Smiths Strangeways, Here We Come CD

The Smiths: Morrissey (vocals, piano); Johnny Marr (guitar, piano); Andy Rourke (bass); Mike Joyce (drums).
Recorded at The Wool Hall, Bath, England in the spring of 1987.
Recorded as the relationship between Morrissey and Johnny Marr was beginning to splinter, Strangeways, Here We Come is the most carefully considered and elaborately produced album in the group's catalog. Though it aspires greatly to better The Queen Is Dead, it falls just short of its goals. With producer Stephen Street, the Smiths created a subtly shaded and skilled album, one boasting a fuller production than before. Morrissey and Marr also labored hard over the songs, working to expand the Smiths' sound within their very real boundaries. For the most part, they succeed. "I Started Something I Couldn't Finish," "Girlfriend in a Coma," "Stop Me if You Think You've Heard This One Before," and "I Won't Share You" are classics, while "A Rush and a Push and the Land Is Ours," "Death of a Disco Dancer," and "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me" aren't far behind. However, the songs also have a tendency to be glib and forced, particularly on "Unhappy Birthday" and the anti-record company "Paint a Vulgar Picture," which has grown increasingly ironic in the wake of the Smiths' and Morrissey's love of repackaging the same material in new compilations. Still, Strangeways is a graceful way to bow out. While it doesn't match The Queen Is Dead or The Smiths, it is far from embarrassing and offers a summation of the group's considerable strengths. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
The Smiths' underrated and unjustly maligned swan song found the band experimenting with sound and arrangement more than ever before. From the epic instrumental introduction to "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me" to the dark instrumentation of "Death Of A Disco Dancer," STRANGEWAYS HERE WE COME is a sonically rich album, filled with extremes and surprises. Among its many highlights are its signature tune "Girlfriend In A Coma," and the stingingly autobiographical "Paint A Vulgar Picture," which also happens to contain one of the most inspired, melodic guitar passages of Johnny Marr's legendary career.
Produced by future Morrissey collaborator Stephen Street, STRANGEWAYS is a document of a band's "fierce last stand." An inner sleeve photo shows an exasperated studio shot of a lone figure (the cigarette suggests Marr) obviously at wit's end. The album's conceptual looseness, while not necessarily a bad thing ("Death At One's Elbow" notwithstanding), suggests that the band unit was probably not at its most cohesive. The album's finisher, however, "I Won't Share You," is as tender and graceful a thing as the group ever recorded, a fitting farewell to one of pop music's most engaging teams.Q (10/01, p.52) - Ranked #36 in Q's "Best 50 Albums of Q's Lifetime"
Q (12/93, p.139) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...[The Smiths'] were getting more daring....it was weird, but only someone who had been drinking heavily would dub it an outright disappointment..."