The Very Best of The Smiths is a compilation album of songs by the English rock bandthe Smiths. It was released in June 2001 by WEA in Europe, without consent or input from the band. It reached number 30 on the UK Albums Chart. The album was not released in the United States.
After Singles (1995), the previous Smiths compilation album that WEA (now the Warner Music Group) had issued, went out of print in Europe, Australia and Taiwan, the record company decided to revamp the package slightly and release it under the name The Very Best of the Smiths. WEA rearranged the running order, added five tracks and enticed the record buyers with the incentive of digital remastering.
The album was widely criticised by the British music press, who, after stopping to praise the actual music, went on to condemn what they saw as a money-grabbing exercise. They were quickly joined by singer Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr, who distanced themselves from the album, stating they had had no input whatsoever and that it should be ignored by fans. Both ridiculed the cover design and Marr additionally denounced the sound quality.[4]
In the tradition of other Smiths compilations which largely overlapped except for a few songs, this album does contain two versions that had not been previously available on any of the Smiths' other albums: the single mix of "Ask" and the 7-inch edit of "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me". The Singles compilation had used the album versions of these songs.
Cover
The sleeve for The Very Best of The Smiths features Charles Hawtrey of Carry On fame, one of Morrissey's favourite actors, for whom he wrote an obituary in the NME. The band members had no say in the cover, which was described as "an adman's approximation of a Smiths cover" by Mojo magazine.[citation needed]
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