THE SMITHS: “Louder Than Bombs” 2LP

Description

THE SMITHS: “Louder Than Bombs” 2LP

Louder Than Bombs is a compilation album by English rock band the Smiths, released as a double album in March 1987 by their American record company, Sire Records. Popular demand prompted their British record company, Rough Trade, to issue the album domestically as well.

The album was released as the American counterpart to their recent British compilation The World Won’t Listen and consisted of all singles and nearly all B-sides that had not at that point been available in the United States, either on single or album, with a few other tracks added. The title is borrowed from a line in Elizabeth Smart’s extended prose poem By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept.

The album was intended to be a substitute for both The World Won’t Listen and their 1984 compilation Hatful of Hollow, as these had not been released in the United States. This is why the non-single track “This Night Has Opened My Eyes” from Hatful of Hollow was included. Single A-sides “This Charming Man” and “How Soon Is Now?” had already been released in the US as bonus cuts on the LPs The Smiths and Meat Is Murder, respectively.

As with The World Won’t Listen, this compilation includes the scrapped single “You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet, Baby” (passed over in favour of “Shoplifters of the World Unite”), albeit in a different, shorter mix. However, this shorter version of the song was replaced when Bombs was reissued in 2011. Additionally, the Louder Than Bombs version of “Stretch Out and Wait” is the version from the B-side of “Shakespeare’s Sister”, which features slightly different lyrics. Also of note is the fact that “Ask” appears on both Louder Than Bombs and The World Won’t Listen in a slightly different and longer mix than its single version.

1. “Is It Really So Strange?” B-side of “Sheila Take a Bow”; John Peel session, 12/2/86 3:04
2. “Sheila Take a Bow” Single A-side 2:41
3. “Shoplifters of the World Unite” Single A-side 2:57
4. “Sweet and Tender Hooligan” B-side of “Sheila Take a Bow”; John Peel session, 12/2/86 3:13
5. “Half a Person” B-side of “Shoplifters of the World Unite” 3:36
6. “London” B-side of “Shoplifters of the World Unite” 2:07

Side two
7. “Panic” Single A-side 2:20
8. “Girl Afraid” B-side of “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now” 2:48
9. “Shakespeare’s Sister” Single A-side 2:09
10. “William, It Was Really Nothing” Single A-side 2:11
11. “You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet, Baby” US mix of aborted single A-side 3:21
12. “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now” Single A-side 3:34

Side three
13. “Ask” Remix of single A-side 3:18
14. “Golden Lights” B-side of “Ask” 2:39
15. “Oscillate Wildly” B-side of “How Soon is Now?” 3:27
16. “These Things Take Time” B-side of “What Difference Does It Make?” 2:23
17. “Rubber Ring” B-side of “The Boy with the Thorn in His Side” 3:48
18. “Back to the Old House” B-side of “What Difference Does It Make?” 3:05

Side four
19. “Hand in Glove” Single A-side mix 3:13
20. “Stretch Out and Wait” B-side of “Shakespeare’s Sister” 2:38
21. “Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want” B-side of “William, It Was Really Nothing” 1:52
22. “This Night Has Opened My Eyes” From Hatful of Hollow; John Peel session, 9/14/83 3:40
23. “Unloveable” B-side of “Bigmouth Strikes Again” 3:55
24. “Asleep” B-side of “The Boy with the Thorn in His Side” 4:11