It is arguably the best album by indubitably one of the most influential guitar bands of all time; the fact that The Smiths' third studio album still sounds as good as it does 31 years on is testament to its (and their) enduring legacy. This deluxe edition incorporates a pristine, newly remastered version of the album alongside demos that offer illuminating takes on the likes of Never Had No One Ever (complete with ill-advised jazz trumpet solo) and Morrissey's various lyrical tweaks, B-sides from the album's singles, and a live album recorded in Boston in 1986. The latter, with breathless, giddy renditions of Is It Really So Strange? and the bewitchingly elegiac That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore, prove that the album was no one-off fluke: they really were that good.
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Lauren Murphy
Lauren Murphy is a freelance journalist and broadcaster. She writes about music and the arts for The Irish Times
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