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In the tradition of other Smiths compilations which largely overlapped except for a few songs, this album does contain two versions not available on any other of The Smiths' albums: the single mix of "Ask" and the 7-inch edit of "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me". The Singles compilation used the album versions of these songs.
[2] [7] The live album Rank followed in 1988. [8] The majority of the Smiths' songs were written by the songwriting partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr. [1] Throughout their career, their songs differed from the predominant synth-pop British sound of the early 1980s, [2] instead fusing together 1960s rock and post-punk. [9]
Rolling Stone ranked the song as the 14th best Smiths song, [3] while NME named it the band's 16th best. [13] Consequence ranked the song as the band's 28th best, calling it "a testament to The Smiths' power in 1987". [14] Guitar named the song as the band's 20th greatest guitar moment. [15]
Pop Matters named the song as the band's ninth best, noting, "the Smiths sound actually menacing" on the song. [8] Rolling Stone ranked the song as the Smiths' 36th best song, while Consequence of Sound named it as the band's 53rd best track. [9] Comedian Stephen Merchant praised the song, stating that the song
Billboard named the song as the seventh best Smiths song, praising Marr's "uplifting" guitar line, [18] while Louder included the song in their unranked top ten Smiths songs, calling the track "beautifully written." [19] Rolling Stone ranked the song as the 11th best Smiths song, [5] while NME named it the band's 15th best. [20]
Drummer Mike Joyce also named the album as the band's best. [9] Two final songs were recorded in May 1987 to provide B-sides for the album's lead single, "Girlfriend in a Coma". These were the Smiths' last recordings together. Three more singles were taken from Strangeways, Here We Come; their B-sides were drawn from archival recordings.
Rank was released as a contractual obligation. [11] It was recorded almost two years earlier on 23 October 1986 at National Ballroom in Kilburn, London, and is a fourteen-track distillation (of 21 songs) [12] by singer Morrissey from the complete concert recording that had earlier been transmitted by BBC Radio 1.
Rolling Stone ranked the song as the 23rd best Smiths song, stating, "Playing this song together, the Smiths all sound intimately in sync." [12] while NME named it the band's 19th best. [13] Consequence ranked the song as the band's 18th best, noting that the song has "one of The Smiths' most explicitly hopeless choruses". [4]