Best I

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Best...I
Best...I cover
Compilation album by The Smiths
Released August 17, 1992
Recorded 1983–1987, England
Genre Alternative rock
Length 45:09
Label WEA
Producer(s) Various (see main text)
The Smiths chronology
Rank
(1988)		 Best...I
(1992)		 ...Best II
(1992)


Best…I is a compilation album by The Smiths. It was released in August, 1992 by the new owner of their back catalogue, WEA (Sire Records in the United States). Its highest British chart position was #1; it reached #139 on the U.S. charts.

Contents

[edit] About the album

The US sleeve for Best...I.
Enlarge
The US sleeve for Best...I.

WEA (now the Warner Music Group) had acquired the entire Smiths back catalogue in early 1992. Along with the re-release of all original albums and compilations, they immediately set to work compiling a Best Of in two volumes. It was the first time a regular best-of compilation had ever been made of The Smiths material and the album effortlessly reached the top of the British charts. The British press groaned about sell-out and low track selection coherence.

The material is more or less picked and sequenced at random, and consists of both singles and album cuts. It was followed later the same year by its sibling, ...Best II. The first spin-off single, a re-release of "This Charming Man", reached #8 in the singles chart, the highest position a Smiths single had ever reached. A second single promoting Best...I, an edited re-release of "How Soon Is Now?", got to #16 (the uncut version is featured on the compilation).

[edit] Cover

The UK and European release of the record featured the left half of a Sixties biker couple photograph by Dennis Hopper on its sleeve, with ...Best II completing the picture; the U.S. sleeve was designed by singer Morrissey and features Richard Davalos, co-star of East of Eden.

[edit] Track listing

All tracks written by Morrissey/Marr.

[edit] LP

[edit] Side A

  1. "This Charming Man"
  2. "William, It Was Really Nothing"
  3. "What Difference Does It Make?" (album version)
  4. "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before"
  5. "Girlfriend in a Coma"
  6. "Half a Person"
  7. "Rubber Ring"

[edit] Side B

  1. "How Soon Is Now?" (full version)
  2. "Hand in Glove" (album version)
  3. "Shoplifters of the World Unite"
  4. "Sheila Take a Bow"
  5. "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others"
  6. "Panic"
  7. "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want"

[edit] Compact disc

Same as LP.

[edit] Credits

[edit] The band

[edit] Additional musicians

[edit] Technical staff

  • John Porter – producer (A1-A3, B1, B6-B7)
  • Johnny Marr, Morrissey and Street – producers (A4-A6, B4)
  • Morissey and Marr – producers (A7, B5)
  • The Smiths – producers (B2)
  • Johnny Marr – producer (B3)
The Smiths
Morrissey - Johnny Marr - Andy Rourke - Mike Joyce
Craig Gannon - Dale Hibbert
Discography
Albums: The Smiths | Meat Is Murder | The Queen Is Dead | Strangeways, Here We Come | Rank (live)
Singles: Hand in Glove | This Charming Man | What Difference Does It Make? | Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now | William, It Was Really Nothing | How Soon Is Now? | Shakespeare's Sister | That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore | The Boy with the Thorn in His Side | Bigmouth Strikes Again | Panic | Ask | Shoplifters of the World Unite | Sheila Take a Bow | Girlfriend in a Coma | I Started Something I Couldn't Finish | Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me | There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
Band-assembled compilations: Hatful of Hollow | The World Won't Listen | Louder Than Bombs
Other compilations: Stop Me |Best...I | ...Best II | Singles | The Very Best of The Smiths
Related
Rough Trade Records
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