The Smiths: Complete

In 2011 Rhino Records released this massive (although not complete, in spite of the title) collection remastered by Smiths' guitarist and composer Johnny Marr himself. And a heck of a job he did!

Not trying to describe here the importance of the Smiths for the history of pop music, if you don't know them you're lucky enough to have the chance to enjoy their awesome art for the first time and please by all means do. It's 80's music, yes, but unlike the most of 80's music, this is timeless and for the most tracks not outdated at all. Be that enough to tell how much it's worth in artistic terms.

But the sound! Boy did the original records sound bad. No dynamics, no bass foundation, no midrange thickness, no substance, no nothing. Now listen to this. And if you're not impressed, please compare to the original.

I think Mr. Johnny Marr deserves an award for the best remastering of the 1st century of electrically processed sound recording (see Wikipedia for quick reference).

The Absolute Sound reviewed this collection here. They appreciated JM's work but ultimately gave it 4 stars out of 5 for sound quality. I suggest 10 stars out of 5 should have been the minimum appropriate rating.