Pros: "There is a Light That Never Goes Out", "Bigmouth Strikes Again"
Cons: "Last Night I Dreamed Somebody Loved Me", "Shakespeare's Sister"
The Bottom Line: The Smiths were good songwriters, but I find it kind of hard to relate to Morrissey's dark lyrical perspective, and the music can be a bit repetitive.
I had heard a little bit of Morrissey and The Smiths on alternative radio as I was growing up, and I didn’t take that much notice of them. But a couple of years ago I fell in love with the single “Irish Blood, English Heart” from Morrissey’s most recent album. A friend then introduced me to songs such as “Speedway” and “Lifeguard Sleeping, Girl Drowning,” and I was sufficiently impressed to buy an album. After purchasing and listening to this collection from The Smiths, I concluded that I might’ve enjoyed a Morrissey solo record more. Still, this compilation certainly has its moments.
I have heard that credit for The Smiths’ early success was often given to guitarist Johnny Marr, not to Morrissey. Upon hearing an entire album of the band’s material, I’m surprised that Marr was given so much credit. He certainly has his own style, and the songs are well-crafted, but there isn’t a lot of guitar work here that struck me as remarkably innovative or impressive.
“Last Night I Dreamed Somebody Loved Me” begins with a long instrumental section of depressing-sounding keyboard accompanied by what seems to be the sound of crazies rioting in an insane asylum. It’s unpleasant to listen to, and unfortunately there is no way to skip it and get to the main portion of the song. Then again, I have little motivation to listen to the rest of the tune, because it’s basically just Morrissey singing ‘woe is me,’ indicating that no one will ever really love him.
The album’s biggest highlight is “There is a Light That Never Goes Out.” It’s a great love song, albeit one that addresses its subject in an inimitably morbid Morrissey way – “And if a double-decker bus smashes into us, to die by your side, well what a heavenly way to die.”
Other times, however, Morrissey’s dark worldview gets in the way of the enjoyability of The Smiths’ music. Who else would be presented with a mellow, pleasant-sounding, slightly groovy tune and write to it a set of lyrics entitled “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now”? On “That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore,” one is so distracted by the bleakness of the lyrics that it is hard to notice the delicate beauty of the music.
The album can be repetitive, and includes weaker tracks such as “Shakespeare’s Sister” and “Shoplifters of the World Unite.” But the collection also includes classics such as the shimmering, otherworldly “How Soon is Now?” and the defiant “Bigmouth Strikes Again.” For even these songs, well-known by American listeners of alternative radio, it is difficult to see how they could be Top 40 hits. Tunes with softly jangling guitars, hammy crooning, and bitter lyrics seem rather incompatible with the bubble-gum environment of the 1980s pop charts. Yet in Britain somehow they were hits, despite Morrissey’s insistence on listening to all the dark whisperings of his muse. Go figure.
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