Rank (album)

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Rank
File:SmithsRank.jpg
Live album by The Smiths
Released 5 September 1988
Recorded 23 October 1986
Genre Alternative rock, indie pop
Length 55:56
Label Rough Trade (UK)
Sire (US)
Producer Pete Dauncey and Grant Showbiz
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 3.5/5 stars[1]
Pitchfork (5.4/10)[2]
Rolling Stone 3/5 stars[3]
Robert Christgau B[4]
Blender 2/5 stars[5]

Rank is a live album by the English rock band The Smiths. It was released in September 1988 by their British record company, Rough Trade, and reached No. 2 in the British charts. In the United States, the album was released on Sire Records and made No. 77.

About the album

Rank was released as a contractual obligation. It was recorded on 23 October 1986 at National Ballroom in Kilburn, London, and is a fourteen-track distillation (of 21 songs) by singer Morrissey from the complete concert recording that had earlier been transmitted by BBC Radio 1. The album rode high on The Smiths nostalgia and the success of Morrissey's debut solo album, Viva Hate, earlier the same year.

The songs omitted from the recording of the Kilburn show are: "I Want the One I Can't Have", "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out", "Frankly, Mr. Shankly", "Never Had No One Ever", "Meat Is Murder", and "How Soon Is Now?" Also, some edits can be readily heard in the concert itself, such as at the end of "I Know It's Over" when the crowd starts cheering. In late 2009 video footage appeared from the show on YouTube.

According to The Smiths biographers Johnny Rogan and David Bret, Morrissey originally titled the album The Smiths in Heat. Rough Trade objected and Morrissey proposed Rank, "as in 'J. Arthur'" (J. Arthur Rank is Cockney rhyming slang for "wank").

Cover

The sleeve for Rank, once again designed by Morrissey, stars actress Alexandra Bastedo. The image is from photographer John D. Green's 1967 book Birds Of Britain. The gatefold album's interior features a photo of several The Smiths fans ripping apart Morrissey's shirt. The picture was taken by Ian Tilton at the 1986 Factory Records "Festival of the Tenth Summer" concert at G-Mex Centre in Manchester, England.

Track listing

All tracks written by Johnny Marr and Morrissey except "His Latest Flame" (Doc Pomus, Mort Shuman), "The Draize Train" (Marr) and the very beginning of "The Queen Is Dead" where an audio recording of Sergei Prokofiev's classical piece "Montagues and Capulets" was played to introduce the band.

No. Title Length
1. "The Queen Is Dead"   4:11
2. "Panic"   3:07
3. "Vicar in a Tutu"   2:40
4. "Ask"   3:12
5. "His Latest Flame/Rusholme Ruffians (Medley)"   3:55
6. "The Boy with the Thorn in His Side"   3:47
7. "Rubber Ring/What She Said (Medley)"   3:41
8. "Is It Really So Strange?"   3:45
9. "Cemetry Gates"   2:50
10. "London"   2:38
11. "I Know It's Over"   7:49
12. "The Draize Train"   4:23
13. "Still Ill"   4:09
14. "Bigmouth Strikes Again"   5:51

Personnel

The band

Technical staff

References

  1. ↑ DiGravina, Tim. Rank at AllMusic. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  5. ↑ [1][dead link]
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