Louder than Bombs

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Everyone refers to this as a place to get introduced to the Smiths' material, and calls it a "compilation," but none of these songs are on their studio albums, are they (excluding Hatful of Hollow of course)? The only overlapping cut is "Hand in Glove" but the version on here is a BBC cut, right? I own Queen is Dead, Strangeways, Smiths, and have Meat is Murder coming soon, but I want to make sure that all of these tracks on Louder Than Bombs will be new to me if I buy it.

― Christian H, Saturday, 29 January 2005 05:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Dude yes, buy it. Classic as fuck.
Best place to get all the non-lp singles, their best stuff IMO.

― bprofane (AaronHz), Saturday, 29 January 2005 05:46 (twenty-one years ago)

what he said - if you're getting meat is murder you should sure as hell get louder than bombs. k-classic.

― j blount (papa la bas), Saturday, 29 January 2005 05:52 (twenty-one years ago)

TS: Louder than Bombs vs The World Won't Listen

― Masked Gazza, Saturday, 29 January 2005 06:05 (twenty-one years ago)

The World Won't Listen is no good for Christian's purposes - it has album tracks.
Plus, there's only one song exclusive to it so you're better off holding off buying it unless you have everything else and ABSOLUTELY MUST own "Money Changes Everything" on disc. Louder Than Bombs has a few exclusive tracks and more tracks overall with no album overlap, unless you count the other comps.
I haven't bought it yet, no. I still need "Rank".

― bprofane (AaronHz), Saturday, 29 January 2005 06:50 (twenty-one years ago)

I haven't bought The world won't listen, that is.

― bprofane (AaronHz), Saturday, 29 January 2005 06:51 (twenty-one years ago)

i have the singles 1 and 2 - do i need more ?

― school boy on a bike, Saturday, 29 January 2005 07:12 (twenty-one years ago)

I actually sold Louder Than Bombs. I really didn't like it. I LOVE Hatful of Hollow, which was my introduction to the Smiths. Hearing the same songs in different order and different juxtaposition frustrated me. The new songs, 'Shoplifters...', 'Sheila take a Bow', 'Panic', weren't terribly special to me, esp. the horrid 'Oscillate Wildly', 'Rubber Ring', and 'Golden Lights'. That was a year ago, and I haven't missed it.

The only Smiths I keep and cherish is Hatful of Hollow, The Queen is Dead, and Strangeways. OTOH, I have all the Morrissey albums, plus two single/b-side collections. Who's to say?

― derrick (derrick), Saturday, 29 January 2005 07:37 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah it's odd, i know alot of people that really really prefer hatful to bombs and almost without fail they had/heard hatful first. suffice it to say 'sheila take a bow' is terribly special to me (terribly terribly special to me when i was fifteen), so ymmv obv. the smiths hits comps have always looked like poorly done cash-ins to me.

― j blount (papa la bas), Saturday, 29 January 2005 07:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Wow! The songs you say, derrick, weren't terribly special are some of my favorites.

Bombs is the only Smiths record I still own.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Saturday, 29 January 2005 07:48 (twenty-one years ago)

The version of "Hand In Glove" is the original single mix - fairly different than John Porter's remix on the first album. LTB is a compilation of tracks from various singles and BBC sessions and none of them appear on the four proper studio albums.

The aforementioned Hatful of Hollow shares 6 tracks with LTB. If you have the North American version of Meat Is Murder, HOH shares one track with that (How Soon Is Now?). I actually prefer LTB to HOH. I'm alone in this but I've always preferred the versions of "Back to the Old House" and "These Things Take Time" from LTB.

LTB does have some terrible moments though - "Ask," "Golden Lights," "Sweet And Tender Hooligan..."

Where's the logic in selling LTB and keeping Kill Uncle!??!!?

― Kent Burt (lingereffect), Saturday, 29 January 2005 07:49 (twenty-one years ago)

LTB does have some terrible moments though - "Ask,"

My head just exploded.

― bprofane (AaronHz), Saturday, 29 January 2005 07:52 (twenty-one years ago)

"Ask" is my least favourite Smiths original.

I suspect it is the fault of the mix.

― Kent Burt (lingereffect), Saturday, 29 January 2005 07:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Mine too! That song contains Moz's greatest lyrical phrase ever.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Saturday, 29 January 2005 07:56 (twenty-one years ago)

x-post re: exploding head

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Saturday, 29 January 2005 07:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, as for The World Won't Listen, it actually has a completely different version of "Stretch Out And Wait" than any other LP.

― Kent Burt (lingereffect), Saturday, 29 January 2005 07:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Fantastic album (Louder Than Bombs) imo. Nobody has mentioned You Just Haven't Earned It... - the single released for a few days by mistake (included here). I remember the band saying don't buy it though, as it wasn't an official Rough Trade Release.

― Jez (Jez), Saturday, 29 January 2005 10:35 (twenty-one years ago)

It was originally a North American Sire release, though RT gave it a proper UK release eventually. It was so widely available on import it didn't really matter by then.

The only overlapping cut is "Hand in Glove" but the version on here is a BBC cut, right?

The version on Louder Than Bombs is the original single version, as with Hatful Of Hollow. The one on the debut album is a remix. 'Hand In Gloce' was never recorded in session for the BBC.

― Alba (Alba), Saturday, 29 January 2005 10:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Another head sighs and explodes.

― Ken L (Ken L), Saturday, 29 January 2005 14:19 (twenty-one years ago)

The consistency of "Louder Than Bombs" is amazing, even though some of the material dates back to 1983. It feels like a studio album. Yes, there are songs I don't care for, but so what? This is an essential purpose, ranking alongside "Queen" and "Strangeways."

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Saturday, 29 January 2005 14:28 (twenty-one years ago)

I have Louder Than Bombs on tape and the appeal peters out starting with the "Oscillate Wildly"/"whatever the fuck that cover Mozz made them do" bit, but the rockers on side one are so crucial that I don't mind all the ballads on side two. and if you have no problem with mozz ballads then goddamn get it now now now.

― miccio (miccio), Saturday, 29 January 2005 14:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Plus it has the best cover of any Smiths album (bar, maybe, Rank).

― David Merryweather (DavidM), Saturday, 29 January 2005 15:01 (twenty-one years ago)

I enjoy "Oscillate Wildly" - it's one of the most well-developed instrumentals I've ever heard. After that the rest of the album gets pretty uneven. I have a weakness for "Asleep" though...

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Saturday, 29 January 2005 15:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Louder than Bombs has "Half a Person" on it, and was the first Smiths album I ever bought, and is amazing.

― kyle (akmonday), Saturday, 29 January 2005 19:36 (twenty-one years ago)

My head hasn't exploded, but it sure hurts.

― J (Jay), Saturday, 29 January 2005 21:26 (twenty-one years ago)

LTB is the only Smiths album that I've kept from my fairly rabid Smiths phase of several years ago. It's easily my favorite.

― o. nate (onate), Saturday, 29 January 2005 21:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, as for The World Won't Listen, it actually has a completely different version of "Stretch Out And Wait" than any other LP.

And that alone makes it worth the price of admission.

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Saturday, 29 January 2005 22:18 (twenty-one years ago)

isn't 'rubber ring' the best living vicariously through song ever and not "horrid" by any measure?

― keith m (keithmcl), Saturday, 29 January 2005 23:20 (twenty-one years ago)

I love "Rubber Ring" - the cello, Marr's twangy guitar, Moz's melisma.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Saturday, 29 January 2005 23:23 (twenty-one years ago)

if someone says; "hey you like that band that morrissey was in what were they like" all that one needs do is stick louder than bombs on a tape top and tale it with this charming man and how soon is now and possibly and i keep mine hidden or jeanne just to show hey y'know i know and really it's a pretty much perfect intro to smithdom

― elwisty (elwisty), Sunday, 30 January 2005 01:14 (twenty-one years ago)

The only Smiths record I own personally (and I only own it because I was supposed to borrow it from my cousing but I never did return it)...I'm quite fond of all the tunes, even the Twinkle cover.

― Ian Riese-Moraine (Eastern Mantra), Sunday, 30 January 2005 02:15 (twenty-one years ago)

all u need 2 know :

http://www.passionsjustlikemine.com/

― piscesboy, Sunday, 30 January 2005 03:14 (twenty-one years ago)

LTB does have some terrible moments though - "Ask,"

This is so wrong!

― youn, Sunday, 30 January 2005 03:26 (twenty-one years ago)

I feel like a character in Scanners making all youse heads explode.

Not my intention, but I can't say it isn't amusing. It's just a song, people - one I grew tired of very, very quickly and never never never need hear again.

― Kent Burt (lingereffect), Sunday, 30 January 2005 06:09 (twenty-one years ago)

There actually isn't a single bad song on Louder Than Bombs.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Sunday, 30 January 2005 13:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Australian double version of "WWL" please

― Andrew Blood Thames (Andrew Thames), Sunday, 30 January 2005 13:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes there is Dan you old vagina. Golden Lights.

― Smiths Sam, Sunday, 30 January 2005 13:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Does Everyone On Earth Really Hate "Golden Lights"?

I don't like 'Ask' much either, but it could be the production, yeah. I prefer it with more attack, like the live version on Rank.

― Alba (Alba), Sunday, 30 January 2005 13:55 (twenty-one years ago)

'Unloveable' is a bad song that is on Louder Than Bombs. It is much worse than 'Golden Lights', which is much much better than 'Work is a Four Letter Word', which is one of only two bad Smiths songs, the other being 'Unloveable' and certainly not 'Death at One's Elbow', which isn't a bad racket.

― Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Sunday, 30 January 2005 15:15 (twenty-one years ago)

This is stupid, but it actually frightens me a little that 'Unloveable' was almost on The Queen is Dead.

― Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Sunday, 30 January 2005 15:16 (twenty-one years ago)

"Ask" is da bomb.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Sunday, 30 January 2005 15:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Da bomb dat will bring us together.

― Dr. Z Indahouse (AaronHz), Sunday, 30 January 2005 15:29 (twenty-one years ago)

(and yes, I was actually thinking of Scanners upthread when I said that)

― Dr. Z Indahouse (AaronHz), Sunday, 30 January 2005 15:30 (twenty-one years ago)

'Unloveable' is a bad song that is on Louder Than Bombs.

Now my head's exploded!

― Shmool McShmool (shmuel), Sunday, 30 January 2005 21:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Youn and others are right.

"Ask" has long been my favourite Smiths single, I think. And I have heard the other ones.

LTB is Most Played Smiths Record in my house, always. It's so easy to enter and exit from (?) - not being a proper LP, and everything - it's Useable (Usable?) in a way that more Complete LPs are not.

― the askfox, Sunday, 30 January 2005 21:19 (twenty-one years ago)

"Stretch Out and Wait" is my second favorite song from Louder than Bombs.

― youn, Sunday, 30 January 2005 23:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Personal favorite song on LTB: "This Night Has Opened My Eyes"
"Objectively" the best song on LTB: Either "Half A Person" or "Shoplifters Of The World Unite" or "Ask"

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Sunday, 30 January 2005 23:41 (twenty-one years ago)

"Ask" is my favorite song too

― Mike O. (Mike Ouderkirk), Monday, 31 January 2005 02:15 (twenty-one years ago)

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