The Smiths: Complete

A terrific set, even for the price. I agree that the book could have been longer and I don't know why they decided to put in the 'flats' - 12 x 12 prints of each LP cover - maybe for nostalgia's sake... I recall that seeking these promo slicks out was a popular way to decorate your dorm room in the 80s.But another reviewer mentioned a download key for the whole set... Where? Can't find anything like that in my set.Any posting of the whereabouts would be appreciated.

Amazing. An impressive showing on the part of Rhino UK. I have been following all chatter since this box was announced, and I must admit I was on the fence. But when Amazon presented the import for pre-order at a total steal, ugggghhhhh...I should have ordered two. One I could drool over, and the other I could put in the vault to will out to future generations. To all the critics out there with the 'so and so's being greedy / the remasters are blah.blah.blah / these vinyl pressings should be considered bootlegs....'......blah blah', & with the moz protesting anyone looking into this. Dude, The Smiths are just a precursor to one mans solo career who I will argue as one of the greatest rock and roll singers of all time. Don't worry, the singer is getting his fair share compared to the pennies I spend on his former band. For the next reissue, repackage...I do want the tacky badge.The Rhino US issue of 1000 is at the end of the month... So I say yes to The Smiths 2011 remasters project, but this big box is really something special. Just go for it...

This would have been 5 stars if the set actually came with the digital download cards it advertised came with the set. Unfortunately, our set didn't come with this with the excuse being that we are in the US. The digital downloads were for the UK version only.

The quality of this box set, from its cover art to the remastering at the hands of Johnny Marr, is superb. This is a big beautiful set, with so much high quality material. All The Smiths vinyl singles and B-sides are such a treat! The remastering is perfect and is tastefully done. The drums, bass, guitars, and Morrissey's voice are perfectly mixed. The value of this set is sure to skyrocket over the next few years, so consider it as an investment if the price tag scares you now.So what could have made the set better? Well for the greedy (like me), I wish it had a complete live concert video to accompany "Rank." There is so much unreleased material that's surfaced on YouTube that I wish made it the set. But this shouldn't stop you from treating yourself to this comprehensive, perfectly crafted box set.

Great love it they wont let me do a feedback on first one but it is in perfect condition dont even want to open it its great thank you Dan

Along with my Beatles Mono remasters, this is my favorite box set. Beautiful box with amazing contents. A classy addition to any collection and the music, of course, sounds great! I received box set #3542 (I think there's 4000 sets).

This was, somehow, even better than I had hoped it would be.

10/10.

Anyone considering spending over £200 on this collection of previously-released material will be well-acquainted enough with the music of The Smiths to wish being spared tedious personal observations regarding the songwriting prowess of Morrissey and Marr. So, to the hulking behemoth that is "The Complete Smiths" box set...Happily, the remasters are a genuine improvement over the brickwalled disaster of 2008's The Sound Of The Smiths compilation. Perhaps inevitably, they are louder than the previous WEA editions, but they are also richer and tighter, with considerably more bottom end.Perhaps the most revelatory of all the albums is "Strangeways Here We Come". The anaemic mastering of the previous CD issue is replaced by a beautifully open and solid soundstage which allows the final "rockier" incarnation of the band to shine through. "Death Of A Disco Dancer", "I Started Something..." and "Last Night I Dreamt..." are especially authoritative.The slight downside, to these ears, is a certain over-emphasis on the higher frequencies. I found this particularly noticeable on the eponymous debut, where Mike Joyce's hi-hats sound quite shrill. This is also evident on other "bright" tracks such as "I Want The One I Can't Have" and "Cemetry Gates". These CDs are not brickwalled to death but could have been allowed a little more room to breathe. Ultimately, though, the improvements will likely be enough of a trade-off for many listeners, this one included.To the rest...The mini-vinyl CD replicas restore the original album artwork for the first time, including the inner slip-cases, original front cover stickers and the free poster issued with "Rank". The discs themselves replicate the original vinyl labels.My turntable is currently in storage, so I cannot comment on the sound of the accompanying vinyls. However, I have thoroughly enjoyed poring over the artwork and lyrics (readable here!) in their original format whilst listening to the CDs. These LPs will be given a thorough spin once my turntable is up and running. Likewise with the 7" singles: as someone who was too young to buy these first time around, it's great to now own a complete set (including imports), which the earlier  vinyl collection  singularly failed to deliver. They have all been replicated splendidly, right down to the cryptic messages scrawled into the run-out grooves.There are glossy 12" art cards of each album cover, presumably for framing. These are entirely pointless, as is the poster of Jurgen Vollmer's cover photograph, which is unlikely to be hung on many walls lest it degrade. The accompanying booklet is a rather flimsy concert-program affair with perfunctory notes by Sire Records' Seymour Stein, music journalist Lois Wilson, and endnotes by Engineers Stephen Street and Grant Showbiz. A hardback book would not have been too much to ask for in its place."The Complete Picture" DVD is the same bog-standard video retrospective which has been available for years and offers nothing more than even the ancient VHS edition. The flimsy slip case holder looks like a free DVD bundled in with a Sunday Supplement. Highly disappointing.Of course, this box is not entirely "complete"; there are no CD versions of a small number of 12"-only B-Sides like "Jeane" or "The Draize Train". There are also no rarities. However, every essential release is included, and refurbished in a highly satisfactory manner. It could also be argued that the inclusion of rarities on such a limited edition would have provoked just as much ire from certain sections of The Smiths' fanbase.Ultimately, this box set will be of particular delight to those obsessive fans whom, through accidents of birth, missed these releases first time around and had to make do with badly cropped artwork and the thin sound of early '90s CD issues. This is a magnificent housing for the music and art of this incredible band. vinyl collection

This turned up in the post this morning. All I can say is WOW. It's huge. It's beautiful. It's EXACTLY how The Smiths should be packaged and the audio sounds BRILLIANT. I got the CD box last week anyway so I knew they would sound brilliant, but the 12"s just sound perfect. Seriously well done to Johnny and Rhino for making this. It's truly the star of my (ridiculous) record collection.

This is a review of the Collector's Edition boxed set and not the musical content which would be 5 stars, and some.It's an expensive collectable filled with repetition rather than anything of great worth itself and seemingly very mild remastering at best.It's clearly aimed at "collectors" (or mugs, me included) yet I would take the "strictly limited to 3000" with a pinch of salt as I think the box says 4000.On the plus side there are some nice touches1) The 'Hand in Glove' single is a copy of the rare negative sleeve2) The CD and the album covers have the same stickers as the original vinyl did3) The CDs copy the Beatles 2009 Remasters by replicating the 12" artwork and inner sleeves (though the large barcodes are a bit unwarranted and this collection being on a different record label aren't identical)4) It is big so at least you feel you are getting something for your money (even if it is the same thing in a variety of packages)On the down side1) 180g vinyl is generally aimed at the audiophile audience yet they have used inner sleeves seemingly made of thin sandpaper2) The singles and cd singles are really a stocking filler as pretty much - if not - everything on them is contained on the albums3) Complete: not really. where are the excellent variety of 'This Charming Man' mixes? or the Peel Sessions album? or perhaps the Sandy Shaw versions?4) where on earth are you supposed to keep this thing: it's massive!5) The 'Remastering' hmm? I admittedly haven't listened to all of the items yet but on listening to the vinyl it certainly doesn't sound significantly better than the originals on vinyl. So, I'm hoping the CDs will be where the benefit is felt more6) The Complete Picture DVD is in a low rent cardboard CD Single sleeveThe standard 7" B sides are covered by the singles themselves (obviously) or Louder Than Bombs.Surely a bonus disk of out-takes and alternate mixes would have at least made this fresh?How about some a decent copy of the Troy Tate sessions?Finally the 'bonus' download is a joke that leaves a bad taste as the website isn't secure so anyone can download them for free, nice touch!

to spend over []quid on basically the same thing in 4 different formats in one box, you expect good attention to detail.the printing is awful, the vinyl, cd and print, all of which have the same image are printed differently and badly to each other and not true to the originals.and the hand in glove 7" is terrible.the CD versions also make that age old record company mistake of making everything on the vinyl the same size pro'd down, so you can't read anything, do it in the style but redesign for the different size for christ sake.of course the barcode, which is surely unnecessary, is CD size, so huge in comparrison.very shoddy.i trust marr to have done a good job on the remastering, but if moz signed off on the printing, i would be shocked, not to his high standards at all, not to any standard.very poor."best of, most of, satiate the need, slip them into different sleeves, buy both and feel decieved"and to rub salt in the wound, amazon have just lowered the price, 2 days after release.

Remastering by J.Marr Esq is excellent for CDs. But.....Nobody much interested in vinyls(12"/7") these days. So not possible to verify sound quality of this format for heavy grade virgin vinyl LPs. No cassettes of all 8 albums either.Artwork pictures superfluous. mp3 downloadable files an extra bonus but why.?Box is flat-horizontal (so all vinyls lie flat - not good idea) so vinyl fans may encounter problems with warped vinyl in years to come. But no special note from Warners(Rhino) to offer storage advice to avoid warp problems later on.Strictly speaking recommended to only those fans who must abs own everything by Smiths. Mine is box no 1844/4000.