Strangeways, Here We Come — 1987

Background

Strangeways, Here We Come was released in 1987 as The Smiths' fourth and, as it turned out, final studio album, recorded amid escalating tension between Morrissey and Johnny Marr that would lead to the band's split before the record even reached shops. Despite the internal strain, both songwriters have since pointed to the sessions as some of their most productive, with Marr in particular expanding the band's sonic palette well beyond the guitar-jangle sound that had defined their earlier records.

Sound

'A Rush and a Push and the Land Is Ours' opens the album with Morrissey's unaccompanied vocal over a drum machine and piano, a deliberately disorienting choice that immediately signals a shift from the band's earlier guitar-forward sound. 'Girlfriend in a Coma' compresses a complete melodrama into under two minutes, one of the shortest and most quietly devastating songs in the band's catalogue, while 'Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before' returns to a brighter, more melodically direct Marr arrangement.

Range

'I Won't Share You' closes the album on a spare, autoharp-led arrangement that stands in stark contrast to the record's more layered moments, and has since been read by many listeners as an oblique commentary on the band's own fracturing partnership. Throughout, Marr's arrangements pull in horns, strings and synthesizers alongside the guitar work, giving the record a more varied instrumental texture than any of the band's previous albums.

Legacy

Strangeways, Here We Come is frequently cited by critics and by the band members themselves as The Smiths' most musically accomplished album, a genuinely bittersweet note to go out on given it arrived just as the band was ending. Its combination of Morrissey's most controlled, mature lyric writing and Marr's most expansive arrangements has cemented its reputation as a high point of the band's catalogue rather than a lesser postscript to their more celebrated mid-career records.