NewsThe Smiths / The Queen is Dead reissue
First Smiths deluxe • 3CD+DVD • 5LP vinyl • hi-res on DVD
Warners will issue multi-disc deluxe editions of The Smiths‘ 1986 album The Queen Is Dead on vinyl and CD, in October this year.
The album is generally considered to be the band’s best work (although for this writer Strangeways, Here We Come gives it a good run for its money) and features the classic There Is A Light That Never Goes Out (only a single in France at the time, fact fans).
There are three physical formats for this release – which as you will note has updated artwork – a 3CD+DVD deluxe includes the remastered album, a bonus CD of demos, alternates and b-sides, a further CD: Live In Boston (recorded at the Great Woods Center For The Performing Arts on August 5, 1986) and a DVD featuring the 2017 master of the album in 96kHz / 24-bit PCM stereo. The DVD also includes The Queen Is Dead – A Film By Derek Jarman.
A five-LP box set includes all the audio listed above and is housed in lift off box with two double gatefolds and one single LP. A two-CD edition pairs the remaster with the bonus disc of demos etc.
All formats of this The Queen Is Dead reissue will be released on 20 October 2017.
Update: 7pm 20/7/17 – prices have increased already for both 3CD+DVD and 5LP in the UK. However, I think the former will come back down again, although perhaps not the latter.
The Queen Is Dead – 2CD Edition
- • UK Pre-order: The Queen Is Dead (2CD edition)
- • USA Pre-order: The Queen Is Dead (2CD edition)
- • CANADA Pre-order: The Queen Is Dead (2CD edition)
- • GERMANY Pre-order: The Queen Is Dead (2CD edition)
- • ITALY Pre-order: The Queen Is Dead (2CD edition)
Disc One: Original Album – 2017 Remaster
1. “The Queen Is Dead”
2. “Frankly, Mr. Shankly”
3. “I Know It’s Over”
4. “Never Had No One Ever”
5. “Cemetry Gates”
6. “Bigmouth Strikes Again”
7. “The Boy With The Thorn In His Side”
8. “Vicar In A Tutu”
9. “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out”
10. “Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others”
Disc Two: Additional Recordings
1. “The Queen Is Dead” (Full Version)
2. “Frankly, Mr. Shankly” (Demo)
3. “I Know It’s Over” (Demo)
4. “Never Had No One Ever” (Demo)
5. “Cemetry Gates” (Demo)
6. “Bigmouth Strikes Again” (Demo)
7. “Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others” (Demo)
8. “The Boy With The Thorn In His Side” (Demo Mix)
9. “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out” (Take 1)
10. “Rubber Ring” (B-side)
11. “Asleep” (B-side)
12. “Money Changes Everything” (B-side)
13. “Unloveable” (B-side)
Tracks 1-7 and 9 are previously unreleased.
Track 8 was released on 7″ for Record Store Day.
Tracks 10 and 11 are 2017 masters of b-sides from The Boy With The Thorn In His Side.
Tracks 12 and 13 are 2017 masters of b-sides from Bigmouth Strikes Again.
Disc Three: Live In Boston (Previously Unreleased)
1. “How Soon Is Now?”
2. “Hand In Glove”
3. “I Want The One I Can’t Have”
4. “Never Had No One Ever”
5. “Stretch Out And Wait”
6. “The Boy With The Thorn In His Side”
7. “Cemetry Gates”
8. “Rubber Ring/What She Said/Rubber Ring”
9. “Is It Really So Strange?”
10. “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out”
11. “That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore”
12. “The Queen Is Dead”
13. “I Know It’s Over”
Recorded at the Great Woods Center For The Performing Arts on August 5, 1986.
DVD:
The Queen Is Dead on 96kHz / 24-bit PCM stereo
The Queen is Dead – A Film by Derek Jarman
SuperDeluxeEdition.com helps fans around the world discover physical music and discuss releases. To keep the site free, SDE participates in various affiliate programs, including Amazon and earns from qualifying purchases.
Related Content
SDEtv
Vinyl boxset currently 32 quid on uk amazon.,..orders yesterday
…having said that, there’s a similar effect on the original CD single as well – around the 5.5 second mark, when the vocal kicks in. For completeness, I checked the original vinyl, and it’s there at the 5.5 second mark too.
Might have been to do with the way the original segue was done, with the latest master reverting to stereo a free seconds earlier…
I can confirm that, on Asleep, the CD switches from mono to stereo at around the 2.5 second mark as well…
The Rubber Ring/Asleep segue is indeed intact, but there’s a rather jarring leap from mono to stereo at the beginning of Asleep (at about the 3 second mark), during the fade-in of the piano intro but before the vocal begins. Mine’s a FLAC download copy, perhaps someone with the CD or vinyl versions can confirm or refute this…?
Just opened the vinyl box, which is beautiful. But one notable frustration: no download codes. So the only way to listen to this music is on the turntable. Feels like a greedy attempt to squeeze every last cent out of fans.
The versions of Rubber Ring & Asleep DO run together, as per the original single where they fade into one another, so that’s good news!
I wonder about the value of these multi-disc vinyl releases. I bought the recent Joshua Tree and OK Computer boxes (the albums were wrapped separately) – but listened to the new remasters and outtakes on Deezer/Qobuz. I love vinyl, but I can’t see when I would find time to listen to several sides of outtakes. That’s ok for driving or walking around or whatever. So, presumably, most of us, who already own a couple of vinyl copies of “The Queen is Dead” – end up buying the box-set, opening it, listening to it once, and then sticking it up in the attic will all of the other gigantic box sets (Neil Young archives 1 being the worst), that you never listen to, but hope accrue value. I thing I will pass on the box and download the 24/96 version on Qobuz – which will cost 10 or 12 euro.
[…] UK at a little over £40, although its well-priced across the board, right now. The Smiths‘ The Queen is Dead 4LP vinyl set increased in price significantly, so I’d suggest you ‘lock in’ to […]
There are “extra” tracks, that aren’t going tobe in the boxset, which are available from various download retailers. Apparently they’re releasing one track a week until release date.
I was holding off as i didn’t want poor sq drm infested rubbish from itunes, but I’ve just noticed that 7digital now have the tracks in flac format.
[…] Morrissey. I’ve been trying to find out for ages who has remastered The Queen Is Dead for the forthcoming deluxe reissue but was drawing a blank. The information was absent from the press release which was odd in […]
…sorry meant 27.99 at base.com
£29.99 at base.com at the moment
Where do you find the link for the live material to be issued?
https://www.youtube.com/user/TheSmithsOfficial/videos
also on spotify I think
It looks like Warner Bros is going to release a live version of each track off of TQID on each Monday prior to the release of the forthcoming SDE. These tracks are not going to appear on TQID SDE. The first one up is TQID from Laguna Hills, CA on 28 August 1986. Interesting to note that a (near?) complete soundboard recording of this gig has been in circulation amongst traders for years now.
[…] La version double CD, comprendra son lot de faces B, raretés et démos (détails sur le site superdeluxedition.com). La version DVD sera complétée d’un concert enregistré en 1986 et intitulé sobrement Live […]
Do we know how many of the vinyl box Warners are pressing?
If i recall correctly The Smiths Complete box set was cheaper than this when first released.
Not the big massive set? It was always around the £199 mark – I know as I preordered it on announcement- worth a pretty penny now and a thing of beauty
I just so wish that I could have gotten that big set for that little price.
Now it seems that the price then £199 was real bargain given to the contents.
To be honest, I have known The Smiths always (since I started to listen to music in my childhood in the 80’s), but unfornately I finally got to them seriously around the time the remasters were issued in 2011. But that big set was already sold out from everywhere.
Nowadays it seems to be priced from around £400-£550 atleast..
I only have that 8cd complete boxset, but gonna get some vinyl-reissues or originals next, unless I can find the big set cheap someday.
I was talking about the 8cd box set it was round about the £27 mark when it was first released.
Amazon UK Price gone up from £25.43 when it was announced to £31.99 – May rise again before release date – or come down again. Glad I ordered it already. Will be the best SDE release this year – and there’s been/going to be quite a few decent ones!
Thanks for sharing Steven C. Quite humorous.
So happy about this. And thanks, as usual, Paul. Praying the DVD is NTSC so it works in the US, but otherwise, ordered the 5LP set and waiting on the CD/DVD set to see if I should get it from a US retailer for more money, or if the UK edition works here. Interesting Marr story. Earlier this year, Johnny Marr did a sit down book tour interview in San Francisco. I was row 6 center. It was great.
At the end of the interview, he took audience questions. Most of which were annoyingly about “OMG, what if you bump into Morrissey in public or at an awards show?!” or “Why don’t you re-form for Coachella?!”, he was also asked about additional tapes in a vault. To which he replied “There really aren’t. We made a lot of music for the short time we were together and what wasn’t on the albums were used for b-sides, etc.” (paraphrasing).
My FAVORITE question was:
“Did you ever give Morrissey a tape for him to put lyrics to and when you got it back, you were disappointed?”
He chuckles, stands up, and puts on his signature Fender Jaguar guitar. He starts playing “Some Girls are Bigger than Others.”
“Ain’t that beautiful?.. the theme and the words were shit. Sorry…”
Crowd erupts in laughter.
Was my highlight of the night.
By the way, about the Morrissey questions, his answer was “Morrissey is an old friend. We aren’t rivals. If I ran into him, we’d probably have a chat. Big deal. As far as reforming, you all really need to carry on with your lives. It doesn’t make sense to reform and you have some great music at your fingertips. You really need to move on though.”
The above is paraphrasing but accurate as possible.
The Amazon.de prices for the three releases have all changed a little bit – surprisingly in both directions!
[…] of the highlights of this week was the news that The Smiths‘ 1986 album The Queen Is Dead is to be reissued in October. However there […]
I used to like The Smiths, I have all the original LPs but now I cannot stand to listen to that whining, moaning, groaning, miserable git. OOAA
That’s a bit hard on Johnny.
The Smiths were arguably at their live peak in 86. The blistering version of ‘Panic’ on The Tube (with Mike Joyce’s ‘glam rock’ drums intro) stays fresh in the memory. Loads of stuff was recorded around this time, but it doesn’t look like any of it will appear in this reissue.
And they could also include alternate artwork. Like the original George Best ‘The Boy With The Thorn In His Side’ cover.
The Smiths in 1986 as a five piece were not ‘The Smiths’. I appreciate the sound needed beefing up a bit, but they were our Beatles, not The Rolling Stones. I’d managed to see them in April 85, but refused point blank to see them with Craig Gannon. It’s not a decision I regret at all. However the last Brixton gig still rankles a bit.
As for this release, it’ll do I guess. Not a huge fan of demos etc, but with Morrissey around I guess you have to be grateful for anything you can get.
I agree about Gannon. It was like when Steve Marriott wanted Peter Frampton in Small Faces. As the saying goes, ‘There are but four Small Faces’. And there were four Smiths.
Gannon joining the band was probably one of Morrissey’s whims
Please, Please, Please, Let me get what I want
5 L.P. sets of their debut AND Hatful of Hollow !!!!!
BRING IT ON
…double pack with a photograph, extra track and a tacky badge…
To be fair, they liked their badges.
Anyone know if the DVD is DVD-A so you can play it in *some* cars?
Sometimes (aka pink Floyd division bell) wont play in cars (Honda/acura) that can play dvd-a
audi/Volvo seems to have good compatibility
Unlikely
My favorite album of all time. Nothing beats it. I love Meat Is Murder (especially the song MIM), but TQID was quite simply brilliant. When it was released in ’86 I was stuck on the opening track for a week. I couldn’t believe how absurd and laughable the lyrics were. As for the music / guitar playing – pure genius. The rest of the album is just as magical. Every song is a treasure. Anyone who thinks otherwise well, as Morrissey says…”by rights you should be bludgeoned in your bed.”
Paul, the amazon.ca links are up and I think the prices are the best so far (as of today, anyway).
Vinyl
https://www.amazon.ca/Queen-Dead-5LP-Smiths/dp/B073Z9DRFQ/ref=mb_oe_l
CD/DVD
https://www.amazon.ca/Queen-Dead-3CD-DVD/dp/B073ZBHG1R/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1500653396&sr=8-1&keywords=B073ZBHG1R
A Ziggy Stardust reissued vinyl came with a DVD audio a few years back, but never heard of any other DVD’s being included with vinyl.
Think it was a Ken Scott remix, happy to be corrected
I have a vinyl copy of Talk Talk’s ‘Spirit of Eden’ that came with a DVD of the audio.
Oh yeah, I have that too…thanks for the reminder
Ah ‘hamicle’ now that sounds brilliant ‘Spirit of Eden’ & ‘Laughing Stock’ really are otherwordly (of which we got glimpses on ‘The Colour of Spring’). The Smiths are my faves and I am so happy to have this reissue. Really looking forward to the Boston show as well as the DVD. I’d like to see them do this with all of their albums, but include a live concert footage on DVD as well. Someone get in touch with Grant Showbiz.
VivaSmiths
That’s the reason I haven’t ordered Misplaced really as I have the original vinyl and cd issues already.
The Smiths I have nothing of at the moment ( although I have all Morrisseys’ stuff) and have ordered the LP box. It looks really good value for me , I would pay more if it came with the DVD!
The misplaced live set on the box set is superb – much better than the thieving magpie sets
I think it’s a shame that the premium product here, the vinyl box set, doesn’t come with the DVD (?)
So I have to buy both sets,or do without the DVD.
I’m disappointed with that to be honest.
Yes, although to be fair its pretty consistent with other products. I didn’t notice Parlophone including the blu-ray of Marillion’s Misplaced Childhood in the 4LP box set, either.
Hi Markyp,
The Complete Picture DVD from 1992 is still quite cheap on ebay if you want the Derek Jarman film it’s on there. Obviously non of the other content thats on The Queen Is Dead re-release though! £2.24 as of today 24/7/17 at 2.50pm !!! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/The-Smiths-The-Complete-Picture-DVD-2001-DVD-66VG-The-Cheap-Fast-Free/391719206245?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649
I pre-ordered on Amazon.de and the price dropped to 67 Euro at purchase.
According to Amazon, the Deluxe 3CD / 1 DVD Box set – housed in a lift off lid box with a stapled 12pg booklet. Still I’ve wet myself over this anyway.
When I read this is went all strange!
Back in 1986, just before the album was eventually released in was in the old Virgin Records shop on Corporation Street in Birmingham. The in store DJ (!) announced he had an advance copy and played There Is A Light. The whole shop just stopped. No one had ever heard anything like it. It still brings me out in goose pimples.
A few weeks later my wife and I saw The Smiths at Wolverhampton Civic Hall. Without doubt the greatest night of our lives. Everything since is just a little tame.
Ah, Wolverhampton Civic Hall 1986. So many memories and probably one of the best gigs I have ever seen. I may have bumped into you (literally!) trying to get on the stage
Ordered!
I had a similar smiths experience in that vign store in brum when how soon is now was played one rainy afternoon – swear it stopped time and lots of hatful of hollow purchases followed
I have approx. 25-30 CDRs of “unreleased” tracks by The Smiths; as per what people have previously mentioned most of these are demo/work in progress versions of tracks that have previously been commercially released in their “finished” state. But they are nonetheless unreleased…well, all except a handful of them which are now going to be making their debut on the forthcoming The Queen Is Dead re-issue.
How long is the long version of The Queen is Dead, anyone know?
It’s about 8 minutes. It’s exactly the same except without the skillful little edits Stephen Street made to hurry the track along. It doesn’t really tell you anything about the track you don’t already know but it’s good to see it finally getting out there.
interesting, thanks.
Surely, ONLY on a Smiths/Moz-related thread would you find somebody posting under the name of… Albert Tatlock
:)
Nice one! Made me smile, anyway…
Maybe on a Skids thread.
I’d but the high Res if were released separately.
Pre-ordered at 31pounds. Don’t want to pay that, but Amazons pre-order guarantee means I shouldn’t have to.
Anyone know how I find out what price I will be charged -the lowest between now and release, right? If it’s more than 25 I may cancel it.
Answered myself. I see the lowest price when I look in my orders, 48 hours after a change.
I think the price will drop to around the £20 mark. Prince started at £24 and ended up at £17.
Ordered. Smashing!
I never understood the veneration for Hatful of Hollow. Other than Back to the Old House, all of the alternative versions on it are all inferior, often vastly so.
The s/t debut is my favourite by far. The other studio albums are all truly great though.
I disagree. The Hatful version of ‘Reel Around The Fountain’ captures the real spirit of early Smiths. The debut LP version is bland and over produced, Marr’s guitar is chorused to within an inch of its life….and then there’s that horrible organ overdub. No contest IMHO!
Hatful of Hollow is a superb set – I think all the peel sessions are much better than the first lp versions – and you get the awesomeness of how soon is now, William , please please please and the only place to find this night has opened my eyes – and all for £3.99 at the time
Seems Amazon have price matched HMV and raised it to £31.99 which is total bonkers.
Ordernd the deluxe set. Smiths are one of my all-time faves. It is all good. Yes regret not getting the complete box set as well. As to bad songs or albums there is no such thing imho. Best effort will always be Hatful for me then Meat and then Queen is dead.Really looking forward to this!
Be a nice treat if the Bigmouth demo in this set is the one with Kirsty MacColl backing vocals in place of the final sped up Morrissey vocals in the final version.
By unreleased material, I meant actual songs, not just different versions or demos. And c’mon, anything with five LPs is a big boxset. I can see where the reissue market is heading and it’s not for me.
One box is big, one isnt. Also, The Smiths aren’t Prince… are you suggesting there’s a vault of unreleased songs that they’ve ignored? A disc of demos sounds interesting to me.
I’m not suggesting that at all. It’s been said that there isn’t anything of that nature. The album is only 35 minutes long, yet somehow we’ve ended up with another huge set, which offers an incomplete audio concert, and leaves off various A and B sides from around the era. Plus a ghastly new sleeve that should never have been considered.
Throw in some vinyl and a few demos, and people seem happy though.
I guess we’ll have to agree to differ on this one. 3CDs isn’t ‘huge’ and it makes sense to split across the discs > album – demos – concert. As long as we’re not paying a huge premium – and at £25 we’re not – then no problem. The hi-res on the DVD is a surprise, but welcome. Yes, they could have included TV performances, yes bits are missing from the CDs, but it’s quite rare to a faultless reissue/box. For a project where Morrissey would have had to approve content, I’m amazed at what we are getting!!
Yep, we’ll have to differ again I fear Paul! I can’t see what’s being offered is worth the asking price, or what should even constitute a deluxe reissue of such an iconic album. I am finding this more and more, although at least with the new Misplaced Childhood set I can’t fault the content or presentation…only that with the previous 2CD reissue of that, I can’t personally justify £25+ for the Blu-Ray element, which has the only content I would want. But at least it’s been done properly.
Spot on, Eric. Only commercial corporate purposes, not adding significantly anything unreleased really to discography.
Personally, I love live discs, but why not put the full 19 track gig on there?
Missing are Still Ill, Frankly Mr Shankly, Panic, Money Changes Everything, Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now, Bigmouth Strikes Again
5lp set $79 at Bull Moose in the U. S. at bullmoose.com
Is TQID the first Smiths album to get an expanded treatment like this?
My favourite Smiths’ LP is the debut, but makes sense the label gave the deluxe treatment to ‘The Queen is Dead’ among the four proper studio albums, it definitely is their most iconic one. I don’t know if I’ll get it though, all of the extra material is not necessary for me; the Derek Jarman film is already available on DVD, and I’m not a big fan of demos and live recordings either.
Side note: I can’t stand revised artwork for those anniversary and deluxe editions, I hated how Billy Corgan messed with the Smashing Pumpkins reissues, for example.
Awful new sleeve (should never have been mucked about with). Incomplete concert audio. No actual unreleased material (because there isn’t any). So, let’s bung all that in a big boxset, chuck in a DVD, attract the vinyl hipsters, and it’s quids in chaps!
Just about sums up where we are in 2017 with the reissue market.
Anything with Morrissey involved isn’t going to be plain sailing. Personally, for £25 (as it was earlier), I’m pretty happy with the 3CD+DVD. Yes, it’s not perfect, but the demos ARE ‘unreleased material’ since they’ve never been released before! Also, I’m not expecting a ‘big boxset’. Chances are this may well be similar to the Prince set, in terms of presentation.
Ah you said the magic words Paul, ‘big boxset’ (glances over at Smiths Complete SDE)
Do we know if the 3cd/dvd is in a clamshell box or larger format?
Not at the moment.
@ Tim D – loads of us (myself included) have commented on recent SDE packaging and Warners have listened: The naked four disc set will be bundled utilizing a period correct “Rubber Ring”. Pricing/SKU stickers, etc. may be adhered directly to the top disc [playing surface of course] contingent upon the retailer.
Princes and Queens deserve better.
I really wish this could be a proper box (like Simple Minds or Tears For Fears) as opposed to what we got with Purple rain. I feel that these albums deserve more…but there just isn’t the same amount of material for The Smiths. Not a TON of b-sides, no remixes. I do wish they’d included the other demos that we all know about, as well as the full live show.
Still, I’ll be buying this because I’ve been obsessed since I was 11…and it’s a pretty decent set for the money, and for a fucking great record.
Hmm, if demos or alternative takes – not remixes – are considered “unreleased material”, then every artist ever has at least one expanded edition box to publish.
In conventional sense hardly nobody considers demos (of released studio tracks, that is) as being new material from the vaults.
For god’s sake, why is everybody so keen on redefining what ‘unreleased material’ means?! Anything not previously commercially available is “unreleased material”. That’s it. It’s not a grey area…it’s black and white. Whether that unreleased material contains unheard songs etc. is a secondary point. Hardly any artists have great songs not issued (the likes of Prince and Springsteen being exceptions) hence why most reissues and deluxe sets have demos, alt mixes etc.