The Smiths: The Queen Is Dead CD Track Listing

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The Smiths The Queen Is Dead (1986)
Originally Released June 1986\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: Meat Is Murder may have been a holding pattern, but The Queen Is Dead is the Smiths' great leap forward, taking the band to new musical and lyrical heights. Opening with the storming title track, The Queen Is Dead is a harder-rocking record than anything the Smiths had attempted before, but that's only on a relative scale -- although the backbeat is more pronounced, the group certainly doesn't rock in a conventional sense. Instead, Johnny Marr has created a dense web of guitars, alternating from the minor-key rush of "Bigmouth Strikes Again" and the faux rockabilly of "Vicar in a Tutu" to the bouncy acoustic pop of "Cemetry Gates" and "The Boy With the Thorn in His Side," as well as the lovely melancholy of "I Know It's Over" and "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out." And the rich musical bed provides Morrissey with the support for his finest set of lyrics. Shattering the myth that he is a self-pitying sap, Morrissey delivers a devastating set of clever, witty satires of British social mores, intellectualism, class, and even himself. He also crafts some of his finest, most affecting songs, particularly in the wistful "The Boy With the Thorn in His Side" and the epic "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out," two masterpieces that provide the foundation for a remarkable album. -- Stephen Thomas Erlewine \n \nAmazon.com Editorial Review\nThis 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 favorite 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 \n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nSweetly sarcastic, angel of acerbicity..., January 6, 2007 \nBy Grigory's Girl "Grigory's Girl" (NYC)\nI used to listen "quietly" to The Smiths in high school and college. It wasn't that I was going to be beaten up for this, but no one that I knew in high school or college used to listen to them. Everyone would always say that Morrisey's lyrics are just whiny, bitter, and depressing. Not necessarily. They are certainly bitter, and quite sad, but also hilariously sarcastic as well. One of my favorite songs here is the acerbic "Frankly, Mr. Shankly". I love the lyrics, and Marr's beautiful music compliments Morrisey's work wonderfully. The title track is also acerbic and really intense. This is an album that I play quite often and sing (or vocalize, I can't really sing) with. One remarkable thing about The Smiths is that despite being from the 1980's, their songs don't date. They are in their own unique universe. This is their best album. \n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nPerfect, September 17, 2006 \nBy Isildur? Quite.\n\nWhile I have no trouble classifying this album as the perfect 80's album, I also cannot stress enough the importance "The Queen is Dead" carries with it even now. In terms of instrumentation or complexity, this album may not stand up to some others, but in terms of social importance, this collection of songs is equaled by few, if any, from the last century (think Revolver, Nevermind, Doolittle, etc.). \n\nThe message conveyed in Morrissey's lyrics is difficult to put down in words, but it makes sense in the mind of any teenager who hears "There is a Light That Never Goes Out" for the first time and knows the emotionally disturbing feeling of wanting to escape home and less literally, all of lifes problems, or identifies with the angst in Morrissey's voice when he sings "Oh Mother, I can feel the soil falling over my head" at the end of "I Know Its Over." While the album is obviously not only appreciated by young adults, the message, for obvious reasons, probably resonates more with the youth of our society. \n\nThe genius of this album is that it somehow manages to match the message perfectly with the music. The music isn't overpoweringly sad or creepy, but rather strangely pleasant and upbeat, and often noticably tongue-in-cheek. For this type of subject matter, it almost has to be. For example, "Bigmouth Strikes Again" begins with a frantic guitar tune that immediately pulls the listener into Morrissey's world as he desperately tries to take back his Freudian slips, claiming he feels shameful and comparing himself ironically to Joan of Arc, who of course, felt no true remorse for her actions. "Frankly, Mr. Shankly" rejects the average and societal norm in exchange for the lifestyle of the musician; the melody is a jaunty beat that sets the tone perfectly and compliments Morrissey's triumphant voice as he proclaims "I want to live and I want to love, I want to catch something that I might be ashamed of." \n\nMorrissey's voice is just the icing on the cake. It adds the extra punch that so many other albums are sorely lacking. A perfect example is found on "There is a Light That Never Goes Out," where he pleads "Take me anywhere, I don't care, I don't care..." with the quavering voice that captures the deep emotional state of many troubled youth in just a few bars. Morrissey has something important to say on this album, and he'll get you to feel it any way he knows how, even if it means destroying your understanding in order to rebuild it. \n\nEvery single song on this album can be dissected and analyzed on its own. It's not a depressing album; moreso it's an album about facing your demons and dealing with the emotional uncertainty of youth. Death is an important theme of this album, but so is hope, as is acceptance, as jokingly pointed out in the final song, "Some Girls are Bigger than Others." \n\nIf you're ready for one of the most emotionally deep and socially poignant albums of the last few decades, buy this album. \n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nTheir Popular Masterpiece, April 13, 2005 \nBy Sakos (NH United States)\nThe Queen Is Dead is the popular choice as The Smiths' masterpiece, and although hardcore fans such as myself could argue in favor of other albums, there is no denying that front to back, this album is their crowning moment and their greatest achievement. Every song is perfect, from the opening attack of The Queen is Dead to the tear-jerking I Know It's Over. The Smiths' greatest song (tied with How Soon Is Now), There is a Light That Never Goes Out, is simply amazing, and this album also contains three slices of perfection in the middle: The Boy With the Thorn In His Side, Cemetry Gates, and the jaw-dropping Bigmouth Strikes Again, perhaps their best single ever. If you are new to The Smiths, get this album and work from here. You will NOT be disappointed. \n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nA classic angst album, August 18, 2002 \nBy VoodooLord7 (Oklahoma, USA)\nThis is rightly considered The Smiths best album, and a masterpiece. The Queen Is Dead is one of the greatest angst albums of all-time. Morrissey, now firmly established as one of rock's finest lyricists, had developed on the first two Smiths albums (as well as on a full slate of singles) a unique and fresh lyrical perspective, always delivered in his own, intimitable way. However, by the time of this album, he had truly come into his own, and delivered not only his usual bleak, depressing and perhaps self-pitying lyrics, but also a series of devastating satires on English society - the aristocracy, the monarchy, mores, and religion. Rarely relying on mere typical verses and choruses, Morrissey here developed his own free-form lyrical approach that is forcefully demonstrated in the title track, a blistering satrical piece that is every bit as schating as the title promises - and even includes that rare thing for Morrissey, a bit of self-deprecation. The album includes several other finely wrought and sharply witty stabs at British society: Cemetery Gates (in which Morrissey namedrops Oscar Wilde, a man who obviously had immense influence on him in more ways than one); Bigmouth Strikes Again (another bit of self-deprecation); The Boy With The Thorn In His Side (a song that wasn't Morrissey's first, and wouldn't be his last, to embrace homoeroticism); and Vicar In A Tuto (a devastating satrical look at religion.) For all the album's lyrical strengths, however, The Smiths best work was always a product of Morrissey's self-indulgent lyrics and Johnny Marr's brilliant, vastly underrated musical roadmaps (a brilliant example of the greatness which can spring from working at cross purposes - which is the reason why Morrissey's solo albums aren't as good as his work with The Smiths, although his writing may well be just as good.) These musical backgrounds provide a rich tapestry for Morrissey to croon over. Marr was brilliant at supplying gentle, sing-song melodies to accompany Morrissey's dark lyrics. This juxtaposition is what made The Smiths so unique, and their work so influential. From their masterwork (the title track), with its classic end-song jam, to the brilliant pop songs that they made out of Cemetery Gates and The Boy With The Thorn In His Side, The Smiths have here clearly delivered a musical and lyrical masterpiece. One of the hallmarks of English rock. \n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nThe begginings of indie, October 28, 2001 \nBy alexliamw (London United Kingdom)\nLittle did Morrisey and Jonny Marr know, but when they recorded this album, they had just created scores of 90s bands. For here they had created indie music as we know it today.\nFull of dry, chilling, effective lyrics and chiming melodies with the wafting, operatic voice of Morrisey floating over them, The Queen Is Dead is a classic album. For evidence, look no further than the chilling opener of a title track, featuring some of the best lyrics ever written, or the strange, intoxicating 'There Is A Light That Never Goes Out'.\n\nMorrisey's lyrics are absolutely untouchable, especially on such songs as 'The Queen Is Dead', 'Frankly Mr. Shankley', 'Cemetry Gates', 'Bigmouth Strikes Again', 'There Is A Light That Never Goes Out' and 'The Boy With The Thorn In His Side'. He has developed his own personal writing style, and it is a great one. \n\nThe CD is very sad, and very moving. It has become a blueprint for many types of modern music. \n\n\nHalf.com Details \nProducer: Johnny Marr, Morrissey \n\nAlbum Notes\nThe Smiths: Morrissey (vocals); Johnny Marr (guitar); Andy Rourke (bass); Mike Joyce (drums).\n\nRecorded in England in Winter 1985.\n\nArguably the Smiths' masterpiece, THE QUEEN IS DEAD found the band at the artistic apex of a career that knew few lows. More than any of their other albums, THE QUEEN IS DEAD represents the elegance, craftsmanship and humor for which the Smiths are remembered. Opening the album, the explosive title track is filled with vintage punk-era iconoclastic rage, wherein Morrissey tears at the very fabric of the British monarchy atop the howling feedback and swirling chords of Johnny Marr and the pounding fury of Rourke and Joyce (whose punk roots were never so apparent).\nTHE QUEEN IS DEAD also contains some of the band's most disarmingly beautiful work. "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" bears a lush accompaniment and utterly miserable lyric, while the chiming, heavenly atmosphere of "The Boy With A Thorn In His Side," as convincing an ode to the sensitive outcast as has ever been penned. "Bigmouth Strikes Again," the album's most recognizable tune, is a dizzying adrenaline rush. And the upbeat tunesmanship of Marr was never in sharper contrast with Morrissey's lyrical ire than on the bouncy, wistful "Cemetry Gates."\n\nIndustry Reviews\nRanked #2 among the '50 Greatest Albums Of The 80s' - ...Neither before nor after have Morrissey and Marr come close to making such an ambitious, consistent, touching and witty album...\nNew Musical Express (09/25/1993)\n\nRanked #10 in NME's list of the 'Greatest Albums Of All Time.'\nNew Musical Express (10/02/1993)\n\nRanked #2 in AP's list of the 'Top 99 Of '85-'95' - ...THE QUEEN IS DEAD remains today a passionate carpet-bombing of every stuffy, phony inch of the English earth....Like Tennessee Williams' best drama, it's...about the defense of innocence, about drag queens coming out of the closet only to face a prickly, heartless and heartlessly boring world...\nAlternative Press (07/01/1995)\n\n5 Stars - Indispensible - ...The Smiths' best album....an extraordinary record...\nQ Magazine (12/01/1993)\n\n5 stars out of 5 - ...One of the funniest rock albums ever...\nRolling Stone (04/17/2003)\n\nIncluded in AP's 10 Essential '80s Albums.\nAlternative Press (08/01/2001)\n\nRanked #2 in CMJ's Top 20 Most-Played Albums of 1986\nCMJ (01/05/2004)\n\n\nROLLING STONE REVIEW\nFrom the Smiths' early gigs in 1983, lead singer Morrissey was pale, shy and prone to brandishing gladioluses. Sound like a joke? In 1986, he decided it was. Whereas previously Morrissey had sourly lectured his listeners that meat was murder, on The Queen Is Dead he made one of the funniest rock albums ever, with lyrics such as "Now I know how Joan of Arc felt/As the flames rose to her Roman nose/And her Walkman started to melt."\nThe shift came because he learned to express his self-loathing through mockery -- on "I Know It's Over," when he moaned, "Oh, Mother, I can feel the soil falling over my head," it was both a parody of his affectations and the only way he knew how to express his extreme gloom. Guitarist Johnny Marr matched his verbal excess with witty, supple music, ranging from glam rock to country jangles. Morrissey sang about England like he'd never been there. He was more comfortable with his poetry (Keats, Yeats and Wilde) and his imagination. So when he fantasized about meeting the queen, he provided a capsule review for a career of glorious pretensions: "So I broke into the palace with a sponge and a rusty spanner/She said, 'Eh, I know you, and you cannot sing'/I said, 'That's nothing -- you should hear me play piano.' " If the queen's reaction to Morrissey was "We are not amused," then she was the only one. (From RS 920, April 17, 2003) -- GAVIN EDWARDS
This rock cd contains 10 tracks and runs 37min 6sec.
Freedb: 8308af0a
Buy: from Amazon.com

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