joyce and late bassist Andy Rourke was never more nimble and weightless. Almost universally acclaimed on delivery in June of 1986, The Queen Is Dead was nevertheless more of a cult commodity than a runaway hit at the time (indeed, the Smiths themselves never exactly rose to Oasis-level prominence) but like many too-good-for-their-own-good records before it, from The Velvet Underground & Nico to Never Mind The Bollocks to Murmur, its reach and reputation have consistently grown with time. It's now a must-have for any serious student of Brit-pop, or intelligent popcraft in general.

Also at Kops: more The Smiths on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Side A
1. The Queen Is Dead
2. Frankly, Mr. Shankly
3. I Know It's Over
4. Never Had No One Ever
5. Cemetry Gates

Side B
1. Bigmouth Strikes Again
2. The Boy with the Thorn in His Side
3. Vicar in a Tutu
4. There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
5. Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others