Mrs Specs_Beard's favourite band of all time is Queen

In your house I hope it's deaf too.

talked about the shoddy way in which The Smiths' catalogue has been handled in an interview in The Word a few months back. I don't know whether he had any part to play in this new best of, but from the sounds of it I would say almost certainly not.

It's a shame... a band as great as that surely deserves better.

...but I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that both Mozzer and Marr were actively involved in this reissue (leading to recent 'reunion' rumours) - so they do have to take some of the blame.

Me? I'd have bought it just to get my hands on the 'New York' version of This Charming Man that I used to have on 12" many years ago (not that it's a particularly great version - I just used to have it and now I don't).

But I agree - it's a missed opportunity to get a really comprehensive box set out there.

In primary school, it was what we did on a Friday afternoon when the teacher had had enough for the week, and let us loose on the paints and sugar paper for the last hour or so.

both gave this release their blessing, I am led to understand. The version of Barbarism Begins At Home is the version that was released as a single in parts of Europe - the UK release of the single edit was scrapped, but it wasn't edited specifically for this compilation.

The sound quality is great on this compilation - the cds of the albums sound very poor in comparison. The good news is that this compilation came out on the Rhino label and their compilations usually preceed a comprehensive back catalogie reissue. That said, however, Marr has pointed out in interviews many times that The Smiths put out pretty much everything they recorded. There is very little in the way of unreleased songs or alternative versions. There are the Peel Sessions, of course, but much of that has already been issued and BBC recordings are very expensive to license. There are a few live recordings, some demos, and the Troy Tate early recordings. But most of these are available on good quality bootlegs via www.naughtydownload.com. I love the idea of a Smiths boxed set, but aside from the studio albums, non album singles and b-sides, I don't think there would be much we haven't already heard.

The driving force is called money, tho' whether it is for the record company or the band is debateable and varies. One reason why there are so many dodgy Fairport (hi, Paul!) compilations, is Dave Peggs habit of short term deals with dodgy labels to put out double "best ofs"/retrospectives (aka some old tat we haven't put out before). More often, however, I suspect it is the companies extracting the maximum from their back catalogues at our expense, via the enticement of "previously unreleased". All too often we discover why!

I have seen in a long time is the reissue of the Cud albums. So much love has been put into them by the band. These albums were going for daft prices on ebay until they were rereleased. The sound on the new versions is amazing, the artwork and sleevenotes are entertaining and informative. The extra tracks are stunning, including Peel sessions, b-sides, cover versions, as opposed to the usual live stuff you generally get. The first album, which was released unmastered originally, has now been mastered properly and sounds fantastic. All of the discs run to about seventy minutes and can be ordered on tinternet for as little as £6.99 each.

The recent Buzzcocks double discers are terrific, too.

Just re-master all of the albums. Put them in good quality versions of the original sleeves. Have any extras on a second cd. Sell them loose or in a nicely packed box with a decent bit of writing about them. They'd get my money (and I have been waiting to spend it on a decent Smiths boxset for at least 10 years).

Sounds like it should be.

I may have to download one of the songs in order to find out whether this remastering makes any difference at all to my tin ears. To me it's always about the songs. Whenever anyone puts out a remaster or some such, the improvement in quality completely escapes me.

Specs asked, "Does anyone else feel this way about releases from their favourite bands (old or new)? There's a perfect release waiting to happen but you just get the sense that the record companies keep screwing it up?"

Yep -try any of the New Order re-re-re-releases since Republic.

Best Of - rubbish compilation, released in two entirely different versions in the UK & US.

Rest Of - potentially very good compilation ruined by some poor remix choices (The "Biff & Memphis" remix of Touched by the Hand of God anyone? Thought not.) and the fact that it was released in wildly different versions across the three formats current at the time (LP, Cassette & CD).

International - pointless money grabbing exercise collating a bunch of tracks already widely available.

Retro Box Set - spoilt by allowing slebs to choose tracks, odd track orders etc. AND a missed opportunity to release some genuinely rare tracks.

Singles - actually Singles was OK. The exception that proves the rule?

Recent album "Remasters" - while the albums themselves appear to have been remastered to a pretty good standard, the accompanying "Bonus" disks are insultingly bad. This was discussed on an earlier thread on the site.

Some while ago there was talk of plans to re-release all of New Order's singles, rather like Queen have done recently. The project even had a name - Recycle - but it was dropped, allegedly because of cost concerns. I'm sure I'm not the only NO fan who would love to see something released akin to that. I'm equally sure that I'm not the only NO fan who knows that London Records would inevitably screw it up...