THE SMITHS 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: ***B-STOCK: Creasing to corner of outer sleeve but otherwise in excellent condition***


Eight tracks from The Smiths' triumphant show at London's Kilburn National venue during their last tour, in support of their most celebrated album The Queen Is Dead. There's a healthy smattering of tracks from the album, plus a handful of the kind of standalone singles they were want to release at the time, from the polemic of 'Panic' to the more tender and joyous - yes, they did do joyous on occasion - 'Ask'.

Review: While Morrissey's outlandish opinions these days might have done plenty to denigrate his own personal legend status amongst fans, what he did with The Smiths will live in musical history forever. A Charming Man In Amsterdam is a concert that was arranged in order to mark the 50th anniversary of a Dutch magazine, Vinyl (imagine that happening today!). It was the iconinc Manchester band's first ever show in the Netherlands and they serve up a set revolving around their eponymous debut album and early singles, with 'Miserable Lie', 'I Don't Owe You Anything' and 'These Things Take Time' sounding particularly grand.

Review: The Smiths captured close to the end of their career by the BBC at the National Ballroom in Kilburn, West London. Promoting The Queen Is Dead and the rich rush of different non-album singles that fell between it and final LP Strangeways here We Come, this broadcast recording - which was also used for the live album Rank - features the re-slimmed down classic four-strong Smiths line up, leaner and meaner than the five piece with additional guitarist Craig Cannon that had toured previous album Meat Is Murder. A string of great singles - 'Ask', 'Bigmouth Strikes Again' and 'Panic' among them - populate the tracklisting, as well a typically brutal execution of 'The Queen Is Dead' as their dramatic opener. It's hard to find a moment in their all too brief stint together when The Smiths are not on top form, but this truly is a peak of peaks.