...Throw them to the lions... Put them into the fire pit... Send them to permanent exile in Hoboken, New Jersey... Shame on you, dirty rotten scoundrels

there are more heads than guillotines.

Sick of Morrissey and The Smiths comps,
and oh so patiently awaiting the new stuff,
DeB of the West Sider Riders.

Enough of this! If you are unhappy with this project JUST DON'T BUY IT!!!!! Their is no better way to show your distaste for this disc than to not spend your money on it. If it doesn't sell then they won't do it again! They only put out what sells. So don't buy it, just put it down on your Christmas wish list and have your grandmother buy it for you. Ha Ha Oh Oh middle eight.

a crack on the head is what you get for not asking!

Why is everyone so angry? I has been almost SEVEN years since the last Smiths comp. If you count " The Complete Picture" as one set, there have been only TWO re-packages released through Wea since they gained the catalog. Don't forget The Smiths themselves authorised 3,count em' 3! compilations while they were still a group and within less than 4 years no less. There has been no remixing on the CD and if any of you guys were real fans, you would know this is the FIRST compilation that sounds right AND like the original vinyl releases ,Which obviously most of you don't have or play or you would know better. Morrissey himself has 4 compilations that offered up almost no new material and they all been fully authorised and approved by Morrissey. Yes,the cover is only fair at best and the typos are not excusable. But you all have probably paid more and lusted after horrible bootlegs with misleading titles and info that you never even play. This compilation plays very well ,is sequenced good and is a great introduction to the band. Be honest,if Morrissey and Marr picked the songs ,the sequence and cover art ,you would all think it was the greatest thing. And for all you know or don't know ,they never responded to Wea's requests for input. Everyone,Shut up already. If you are informed enough to be here, this record isn't meant for you anyway. And besides,You don't have to buy it if you don't want to.

My sources tell me the Morrissey and Marr never responded a multiple of attempts to get their input ! It is totally out of line to post the info on who you think is reponsible for this CD because the fact is ,you do not know the whole story.

They're messing with artists' work here. It's really obscene. I wish people like the two named above would just all die the very painful death they deserve.

What moron at WEA spoke up at the company meeting and said, "Hey, let's put out another Smiths best of cd compilation, and not even ask the band!" Lovely idea chaps, quite lovely indeed.

Forgive them for they know not what they do. By the way: Buy the new Prefab Sprout album!

I hope that 'The Very Best...' becomes a huge success. It might simulate companies to sign Moss or Marr for the release of new material.

I dunno what's nobler in the mind. I do feel lots of fear of acting and just causing more harm to them at the end, and that's the reason I'm always so eager to hear anything from them. I don't mind myself no, I'm such an unimportant person that it does not matter, but I fear for Mozz, for Johnny. But they can't just post here telling us what to do, on the other hand. I wish I had an oracle, a wise person who can tell the future, to ask what's the best way to go.
I wish that our love for them can really help them.

If anyone is going to fax these people, please note that 011 is the international accesss code from the US, Canada and some other countries, but from most of the world you should dial 00. Needless to say 44 is the UK country code and 20 is London (020 if you're dialling from within the UK).
Cheers

you people are obsessed! let it go....nobody loves you! gawd! get lives..... viva moz!

gee thats real professional...that's sure gonna make some waves in the industry. This all is retarded and why cant we stick to discussing the music of the smiths and moz? you people are always bickering about something irrelavant. i loved moz much much much more before i started visiting this site. I expected more from the fan base. BTW for non-annoying Moz fans, The Sheila Divine is out on tour...Moz has great taste!

The Alaskan Wildlife.

Unisured Americans.

Gun Control.

RU-487.

Gay Marriage.

Corporate Welfare.

Mumia Abu-Jamal.

The Death Penalty.

Soft Money.

Campaign Finance Reform.

or even...

Morrissey's next record deal.

...If I'm going to get so worked up about something that I feel the need to "fax those responsible," I would hope that the cause would have, oh, just a little bit more importance than the "unauthorized" release of a Smiths compilation, misspelled or not. C'mon, people.

"released WITHOUT approval from either Morrissey or Marr"
-
what I want to know is whether Rourke and Joyce approve of it.

I wonder.

   

Let the record company have their money, it's better they get it from marketing something decent instead of 8 year old girls going out and buying Popstars albums or some other fucking shite like that. The albums presence in the chart will make a younger audience aware of the band and could help turn the record buying public onto something different for a change. I admit the track name mistakes are careless and stupid but with all this whining you've overlooked the benefit of having the band kept alive.

his is the dumbest sh*t I have ever seen. Who cares? For one, Moorissey and Marr don't own the songs. I they did, they could choose what to do with them. Facts are though, they they choose not to buy their catolog, so that is their fault. Since that record cpany owns them, they can do whatever they wants with them, NO PERMISSION NEEDED! Also, so what if it has been done before. I think anytime the SMITHS are revisited is a good thing. It gets people thinking about the group again and Smiths material back on the new shelves. I you don't like it, then just don't buy it! But faxing or bothering these people is just childish.

Get over it! Surprise, surprise record companies exist to make profits, not to be centres of artistic excellence.

As he hs shown in the past over the debacle with Joyce and Rourke, El Moz is not adverse to making money, whatever the moral implications.

david T monitor the comments on this post and realise that you may be encouraging irrational moz fans to harrass these people...it is all very childish and a waste of space.

do your own dirtywork, mate. fax 'em yourself from your mansion.

I agree with everyone who is saying get over it. Like Morrissey hasnt ripped off plenty of people. You people need to stop making him out to be a god. He is a great singer/songwriter. Thats about all you people know of him.

Its not as easy as it seems just to boycott it
Cos if we buy it its giving in to another Smiths compilation but if we dont then companies'll probably assume that theres no interest in Morrissey anymore. Which we all know isnt true.

Ok, why doesn't everyone take a big fat fuckin chill pill and RELAX!!!! "wah wah, get over it", "wah wah, bad music companies!". A post is for YOUR opinion, not to bash others. Say what you will and stop the pointless name calling. If I wanted retarded dramatics and name calling I WOULD GO BACK TO HIGH SCHOOL!

Now everyone hold hands and go back to the learning tree and find yourselves some fucking manners and respect.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR,
DeB of the West Sider Riders.

Hey, if you don't care about the comp, fine. But it's odd to see such concern that these two pieces of human feces might get a couple annoying faxes for a few days. Why are you so upset by this? Why would you care if a few people fax their opinion on a product to a company? Maybe you relate to the bastard and the bitch who are listed above? I especially loved the message saying the rights of the songs were sold to WEA so no permission is needed. That may be, but first of all, I don't believe it's accurate to say artists are in an equal bargaining position when signing away rights, and furthermore, even if they sometimes are, that still does not excuse immorality. You see, just because you CAN do something legally doesn;'t mean it is RIGHT to. I'm sorry so many on this board have the business person mentality. And I'm also sorry you are more concerned about a few faxes bothering two a-holes than you are about artists whose work is being desecrated. I bet you guys also were OK with Ted Turner colorizing black and white films. I'd also like to say I have no concern whatsoever about proving to record companies that Morrissey is worth signing. If they don't think his music is good enough to have on their label, so be it. Let them keep releasing their nonsense. There are already plenty of labels that would put out a Morrissey album tomorrow, so it's a total myth of this web site that no one is interested. And he can easily put one out on his own. My conclusion is, the only reason there isn't a new Morrissey CD in my player right now is because he hasn't wanted to release one badly enough. Maybe he's been idling the time away, or maybe he's putting together a masterpiece.

What would be be all you embittered people's idea of a perfect single disc Smiths Comp? I've seen this one and other than its obvious and unfortunate packaging problems I think its pretty spot on as far as the chosen Music.

The only saving grace of this disaster for me, is that my local HMV is now selling 'Meat Is Murder' and 'The Queen Is Dead' T-Shirts. Furthermore the album is @ no 24 in the charts. Not bad really.

Let's handle this Ayatolah style!! Put a bounty on thier heads!! Drink the blood of thier children!!!

We will bomb and target each and everyone of them. Viva Moz!

I hate that people can't bother themselves to run things through a spell checker or even look at the original albums and see what the actual titles are, but the hopeful part of me keeps thinking it was an intern out to sabotage the deal and make these people look like morons.

But i'll tell ya something. we may complain, but whoever hired them is thrilled with the business geniuses they are. As long as it sells something, they aren't really going to care that much, and people ARE picking it up at the store. I work in a sales department of sorts. Those people are braindead. They remind me of those images on the holodeck on Star Trek where if you say something that isn't in line with their programming, they continue on like they hadn't heard it. But the lacking of those crucial sections of their brain are exactly why they are making the decisions that they are.

I know you don't have to be silent on the issue, but I also know that lack of $$ coming into the coffers is what wounds them to the quick. It's like Kryptonite to them. You haven't seen them piss themselves until it comes out that sales are down, and that's where hillarity ensues.

in the immortal words of Bruce McCulloch,
"greatest hits albums are for housewives and little girls..."

if the Smiths sold the rights to their songs then they can't cry about what happens to them, can they? am I wrong here?
also, why is buying the album even a question, doesn't everyone here already own every song on the disc? I know I do, I don't even have to look for the track listing. I'd rather buy vegetables than repeat albums. it's kind of silly to say I'm "boycotting" something I wouldn't buy anyway.

Apologies for the cross post. I originally attached this message to the wrong thread.

I'm not surprised, but a little disappointed at the reaction of the people on this board. I don't see how this release is a bad thing. The way I see it the release is good for the following reasons:

1) It exposes The Smiths to an audience that might not have heard them. I walked into two record stores at the weekend (I'm in London) and saw the album displayed prominently. This kind of prominence is good for both new and old Smiths fans, surely.

2) It has a track that was previously unavailable on CD and another which was rare on CD. Okay, so these releases aren't anything to get too excited about but as a collector I'm glad I have them. I didn't realise I was lacking a version of Ask until I heard this new one.

3) The engineer has attempted to recreate the original sound of the 12" releases rather than simply reusing old CD releases. Would people rather continue listening to recordings which sound less like the original release? Have people who have complained about the sound compared it against the vinyl recordings?

4) It could be the start of something bigger. Importantly Warner are paying for Rhino to dig up and remaster these Smiths recordings. If you look at Rhino's previous work you'll see that they are involved in releases such as box sets. How many people here would complain if they released a Smiths box set which included the complete Peel/Jensen, studio outtakes, alternate versions, new live releases? What if they uncovered an unreleased track? I see this release as a stepping stone to releasing something more interesting.

Ultimately if you don't want the CD don't buy it, but I think it's a bad idea to mailbomb the exec at WEA complaining about the release. I don't see what that serves to achieve. AOL Time Warner is a corporation out to make money so letting them know that they're moneygrabbing scum isn't likely to come as a surprise. If anything, the hostility is likely to get back to Morrissey and Marr and those comments might jeapordise further conversations between them and WEA regarding the release of something more interesting.

Do you think the people that have bought the CD have felt cheated? I'm guessing they're pretty pleased with it. Either they're new to The Smiths and they're probably pleased to buy a CD which is better than the the majority of the new releases, they're an old Smiths fan that have had their love of The Smiths re-kindled, or they're a collector pleased to hear the new sound. I don't believe the views of this board represent the consensus of people that have bought it.

I'm curious as to what makes most people so outraged. If you're spitting blood is it because Morrissey & Marr told you to? Because you don't think Warner should make more money out of The Smiths? Because you don't like the sound of it? Because a clerk made a couple of typos on the sleeve? I don't understand.

I bought the CD and I'm pleased with it.

Surf over to Winfax to download a fax connection for your computer. It is free and easy to do. You even get your own fax number(just like M)-isn't that a thrill?

It is there if you want it.