The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead

The working title was "Margaret on the Guillotine." The Smiths settled on something only slightly less provocative, and in June 1986 delivered the album that turned four years of brilliant singles into a single, undeniable statement. The Queen Is Dead reached number two in the UK, went double platinum there, and has spent the decades since being named among the greatest albums ever made.

Produced by Morrissey and Johnny Marr with Stephen Street engineering, it is the band at full stretch in every direction. The title track opens with a music hall sample and six minutes of wah-wah fury over a looped tom-tom pattern. "I Know It's Over" and "Never Had No One Ever" are as bleak as Morrissey ever got, while "Frankly, Mr. Shankly" and "Vicar in a Tutu" are as funny. "Bigmouth Strikes Again" and "The Boy with the Thorn in His Side" gave Marr two of his most quoted guitar parts.

Then there is "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out," not even a single until 1992 and now the song most people think of first. Few records balance wit, melancholy and sheer melodic invention this well, which is why it remains the entry point to The Smiths and the album later generations of indie bands measured themselves against.

This reissue presents the album on 180-gram black vinyl in a gatefold sleeve with a replica of the original inner sleeve.