| The Smiths | ||||
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| Studio album by The Smiths | ||||
| Released | 20 February 1984 | |||
| Recorded | 1983 | |||
| Genre | Alternative rock, indie pop | |||
| Length | 45:36 | |||
| Label | Rough Trade | |||
| Producer | John Porter, The Smiths | |||
| The Smiths chronology | ||||
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| Singles from The Smiths | ||||
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The Smiths is the debut album by English alternative rock band The Smiths, released on 20 February 1984. The album reached number two on the UK Albums Chart, staying on the chart for 33 weeks.[1] The album was well received by the critics as well as the public, and it established The Smiths as a prominent band in the 1980s music scene in the United Kingdom.
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After signing with independent record label Rough Trade, the Smiths began preparations to record their first album in mid 1983. Due to the suggestion of Rough Trade head Geoff Travis, the band selected Troy Tate (former guitarist of The Teardrop Explodes) as producer for sessions at Elephant studios in Wapping.[2] During the following month the group recorded 14 songs.[3]
While recording a BBC session for Dave Jensen in August 1983, the Smiths met producer John Porter. Travis, harboring reservations about the group's session with Troy Tate, gave Porter a cassette of the sessions beforehand in the hopes that he could remix them. Porter told Travis that the sessions were "out of tune and out of time." Feeling the Tate sessions were unsalvageable, Porter offered to rerecord the album himself. Despite praising the work with Tate only a week prior to the press by stating "we've done everything exactly right and it'll show", Smiths singer Morrissey accepted (as did Travis), while guitarist Johnny Marr hesitantly agreed.[3]
The Smiths began work with Porter in September 1983. Due to tour commitments, the band had to make the record in a piecemeal fashion. Recording started at London's Matrix Studios, with the majority of the work undertaken during a week's stay at Pluto, just outside Manchester. A final overdub sessions was performed at Eden Studios in London that November.[4] After listening to a finished mix of the album the following month, Morrissey told Porter and Travis that the album "wasn't good enough". However, the singer said that due to the album's cost of 6,000 pounds, "[they said] it has to be released, there's no going back".[5]
The sleeve for The Smiths was designed by Morrissey. It features American actor Joe Dallesandro in a cropped still from Andy Warhol's 1968 film Flesh. The photograph of Morrissey on the original card inner sleeve was taken at an early London concert by Romi Mori who would subsequently play bass guitar for the Gun Club.
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | link |
| BBC | (Favourable)link |
| Blender | link |
| Pitchfork | (8.8/10) link |
| Robert Christgau | (B-) link |
| Rolling Stone | link |
Before their debut album, single "What Difference Does It Make?" was released in January 1984. The track peaked at number 12 on the UK Singles Chart.[6] Released in February 1984, The Smiths debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart.[5]
In 1989, the album was ranked number 22 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 greatest albums of the 1980s.[7] In 2003, the album was ranked number 481 on that magazine's list, the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[8]
The music critic Garry Mulholland listed it as one of the '261 greatest albums since punk and disco' (the year 1976) in his book Fear of Music: "The Smiths made safe their early legend with a debut album about child abuse. The production was flat and dour, yet it succeeded in conjuring yet another Manchester-in-song, distinctly different from that of Ian Curtis and Mark E. Smith. But everything about The Smiths ran contrary to mid-80s pop, from Joe Dallesandro on the cover to the restrained jangling of the songs, but mainly through Moz's dramatised disgust at sex, which here exists to ruin true love at best, and to ruin an entire young life at worst."[9]
All songs written by Morrissey and Johnny Marr.
"This Charming Man" was included as track 6 on all original USA releases of the album on Sire Records (LP, CD and cassette), and on the UK cassette on Rough Trade. Since 1992, when WEA acquired The Smiths' catalogue, nearly all reissues worldwide also include this song, with possibly the only exception being a 2009 vinyl reissue on Rhino Records in both the USA and the UK.[10]
Album
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1984 | UK Albums Chart | 2 |
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