"The Smiths"
February/April 1984
Reel Around The Fountain
You've Got Everything Now
Miserable Lie
Pretty Girls Make Graves
The Hand That Rocks The Cradle
This Charming Man *
Still Ill
Hand In Glove (remixed by John Porter)
What Difference Does It Make?
I Don't Owe You Anything
Suffer Little Children
UK CD [Rough Trade ROUGHCD61]
UK CS [Rough Trade ROUGHC61]
UK LP [Rough Trade ROUGH61]

Australia CD [CBS ??]
Australia CD [1988 reissue on Festival D30103]
Australia CD [1993 reissue on Warner Australia 91892-2]
Australia CS [CBS RTCANZ004]
Australia CS [1988 reissue on Festival C30103]
Australia LP [CBS RTRANZ004]
Australia LP [1988 reissue on Festival L30103]

Brazil CS [WEA ??]
Brazil LP [WEA 670.0074]

Canada CD [Sire CD-25065]
Canada CS [Sire 92 50654]
Canada LP [Sire 92 50651]

Europe CD [WEA 91892-2]
Europe CS [WEA 91892-4]
Europe 10 [WEA 91891-1]

France LP [early Virgin 205540]
France LP [Virgin 70234]
France CD [Virgin 030256]
France CS [Virgin 50234]

Germany LP [RT Deutschland RTD25]

Greece CS [Virgin TC-VG50050]
Greece LP [Virgin VG062 50050]

Holland LP [Ariola/Megadisc ROUGH61]
Holland LP [reissue on Megadisc MD61]

Italy CS [Rough Trade ??]
Italy LP [Rough Trade ROUGH61]

Japan CD [Tokuma Japan 35JC-102]
Japan CD [1987 reissue on Victor VDP-5079]
Japan CD [1990 reissue on Victor VICP-2001]
Japan CD [1993 reissue on WEA WMC5-542]
Japan CD [1995 reissue on WEA WPCR-301]
Japan CD [2006 reissue on WEA WPCR-12438]
Japan CS [Tokuma Japan 25J-103]
Japan LP [Tokuma Japan 25RTL-6]
Japan LP [1987 reissue on Victor VIP-4217]

New Zealand LP [CBS RTANZ004]

Philippines LP [MC-TC-ROUGH-61]
Philippines CS [MC-ROUGH-61]

Poland LP [Tonpress SX-T 115]

Portugal LP [Transmedia TM/RT 61]

Saudi Arabia CS [CS 5754]

Singapore CS [Dancer US2567]

Spain CS [Nuevos Medios 44 071 C]
Spain LP [Nuevos Medios 43-070L]

Sweden LP [MNW ROUGH61]

Taiwan CS [Crystal ROUGHC61]
USA CD [Sire 9 25065-2]
USA CS [Sire 9 25065-4]
USA LP [Sire 9 25065-1]

Zimbabwe LP [Plum TRL 3533]

 

Additional information:
* "This Charming Man" was included as a bonus track on Sire LPs, CDs and cassettes, on Rough Trade UK and France cassettes and on WEA CDs and cassettes. The is also included on Australian releases on CBS and Festival, but at the end of the album instead of the beginning of side 2 (or track 6).

A bonus 1-sided 7" of "This Charming Man" (RTOS136/08-10803) was given away with some copies of the Holland LP. View left.

A red flexi featuring an interview done in October 1983 at Strawberry Studios during the recording of the album was given away with the first copies of the Japanese LP on Tokuma. View left.

First Japanese CDs included bonus tracks "Hand In Glove" by Sandie Shaw (otherwise unavailable mix), "These Things Take Time", "This Charming Man" and "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now".

The 2006 Japanese cd reissue is slipped inside a mini-replica of the original Tokuma Japan LP sleeve. Even the inner sleeve, obi and label are replicas of the ones from the original LP pressing.

The pink vinyl, blue vinyl, yellow vinyl and red vinyl LP editions on Rough Trade/Transmedia are actually bootleg reproductions made in 2006 and 2007.

 

Artwork information:
Cover star is Joe Dallesandro culled from Andy Warhol's "Flesh", directed by Paul Morrissey [1968] (view original). The tint of the photo and colour and emphasis of the band's name vary slightly between countries and formats.

The UK cassette has a cropped portion of the LP and CD artwork.

 

Etchings on vinyl:
None

 

Additional release date information:
UK LP and cassette: 20 February 1984
UK cd: October 1986
USA/Canada LP and cassette: April 1984
UK cd: July 1987
UK/Europe WEA re-releases: 15 November 1993
Japan WEA 1993 re-release: 10 December 1993
Japan WEA 2006 re-release: 13 September 2006

 

Chart peak information:
UK: 2
USA: 150

 

Certifications:
Certified platinum in the UK

 

Promotion:
UK: This album was promoted with white label copies of the LP. The record was usually slipped inside a white sleeve on which was affixed a two-sided press release. One side of the press release showed the album's front artwork, the other had information about the band, tour dates and a rundown of releases so far. A promo 7" (Rough Trade, R61DJ; view label in left frame) was also sent to DJs shortly before the release of the album. It had "Still Ill" on side A, backed by "You've Got Everything Now". This item was also distributed with a press release.

Australia: Promotion was done at the time of the original release of this album with promo copies of the LP. These had the same content and artwork, except for the labels which were of the usual black and white 'hat man' type with promo-only warnings on them. The festival reissues from 1988 were promoted via stock copies of the LP with a promo sticker on the label.

Brazil: Stock copies were stamped with promo warnings on the labels and the back of the sleeve. A 5-track various artists promo EP (21.092, #74) featuring the Manchester and London versions of "This Charming Man" was distributed in 1985 for promotion of this album, or perhaps of "Hatful Of Hollow". The record came slipped in a grey sleeve with green text.

Canada: Gold-stamped copies of the stock LP were sent to radio and record stores for promotion. The promo 7" mentioned on the "What Difference Does It Make?" page served to promote this album as well as that single. A various artists promo cassette titled "Internationally Yours" (WEA IYC1984) and featuring "This Charming Man" was sent to radio.

Germany: Rough Trade Deutschland took special care in promoting the Smiths' debut album over their territory by printing a limited (400 to 500) and numbered LP on multicoloured vinyl (RTD25). The record was usually slipped inside a generic die cut sleeve showing the label, on which the series number sticker was applied. It must be said that some copies were distributed inside the stock sleeve. The record usually came with a one-page or a three-page press release. Some copies included 2 promo postcards.

Japan: Promotion of the original release was done via copies of the LP format with a white SAMPLE sticker on the sleeve and the usual extra 3-character promo text printed on the label. Promo cds for the 1990 and 1993 reissues (and perhaps the 1987 and 1995 as well) have a promo sticker on the case and promo text on the cds' inner ring. The promo cd for the 2006 reissue in LP-replica sleeves have a white and red promo sticker on the back and 'sample loaned' etched on the cd's inner ring.

USA: Gold-stamped copies of the stock LP were sent to radio and record stores for promotion. The album was also promoted with the help of a 3-track 12" sampler (Sire, PRO-A-2136; view in left frame) which was distributed at the time of the album's release. The tracks on it were "What Difference Does It Make?", "This Charming Man" and "Reel Around The Fountain". The promo 7" mentioned on the "What Difference Does It Make?" page served to promote this album as well as that single. A press kit including a bio and a photo by Paul Cox was sent to radio and the relevent media.

 

Quotes:
Morrissey in February 1984: "We have an album released on 20th February and I really do expect the highest critical praise for it. It's a very, very good album. It is a signal post in music."