Thursday, October 27, 2011 - 12:37 PM

This was the biggest singular music purchase of my life, so I thought I would take the time to review.

The Smiths have meant more to me than any other band since I started listening to music. No other band can/will ever compare. I'm a huge fan and not a rich fan (by any means) but I had to have this set.

It's a very nice set. You can't see this in the pic, but the actual box is covered in a black and white version of the pic from the back sleeve of The World Won't Listen (the pic of the for girls) with THE SMITHS printed in red. It's huge. Basically, I chose this set over the others because it includes all 25 of the singles on vinyl.

A few minor points to consider:

1) The poster that comes with the set is not as described here. It IS NOT a poster "featuring the artwork for the albums and singles." It is a black and white poster of the pic of the four girls shown on the box set. It does not say The Smiths. There is no text on the poster. I was a little disappointed about this as I was really psyched about getting the Morrissey designed artwork for all the singles and was thinking I would have a poster with their artwork. But no. It's not a poster I would ever display on my wall.

If you work for Rhino, are reading this and my box set was the only one somehow switched for the wrong poster or missing the cover art poster, hook a brother up, will ya?

2) If you order this, you get free shipping. But the free shipping is USPS not UPS. I was a little leery of having my $500 box set shipped via the US Postal Service. However, the nice folks in Rhino customer service offered to upgrade me to UPS shipping at no extra charge. They were cool.

In the end, the UPS man knocked on my door with package in hand. He asked me to wait while he procured the little computer to scan and have me sign for my box...then he proceeded to literally, purposefully, right in front of me, drop the box on the ground at his feet (and not gently) while I signed for my package. My jaw dropped. I was pretty much waiting by the window for his arrival all day and would have happily held the box set while get went for his computer if he had asked. What an inbred. So, perhaps it makes no difference how you ship it. Hahaha.

(Luckily, Rhino packed it well enough that the box set inside wasn't damaged.)

3) Rhino in the UK offered to allow you to download all the tracks via high quality MP3 with every purchase, but I don't see that option here. Also, every person who ordered the set in the UK was entered into a contest to win Johnny Marr's guitar. These things are nice touches for a (non-rich) mega fan who drops 5 bills on a box set. (Yes, I am a whiner.)

4) They DO offer free coverart wallpaper download with every pre-order, but I haven't gotten that yet and I DID preorder.

Monday, March 19, 2012 - 8:21 PM

So there I was waiting at 8pm when the door rang. I open the door and there stands man with a big box.
I just happened to be the last house on the UPS person's route. How about that for excruciating lol. I opened the delivery casing and wow. I don't know if I should open this box set or not. It is simply beautiful. It is heavy too, 17 pounds I think. I live in Canada and there were some charges for customs etc around 70 bucks. No big thing if you are spending the money for the set. I think the "long, detailed review" sums this box set up nicely so I won't bore you with anything more.
Very Nice Rhino, Thank You!!!