584. The Smiths - The Queen is Dead (1986)
















Track Listing

1. Queen Is Dead
2. Frankly Mr Shankly
3. I Know It's Over
4. Never Had No One Ever
5. Cemetry Gates
6. Bigmouth Strikes Again
7. Boy With The Thorn In His Side
8. Vicar In A Tu Tu
9. There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
10. Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others

Review

Look back on my previous review of The Smiths album Meat Is Murder and you can tell how much I just hate Morrisey. And then this album comes along and there is a mix of hatred and actual appreciation. It's a love hate relationship and probably the most conflicted review I ever wrote here.

Morrisey actually hits the mark sometimes in this album, his lyrics are at their best when he is not preaching or wallowing in self-pity, he is at his best when some humour shines through, which it didn't in Meat is Murder.

So what can I say, the music is great and Marr is again to be bowed to, Morrisey still irks the hell out of me but at times writes (well Johnny Marr also co-wrote the songs in the album possibly explaining why I don't hate it) smart and funny lyrics here, often poking fun at himself and his self-pity like in There Is a Light That Never Goes Out. So I don't hate this one, actually I kind of like it and saying that makes me itch inside, but that is the beauty of this list, you learn. And actually this is one of the best albums of 1986, but I still cannot give it a 10.

Track Highlights

1. Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others
2. There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
3. Bigmouth Strikes Again
4. Frankly Mr. Shankly

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Guitarist Johnny Marr wrote several songs that would later appear on The Queen Is Dead while The Smiths toured Britain in early 1985, working out song arrangements with bassist Andy Rourke and drummer Mike Joyce during soundchecks. After releasing their September 1985 single, "The Boy with the Thorn in His Side" (which is included on The Queen Is Dead in an updated, slightly re-mixed version), The Smiths turned to recording their third album. Marr produced the album with singer Morrissey, and worked with engineer Stephen Street, who had assumed the same role on the band's previous album, Meat Is Murder (1985). Street recalled, "Morrissey, Johnny and I had a really good working relationship — we were all roughly the same age and into the same kind of things, so everyone felt quite relaxed in the studio".

Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others: