The Smiths: The Smiths (180g) Vinyl LP
$24.95
<p><i>I'm actually glad I didn't get into the Smiths until I was like 22</i>. Let's face it, if my gothy neighbor or whatever gave me their first album on tape in 9th grade I would have skipped around campus with a hearing aid in my ear and molting gladiolas dangling out of my JNCOs and carved "These Things Take Time" lyrics into my forearm. At that age I would prefer dorky to dramatic. I would totally not have gotten the fact that half the time <a href="https://www.turntablelab.com/collections/vinyl-cds-date?_=pf&pf_v_artist_band=The%20Smiths&pf_v_artist_band=Morrissey" target="_blank"><strong>Morrissey</strong></a>'s maudlin navel-gazing is played up for type and drama points. And what fucking navel-gazing! "I never had a job because I'm... TOO SHY"!! Like <strong>Phil Spector</strong> girl groups, <strong>Elvis Costello</strong>, or even <strong>Kraftwerk</strong> for that matter the fact that you can couch such anger, loneliness and humor in the rhetoric of pop music and not sound like a complete clown-dong is amazing. "She wants it now and she will not wait, but she's too rough and I'M... TOO DELICATE" I mean COME ON it should be mandatory that kids can't listen to lyrics this entrenched in moping and self-pity until they've at least developed the acumen to separate self-satire from emotional truth. I would argue that Moz didn't really 100% have his voice on this album -- like he's pushing his character too aggressively. Plus the drums here are the most dated <a href="https://www.turntablelab.com/collections/vinyl-cds-date?_=pf&pf_v_artist_band=The%20Smiths" target="_blank"><strong>The Smiths</strong></a> will ever sound. But who cares, what about the fact that the lyrics to "I Don't Owe You Anything" LITERALLY MADE <strong>MIKE JOYCE</strong> WEEP WHILE PLAYING IT LIVE or the fact that Marr was 20 when he wrote "What Difference Does It Make"? Forest > trees.</p> <ul> <li>debut studio album from <a href="https://www.turntablelab.com/search?type=article%2Cpage%2Cproduct&q=The+Smiths" target="_blank">The Smiths</a> </li> <li>180g black vinyl pressing</li> <li>printed inner sleeve<br> </li> <li>original release year: 1984</li> <li>music label: Warner Records 2012</li> </ul> <h6>reviewed by the Woodman 08/2009</h6>