Louder Than Bombs
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| Louder Than Bombs | |||||
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| Compilation album by The Smiths | |||||
| Released | March 30, 1987 (US) May 18, 1987 (UK) |
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| Recorded | 1983–1986 | ||||
| Genre | Alternative rock | ||||
| Length | 72:27 | ||||
| Label | Sire - 9 25569-2 (US) Rough Trade - ROUGH 255 (UK) |
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| Producer | Various (see main text) | ||||
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Louder Than Bombs is a compilation album by The Smiths. It was released as a double album in March 1987 by their American record company, Sire Records. Its highest chart position was #63. Popular demand prompted their British record company, Rough Trade, to issue the album domestically as well. Upon its release in the UK in May 1987, it reached #38 on the British charts. In 2003, the album was ranked number 365 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
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[edit] About the album
The album was released as the American counterpart of their recent British compilation, The World Won't Listen, and consisted of all singles and nearly all B-sides that had not at that point been available in the States, either on single or album, with a few extras thrown in. The title is borrowed from a line in Elizabeth Smart's extended prose poem "By Grand Central Station I Sat Down And Wept".
The album was intended to substitute for both The World Won't Listen and their 1984 compilation, Hatful of Hollow, which hadn't been released in the States. This is why the non-single cut "This Night Has Opened My Eyes", one of the standout tracks off Hatful of Hollow, was included. (European fans: to avoid confusion as to "This Charming Man" and "How Soon Is Now?", bear in mind that they had already been released in the U.S. as bonus cuts to The Smiths and Meat Is Murder, respectively).
As with The World Won't Listen, this compilation includes the scrapped single "You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby" (passed over in favour of "Shoplifters of the World Unite"), albeit in a different mix.
Because the album offered many B-sides (and the "Sheila Take a Bow" single) that had never been collected onto an album before, Louder Than Bombs became very popular on import with fans in the UK. To avoid high import prices being paid, The Smiths' domestic record company, Rough Trade, decided to release the compilation as well, provoking cries of outrage by fans who only two months previously had shelled out for the slimmer UK counterpart. The blow was somewhat softened by the fact that the double album retailed at single album price.
After WEA acquired the Smiths back catalogue in 1992, all Smiths albums were re-released at mid price, including Louder Than Bombs.
[edit] Cover
The sleeve for Louder Than Bombs, designed by Morrissey, features British playwright Shelagh Delaney of Salford, Greater Manchester. The photograph was originally published in the Saturday Evening Post after Delaney, at the age of 19, had made a striking literary debut with her play A Taste of Honey. The play inspired many early lyrics written by Morrissey, and the song "This Night Has Opened My Eyes", included here, is based on the plight of the play's heroine, Jo, an unwed mother.
[edit] Track listing
All tracks written by Morrissey and Johnny Marr (including "Oscillate Wildly"[1]) except "Golden Lights" written by Twinkle. Tracks marked "*" are exclusive to this compilation.
[edit] Side A
- "Is It Really So Strange?" - 2:42 (John Peel session)
- "Sheila Take a Bow" - 3:02
- "Shoplifters of the World Unite" - 2:58
- "Sweet and Tender Hooligan" - 3:33 (John Peel session)
- "Half a Person" 3:36
- "London" 2:08
[edit] Side B
- "Panic" - 2:20
- "Girl Afraid" - 2:49
- "Shakespeare's Sister" - 2:08
- "William, It Was Really Nothing" - 2:11
- "You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby" (alternate mix)* - 3:33
- "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" - 3:34
[edit] Side C
- "Ask" - 3:12
- "Golden Lights" - 2:43
- "Oscillate Wildly" - 3:25
- "These Things Take Time"* - 2:23
- "Rubber Ring" - 3:48
- "Back to the Old House"* - 3:04
[edit] Side D
- "Hand in Glove" (single version) - 3:15
- "Stretch Out and Wait"* - 2:46
- "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want" - 1:52
- "This Night Has Opened My Eyes" (John Peel session) 3:40
- "Unloveable" - 3:56
- "Asleep" - 4:11
[edit] Personnel
[edit] The band
- Morrissey – vocals
- Johnny Marr – guitars, keyboard instruments, harmonica, bass guitar on "Golden Lights"
- Andy Rourke – bass guitar, cello on "Shakespeare's Sister" and "Oscillate Wildly"
- Mike Joyce – drums
- Craig Gannon – guitar on "Half a Person", "London", "Panic", "You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby", "Ask" and "Golden Lights"
[edit] Additional musicians
- Kirsty MacColl – backing vocals on "Panic", "Ask" and "Golden Lights"
- John Porter – slide guitar on "Sheila Take a Bow" and drum machine on "Golden Lights"
- Stephen Street – additional drum machine programming on "London"
[edit] Technical staff
- Johnny Marr – producer (A3)
- Johnny Marr, Morrissey and Stephen Street – producers (A5-6)
- Morrissey and Marr – producers (A2, C5, D5-6)
- John Porter – producer (A1, A4, B1-2, B4-6, C1-2, C4, C6, D3)
- Roger Pusey – producer (D4)
- The Smiths – producers (B3, C3, D1-2)
[edit] References
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