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Product Description
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This is the value of working at cross-purposes: The Smiths were Morrissey's excuse to undulate his wry, disaffected lyrics and Johnny Marr's vehicle for his sharp, chiming, pop songs. Their favourite kind of compromise made them essentially a singles band, and The Queen Is Dead has a couple of their best (notably "The Boy With The Thorn In His Side", one of the greatest pop expressions of the Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name). But it also has some wonderful compromises of different kinds: the bizarrely romantic "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" and "Cemetry Gates", where Marr covers up for Morrissey's floridity with shimmying rockabilly. --Douglas Wolk
Product Description
THE SMITHS The Queen Is Dead (Scarce German issue 10-track CD album including Vicar In A Tutu and Bigmouth Strikes Again. Was it really twenty years ago?? picture sleeve booklet with lyrics and band photos)
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
30 of 30 people found the following review helpful
By RachelWalker
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Audio CD
Here it is, The Smith's masterpiece. Is it a masterpiece? Well, probably. I certainly think so. Albums without a single bad track are rare, albums which exclusively contains songs i could happily listen to on repeat forever are rare. Albums so important and yet so funny are rare too (tracks like Frankly, Mr Shankly and Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others can have me laughing out loud if I'm in the right mood). This album really does have everything: terrific musicianship from Marr, wonderful jangling melodies; and sublime lyrics and vocals from Morrissey (absolutely sublime). Now, lots of albums can claim those two things, but few achieve the cohesion, the union of the music and vocals and lyrics, so everything just clicks and feels as if the songs exist almost naturally. The Queen is Dead does. It really does have everything you could ask for. I could listen to it forever I think.
It's got many of The Smith's best moments: Bigmouth Strikes Again, The Boy with the Thorn in His Side, Frankly, Mr Shankly, and Cemetrey Gates. And of course it has There is A Light That Never Goes Out, possibly my favourite Smith's song of all time. "And if a double-decker bus/crashes in to us/to die by your side/is such a heavenly way to die./And if a ten-ton truck/kills the both of us/to die by your side/well, the pleasure, the privilege, is mine." Only Morrissey is capable of sounding so vocally uplifting and lyrically absolutely heartbreaking at the same time. The man is a genius.
Funny, tragic, serious, cohesive, important, brilliant. No record collection is complete without The Queen is Dead (and, to be honest, all four Smiths albums really.)
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Audio CD
With current bands like Coldplay and Travis(always mentioned in the same breath) the music they make always seems to wash over me, great songs, terrific songs, but not quite personal enough and soon become forgetful. Morrissey has a way of writing that draws you in and makes you really connect with the song, as if it was about you. It's really powerful stuff and anyone who listens to this album will appreciate that. Listen to "I know its over" and "No one ever" and "There is a light that never goes out". Even the song titles will have you curious enough to click this album into your basket, surely! Everyone must have had the feeling "And as i climb into an empty bed, Oh, well.... enough said". The Smiths are as powerful as fellow mancunians Joy Division and as revolutionary as Bob Dylan. The Smiths songs stay with you forever, every time i see a double decker bus for example.....
Beware, this album may change your take on life.
Just go and buy it.
Beware, this album may change your take on life.
Just go and buy it.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Indie Kid
Format:Audio CD
The Smiths of The Queen is Dead have reached the fullest point of their development as a group. From the title track's sweeping majesty to the intricate beauty of "Big Mouth", Johnny Marr's guitar is breathtaking, turning from rage to heartbreak in a moment and seems to have matured to take in the full breadth of Morrissey's ouvre. Moreover, for the last time in a Smiths album, Morrissey's lyrics are free from parody as he trawls his inner psyche (I Know It's Over) to reveal the indubitable truth about his inability to love and the consequences. A truly great album by anyone's standards, it would be the Smiths meisterwerk, and even if only 1 year later we wept over their demise, it's the most enduring testament to their greatness.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Memory is a curious thing. For instance supposedly important personal events in my life , anniversaries, birthdays and the like pass me by . Yet i can remember with high resolution detail buying the Queen Is Dead. Entering the shop ( A little independent no longer around alas) buying it, getting it home and playing it for the first time. An experience akin to an epiphany...(the playing that is) but then most new releases by The Smiths were.....but this album if anything, went beyond epiphany into whatever it is that describes an experience beyond epiphany.
Released in June 1986 The Queen Is Dead is The Smiths third album and the one considered by just about everyone as their finest moment, though it,s interesting to note that Morrissey and Marr believe that their final album "Strangeways Here We Come" eclipsed it. Many of the songs for The Queen Is Dead were written while The Smiths were touring in 1985 but the album benefited hugely from the conducive collaboration in the studio between Marr and Morrissey who co-produced and engineer Stephen Street.
There are numerous elements that make The Queen Is Dead such a special album. The song-writing is of course exemplary , but there is a mixture of styles, moods, textures and nuances that take this album somewhere out of the context of a traditional pop/rock album. Add to this the peerless lyrics , full of verbose wit and spry humour and you have an album that fully deserves the moniker classic .
Opening up with the iconoclastic blast of the title track , one of Morrissey's greatest triumphs lyrically it segues into the knee popping bounce of "Frankly Mr Shankly" before the head spinning thematic swivel into the forlorn "I Know It,s Over".... Read more ›
Released in June 1986 The Queen Is Dead is The Smiths third album and the one considered by just about everyone as their finest moment, though it,s interesting to note that Morrissey and Marr believe that their final album "Strangeways Here We Come" eclipsed it. Many of the songs for The Queen Is Dead were written while The Smiths were touring in 1985 but the album benefited hugely from the conducive collaboration in the studio between Marr and Morrissey who co-produced and engineer Stephen Street.
There are numerous elements that make The Queen Is Dead such a special album. The song-writing is of course exemplary , but there is a mixture of styles, moods, textures and nuances that take this album somewhere out of the context of a traditional pop/rock album. Add to this the peerless lyrics , full of verbose wit and spry humour and you have an album that fully deserves the moniker classic .
Opening up with the iconoclastic blast of the title track , one of Morrissey's greatest triumphs lyrically it segues into the knee popping bounce of "Frankly Mr Shankly" before the head spinning thematic swivel into the forlorn "I Know It,s Over".... Read more ›
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4.8 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best of their time
There were a lot of groups during that days, but no one had the same sound, the same noise, as The Smiths: you recognized them immediately.
Published 12 days ago by Pierre Brewee
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great record
Bought this for my niece who had requested it for her birthday. She's 17 and really into Vinyl records, and loves this particular one.
Published 2 months ago by Yvonne Woodward
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Queen Is Remastered
'The Queen Is Dead' is probably the finest album The Smiths ever made, featuring some of their best songs - and several personal favourites of mine, including 'Bigmouth Strikes... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Andrew F
5.0 out of 5 stars
A rightful classic in The Smiths Discography
I have given this album five stars, though it isn't my favourite as I prefer their debut and Strangeways. Read more
Published 11 months ago by JJKelsall
5.0 out of 5 stars
smiths - queen is dead CD remastered
this CD album is the remastered (2012) version of the 1986/7 album of original studio tracks.
the track: "Some girls are bigger than others": actually made me laugh out... Read more
the track: "Some girls are bigger than others": actually made me laugh out... Read more
Published 14 months ago by a.m.hardwick
1.0 out of 5 stars
Poor me, poor me, poor me.
This is typical Smiths - miserable, self-pitying, hateful & depressing. Johnny Marr is a great guitarist - if only he had found someone other than Morrisey to team up with. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Karezza
5.0 out of 5 stars
The privilege is mine
What can I say that's not already been said? This has to be one of the greatest British guitar albums of all time and like all great records it has a timeless quality - a benchmark... Read more
Published on 18 Jan 2011 by Mr Ticko
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic
This is without a dobt one of the best albums ever. People who hate this just dont understand it, so can they stop giving it 1 star because their bringing its average rating down. Read more
Published on 19 Dec 2010 by katimushu
1.0 out of 5 stars
Isn't prison enough punishment for a crime you didn't commit ?
"Get busy living or get busy dying.." (Andy Dufresne upon realising that 'The Queen is Dead' was the only record in the Shawshank prison music library).
Published on 4 Nov 2010 by I. P. J. Brayshaw
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Most Unforgettable Album Ever
The Smiths might not be the best Brit-Pop band, but this album 'The Queen Is dead' should be on the top ten list. Read more
Published on 13 July 2010 by Ji Yeong
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