A raw and unbridled introduction to a band that would go on to singlehandedly reshape British pop music, the Smiths is alternately brilliant and frustrating. The heights of "This Charming Man", "Hand in Glove", "I Want the One I Can't Have" and so on are flat-out jaw-dropping, but there are songs of unabashed mediocrity which weigh the record down ("Miserable Lie", "I Don't Owe You Anything"). The album would have been better served with the inclusion of peerless B-sides like "Handsome Devil" and "Girl Afraid" would have made this album an indisputable classic, but as it stands it is just really, really good.
