The Smiths - Strangeways, Here We Come

A worthy final album of a great, great band....

This is The Smiths's swansong (barring any reunion album, which, sadly, is probably not going to happen), and it generally gets mixed reviews from Smiths fans. I think it's a near masterpiece. It's not as vibrant as other Smiths' albums, but it's still damn good and there are some magnificent songs that can stand up to any of the Smiths's classics. The opener, A Rush and the Push and the Land Is Ours, is a beautiful, haunting pop number that only the Smiths can do well. I like Death of a Disco Dancer, and its extended instrumental break. It's reminiscent of Barbarism Begins at Home (off Meat is Murder), and it's very powerful. Girlfriend in a Coma is one of Morrissey's best lyrics, a cutish, poppy song set to a lyric where the protagonist really wants his girlfriend to die (that's so sweet). Stop Me If you Think... is a great single that gets better everytime I listen to it. I rather like Death at One's Elbow, even though most people dislike this song for some reason.

But the masterpiece of the album is Paint a Vulgar Picture. It's one of the greatest songs The Smiths ever recorded. It has a great melody and some of Morrissey's most acidic, acerbic, and brilliant lyrics ever. The song is also one of his most timely, as when a big dead rock star dies, there's always leeches who come out of the floorboards to claim to have known the real person (the sycophantic slags, as St. Morrissey calls them). He also berates the record companies for repackaging everything. How many times has one had to "double dip" on CD reissues with crappy extra tracks (like rehearsals), or on a DVD? F***ing greed is all it is, and Morrissey's sings about it with grace and intelligence. Brilliant man, brilliant band.

Even if you're a casual Smiths listener, you should still pick this one up. It may not be as good as the other albums, but it's still amazing in its own way. May 5, 2008

Bitter, bitter pill

Much darker and meaner than most of their stuff, this is actually my least favorite Smiths record. It has a couple good songs, but really just marks the abrupt and bitter end of this fantastic group. December 15, 2007

20 years out, Stop me if...

It is now twenty years since its release. I purchased the CD to replace a cassette tape, yes some of them can linger around that long and still wind around. Still just as wonderful, lyrics still stand "Paint a Vulgar Picture" & "Girlfriend in a Coma" true and funny as ever. September 23, 2007

A good final album from Manchester's finest

Recorded just before the Smiths broke up, Strangeways Here We Come is a bittersweet conclusion to one of the best catalogues of the 80s. While not nearly as good as previous efforts (it particularly pales in comparison to the masterful The Queen Is Dead), this album does feature some of the group's finest moments. "A Rush and a Push and the Land is Ours" is a beauty, a wonderfully melancholy pop number driven by Johnny Marr's rumbling pianos and Morrissey's wry, nuanced lyrics and sarcastically melancholy vocals. "I Won't Share You" is a stark, emotive ballad with some truly bitter lyrics and a dreamy guitar line. "Death of a Disco Dancer" is sheer apocalyptic paranoia, and "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One" is a classic Smiths tour-de-force, awash in two-faced lyrics and damaged pop melodies.

Sadly, not everything is on par with those songs. I could do without much of the album's second half: "Unhappy Birthday" and "Death At One's Elbow" verge on self-parody, while "Paint A Vulgar Picture" drags on for far too long (interesting lyrics, though). Strangely enough, I'm not even a big fan of this album's singles. Of the three, "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me" is probably the best of the bunch, thanks to it genuinely beautiful melody and the sheer desperation in Morrissey's voice, but it's a bit too melodramatic to qualify as a Smiths classic. "I Started Something I Couldn't Finish" sounds great the first few times you hear it, but after that it's little more than a generic new-wave punk song, and "Girlfriend In A Coma" is little more than a practical joke with a cutesy melody and lyrics that aren't even funny the first time.

Still, it's a worthy purchase for any fan of the Smiths (but then again, so is everything else they've put out). September 13, 2007

Time has been very kind to"Strangeways"

I was into the Smiths in high school. I got to see them live and continued to buy Morrissey albums until "you are the quarry,"( dismal album). But when this album came out it left me cold and it sat on the bottom of my CD pile until a couple of years ago when I gave it another shot. You know what? It's an amazing album. It's just my teenage sensibilities couldn't understand the emotions and sarcasm it explores. Only with time and wisedom do I get it. The band, everyone knows was breaking up at the time and you can feel the sense of loss and sadness. "Strangeways" is the most subtle of the The Smiths catalog. It forgoes much of it's theatrics from previous albums and just paints a mood instead of a repeat of their-at this point, well known formula.
Everyone says 'the queen is dead" is their best but i think "hatful of hallow" is their best collection of songs; sonically and thematically. And I love the collection "louder than bombs", if anything "the queen is dead" is a wee bit overproduced and shallow for my taste. "Strangeways" is more complex than anything they'd done before and almost feels like a concept album. And people who say it's overproduced are just plain wrong, put down your MP3's which are 1/23 the quality of a CD and listen to it on headphones-it's heartbreakingly beautifull. See for yourself and buy this album, now! August 18, 2007

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