The Smiths

[SK3Blue]

The Queen is Dead is 40 years old today. 
 

New music from Johnny Marr on the way, Spin, a new single released today from the album, The age of everything, due out in October 
 

 

[Bellend Sebastian]

1 hour ago, SK3Blue said:

The Queen is Dead is 40 years old today. 
 

New music from Johnny Marr on the way, Spin, a new single released today from the album, The age of everything, due out in October 
 

 

I think it was about 6 or 7 years old when I got it, and it was the last of the Smiths albums I got to complete the set. I think they're all amazing except the first one, which is merely good. 

 

Might stick it on later and sit in the dark and listen all the way through like I used to do in literally the last century

[MaidstoneFox]

3 hours ago, SK3Blue said:

The Queen is Dead is 40 years old today. 
 

New music from Johnny Marr on the way, Spin, a new single released today from the album, The age of everything, due out in October 
 

 

That makes me feel old. And yet....the memory of buying it is still very tangible, the whole experience in fact, going to the record shop, bring it home and not opening it until I got home. There is something special about gatefold albums and examining every inch of the cover design. Very different to now and having things selected for you on spotify.

[purpleronnie]

14 hours ago, MaidstoneFox said:

That makes me feel old. And yet....the memory of buying it is still very tangible, the whole experience in fact, going to the record shop, bring it home and not opening it until I got home. There is something special about gatefold albums and examining every inch of the cover design. Very different to now and having things selected for you on spotify.

I was talking to someone about this the other day.  I couldn't afford to buy records but my local library would have some and every now and again a load more would turn up. I still remember that feeling of seeing a new album from an artist you loved and rushing home to play it....back when there was no internet i had no idea of the discography of an artist, so just seeing one you'd never seen before whether it was a new release or an older one was really an amazing moment.

[SpacedX]

7 minutes ago, purpleronnie said:

I was talking to someone about this the other day.  I couldn't afford to buy records but my local library would have some and every now and again a load more would turn up. I still remember that feeling of seeing a new album from an artist you loved and rushing home to play it....back when there was no internet i had no idea of the discography of an artist, so just seeing one you'd never seen before whether it was a new release or an older one was really an amazing moment.

It was not simply a product, but a body of work. Also, a discography had a tangible chronology and progression in which one album would not have been possible without the preceding one. I recall my fascination unearthing these in record shops and second hand dealers. The sleeve artwork, the liner notes, the tactile feel of an album in your possession and as you say, frisson of excitement rushing home to play it. 

 

In today's digital age music is like tap water. Contextless and disembodied. 

[Fox92]

Excited for Marr's new album. I don't listen to The Smiths as much as I used too (I appear very eager at the start of this thread a decade or so ago). 

 

Still got the 4 Smiths albums though and play them now and then. 

[MaidstoneFox]

10 hours ago, purpleronnie said:

I was talking to someone about this the other day.  I couldn't afford to buy records but my local library would have some and every now and again a load more would turn up. I still remember that feeling of seeing a new album from an artist you loved and rushing home to play it....back when there was no internet i had no idea of the discography of an artist, so just seeing one you'd never seen before whether it was a new release or an older one was really an amazing moment.

I used to go to the music library on Wellington Street (what a gift that place was), check new albums out and record the ones I liked on to cassette tapes. I could never of afforded to accumulate the personal library of albums that I did otherwise.

[SK3Blue]

On 17/06/2026 at 17:37, Fox92 said:

Excited for Marr's new album. I don't listen to The Smiths as much as I used too (I appear very eager at the start of this thread a decade or so ago). 

 

Still got the 4 Smiths albums though and play them now and then. 

I’m hoping it’s decent, I thought Fever Dreams was nothing special, seemed like a collection of B sides to me, first 3 albums were fine.