The end of the year finds another re-issue of The Smiths’ landmark 1986 album The Queen Is Dead, and yes, we can hear Morrissey’s damning lyrics — “Re-issue! Re-package! Re-package!/Re-evaluate the songs/Double-pack with a photograph/Extra track (and a tacky badge)” — echoing from Los Angeles to Manchester.
This upcoming deluxe re-issue, however, includes a CD/DVD offering complete with something of particular interest to those in New England: a previously unreleased live album from The Smiths’ August 5, 1986 performance at Great Woods Center For The Performing Arts in Mansfield, the venue now known as the XFinity Center.
This week, The Guardian has premiered a cut from the album, a medley of “Rubber Ring” into “What She Said” and back to “Rubber Ring.” Listen to it here and below.
Also included in the very Christmas-wish-list worthy package is, according to SPIN, the original album, demos and b-sides: the band’s first stab at classic alternative anthem “There is a Light That Never Goes Out,” a demo cut of “Rubber Ring,” and Derek Jarman’s The Queen Is Dead film.
Retro To Go has the track listing, and it appears that the “Live In Boston” disc will also include performances of “Is It Really So Strange?,” “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out,” “That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore,” “The Queen Is Dead,” and “I Know It’s Over.” Get The Smiths’ full set list from the show here.
Featured Smiths image courtesy of Wright Photo, via Rhino Media, approved for press use.