The Smiths were one of the great British indie rock bands of the 1980s. Behind vocalist Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr, the Smiths would forge an impressive collection of music, crafting beautiful, melodic three-minute pop tunes by the bucketful. The band was formed in 1982 and lasted only five years, disbanding in 1987. In addition to Morrissey and Marr, the Smiths included Mike Joyce and Andy Rourke. While they would never become the rock stars in the United States as they were in Europe, the Smiths would go on to influence droves of bands up to this day.
Complete, released by Rhino, is a limited eight CD box set containing digitally remastered editions of all eight Smiths albums. This box includes all four of the band’s studio albums: The Smiths (1984), Meat Is Murder, The Queen Is Dead (1986), and Strangeways, Here We Come (1987) plus their sole live album Rank (1988) as well as the compilations Hatful Of Hollow (1984), The World Won’t Listen (1987) and Louder Than Bombs (1987).
Listening to Complete, you’ll discover (or rediscover) how timeless. unique and original the Smiths music was. The remastered discs are well done, improving on previous CD releases. In a nice touch, the CDs look like replicas of the original vinyl labels.
While some people will nitpick that Complete is quite as complete as it claims (there are still some missing singles not included on any of the discs), this is a great buy for any Smiths fan – or anyone who love great, melodic pop with integrity and honesty.