Radio Broadcast Vinyl & CDs

Review: The Smiths captured close to the end of their career by the BBC at the National Ballroom in Kilburn, West London. Promoting The Queen Is Dead and the rich rush of different non-album singles that fell between it and final LP Strangeways here We Come, this broadcast recording - which was also used for the live album Rank - features the re-slimmed down classic four-strong Smiths line up, leaner and meaner than the five piece with additional guitarist Craig Cannon that had toured previous album Meat Is Murder. A string of great singles - 'Ask', 'Bigmouth Strikes Again' and 'Panic' among them - populate the tracklisting, as well a typically brutal execution of 'The Queen Is Dead' as their dramatic opener. It's hard to find a moment in their all too brief stint together when The Smiths are not on top form, but this truly is a peak of peaks.