Smiths - Rough Trade CDs

[Ess Ay Cee Dee]

Hatful of Hollow has a lot of BBC tracks on it. I've never heard The World Won't Listen, so I have no idea if there were any alternates on there.

LTB was indeed a US-only comp at first, but I remember reading that so many copies were being imported to the UK that Rough Trade just decided to press it themselves.

[Beatlesfan03]

Hatful of Hollow has a lot of BBC tracks on it. I've never heard The World Won't Listen, so I have no idea if there were any alternates on there.

"The Boy With A Thorn In His Side" is an alternate version that I can recall of the top of my head. There's a couple of others I believe but I'm at my parents and Knoxville and don't have the disc with me.

"The World Won't Listen" is also the only digital place where you can get the instrumental "Money Changes Everything" which ended up on Bryan Ferry's "Girls and Boys" LP as "The Right Stuff" which Marr guested on.

[Beatlesfan03]

Yes; I don't believe it was ever issued in the States. I've never seen it in a store either. I got mine from Amazon.co.uk, IIRC.

By luck, I found one of these used at one of the local stores here. All I can say is wow.

It is a little louder than some of the other best ofs out there, but My God, I don't think I've ever heard tracks from "The Queen is Dead" and "Strangeways" sound as killer as they do here on this comp. "The Queen Is Dead" tracks actually have bass!!

I don't like that they cut the intro to "Last Night I Dreamt that Sombody Loved Me" since I like how the piano builds into the start of the song. I wouldn't have mind cutting "I Started Something I Couldn't Finish" or "Shakespeare's Sister" in order to restore it, but it's not like I don't have these songs on 7 other discs.

I always wished that the song "Paint A Vulgar Picture" would appear on a Smiths best of, if only because the lyrics fit how their catalog has been treated since they've broken up right down to a T.

If Inglot and Hersch are in changes of the actual Smiths LP remasters, I'll be a happy camper.

[J_Partyka]

If Inglot and Hersch are in changes of the actual Smiths LP remasters, I'll be a happy camper.

Me too. I'm still waiting for this to happen!

In the meantime, I treasure my UK Rough Trade vinyl of those Smiths albums.

[Beatlesfan03]

Me too. I'm still waiting for this to happen!

In the meantime, I treasure my UK Rough Trade vinyl of those Smiths albums.

Well, the rumors are sometime this year, so keep your fingers crossed.

I used to have a few of the Rough Trade 12"s and those sounded phenomenal. I'm stuck with the regular US versions on vinyl for now which a tad better than the CDs, but not by much.

I also had "Rank" and the self titled LP on 10" vinyl and was very disappointed by the sound on those...very pinched.

[Ess Ay Cee Dee]

Re: "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me"...

Does anyone know if the original Rough Trade 7" single had the truncated intro? I'm just wondering if this is a 45 edit or just a trim that was made by Inglot and Co. because of the CD's time limits.

[Beatlesfan03]

Re: "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me"...

Does anyone know if the original Rough Trade 7" single had the truncated intro? I'm just wondering if this is a 45 edit or just a trim that was made by Inglot and Co. because of the CD's time limits.

Can't give you an official answer, but I did find this:

http://www.oz.net/~moz/lyrics/strangew/lastnigh.htm

A contrary choice for a single, unvilified by its poor chart placing. Starting with an evocative piano part accompanied by crowd noises from a BBC sound effects album, the song builds in tension before breaking splendidly into the main string-drenched section, as if waking from a dream.
Lyrically reminiscent of Back To The Old House, he once again squeezes huge amounts of emotion from few words. Superior in this song is his willful misuse of the word "real" - this is an unashamedly brilliant piece of songwriting: even the title of the song makes it clear the arms couldn't be real, but he still insists on singing that. The third verse draws a link between the "last one" and the "right one", with the emphasis still on dreams; the clear point being that any relationship, whether real or not, would still be a dream.

From the above, it sounds like it was included on the single. I found several copies of the single for sale, but none of course listed the running time. It was released as a CD-5 so it wouldn't be that far-fetched for it to have the edit and then the album version.

EDIT - Found one on eBay, the edit on the Very Best is indeed a single edit.

[Ess Ay Cee Dee]

Thanks a lot, Ryan!

I'm assuming that the mix of "The Boy with the Thorn in His Side" that's on TWWL and the "Very Best Of" comp is the original 45 mix. I had no idea it was remixed for The Queen Is Dead.

If (or when) Rhino spruces up the Smiths catalog, I hope they'll do something similar to their Elvis Costello series. There are quite a number of tracks that have not been compiled yet: the live B-side version of "Handsome Devil," the Peel Sessions version of "Miserable Lie" (plus all of the unreleased Peel tracks), "The Draize Train" and on and on.

An official release of the Troy Tate version of The Smiths would be nice too. My bootleg copy sounds like shit.

[Rspaight]

Just to be confusing, Craig uses the Phil Collins avatar on FLO, I get to use it on SC. (It's tough on Phil, being from a broken home and all. He gets his revenge by singing.)

So Craig's the helpful one.

The only Smiths I own is the Singles CD, though a nice Rhino reissue campaign would probably suck me in.

Ryan

[Ess Ay Cee Dee]

Holy shit, you're right. You guys are fucking with my head.

[Tom Stroud]

http://www.passionsjustlikemine.com/smiths-l.htm

Ever wondered about the various edits of How Soon Is Now?

Confused about the Peel session versions?

Which tracks never made it to cd?

The discography above is very useful. I'm pretty familiar with The Smiths back catalogue and I can't see any obvious flaws in it.

[damianm]

I'm assuming that the mix of "The Boy with the Thorn in His Side" that's on TWWL and the "Very Best Of" comp is the original 45 mix. I had no idea it was remixed for The Queen Is Dead.

I'm not sure it's a 45 mix. I've got both discs, though not here (I'm at work), and the album version's got strings while the one on World Won't Listen is, iirc, some sort of early/work-in-progress version (it says so in the booklet, if memory serves) which hadn't had the strings laid down yet.

Interesting in that you can hear a keyboard 'beep' striking on each chord change, presumably as a guide of sorts as to what the strings would be playing later.

It's one of my favorite Smiths songs, and I like both versions. And I'd give anything to have a Smiths disc .. any one of them .. with me now.

[Ess Ay Cee Dee]

Well, according to the discography link that Tom provided, that version is indeed on the original single.

BTW, Tom, that is an outstanding site. Thanks for the link.

[damianm]

Well, according to the discography link that Tom provided, that version is indeed on the original single.

I'll shut up now .

[Ess Ay Cee Dee]

I doubt that anyone gives a shit, but I'll let everyone bask in my reflected glory as I describe the new geeky-ass Smiths compilation I just put together.

There are several Smiths tracks that have never made it onto a "proper" album here in the US and I have many of them scattered all over the place. Just for the hell of it, I've put together a 2-hour, 2-disc "rarities" collection. Here are the boring details:

DISC ONE

1. This Charming Man (London)
2. Pretty Girls Make Graves (Troy Tate demo)
3. Jeane
4. Wonderful Woman
5. Accept Yourself
6. Hand in Glove (live, 1983)
7. This Charming Man (New York)
8. This Charming Man (New York Instrumental)
9. Miserable Lie (Peel Session)
10. Hand in Glove (Sandie Shaw w/ the Smiths)
11. I Don't Owe You Anything (Sandie Shaw w/ the Smiths)
12. Jeane (Sandie Shaw w/ the Smiths)
13. Nowhere Fast (live, 1985)
14. Stretch Out and Wait (live, 1985)
15. Meat Is Murder (live, 1985)
16. How Soon Is Now? (edited version w/ fade-out)
17. That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore (7" edit)
18. Stretch Out and Wait (alternate version)

DISC TWO

1. Rusholme Ruffians (Peel Session)
2. Nowhere Fast (Peel Session)
3. William, It Was Really Nothing (Peel Session)
4. What's the World? (live, 1985)
5. The Boy with the Thorn in His Side (single mix)
6. Rubber Ring
7. Asleep (tracks 6 & 7 are joined; from the UK "Boy with the Thorn..." CD-single)
8. The Queen Is Dead (w/o the LP intro; from the UK "How Soon Is Now?" double CD-single)
9. Money Changes Everything
10. Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others (live, 1986)
11. Ask (single mix)
12. You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby (UK version)
13. Work Is a Four-Letter Word
14. I Keep Mine Hidden
15. Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me (7" edit)

This makes a nice companion piece to the "official" US CD's. Most tracks are from OOP CD-singles, but a few were lifted from The World Won't Listen and The Very Best of the Smiths.

If anyone wants a copy, shoot me a PM.