> Haven't Sheila and Shoplifters got more or less exactly the same guitar
> break in the middle? Except one's a bit faster?
No. Shoplifters has a kind of heavy Brian May-style solo, one of the few in the Smiths canon. Sheila has no such break.
That said, what is the problem with one song sounding vaguely like another, I wonder? For instance, lots of songs on Vauxhall have a similar sound and feel. I remember back in 1987, critics of The Smiths - and there were many back then - used to say they ALL sounded the same!