| Complete | |
| Type: | Box set |
| Artist: | The Smiths |
| Cover: | The_Smiths_-_Complete_cover_art.jpg |
| Released: | 26 September 2011 |
| Recorded: | 1983–1987 |
| Genre: | Alternative rock, indie pop |
| Length: | 404:38 |
| Label: | Rhino Entertainment |
| Producer: | Various |
| Prev Title: | The Smiths Singles Box |
| Prev Year: | 2008 |
Complete is a box set compilation by English rock band the Smiths, released by Rhino Records on 26 September 2011. The standard CD and LP versions contain the band's four studio albums The Smiths (with "This Charming Man" added as per the original US release), Meat Is Murder, The Queen Is Dead and Strangeways, Here We Come, their only live album Rank and the three compilation albums released while the band were still active–Hatful of Hollow, The World Won't Listen and Louder Than Bombs–on eight CDs or eight LPs. A deluxe version contains those eight albums on both CD and LP formats, as well as 25 seven-inch vinyl singles and a DVD.
The box's liner notes state that "each album has been taken back to original tape sources and remastered by master-engineer Frank Arkwright, assisted by Johnny Marr at the Metropolis Studios in London". The discs in the CD version are presented in miniature vinyl replica sleeves, including the restored The World Won't Listen artwork. The project was managed by Gary Lancaster, who also worked on and several other Warner Music Group releases.
Of the reissued albums, which were also released separately on both CD and vinyl, Marr said, "I'm very happy that the remastered versions of the Smiths albums are finally coming out. I wanted to get them sounding right and remove any processing so that they now sound as they did when they were originally made. I'm pleased with the results."[1]
The cover art features an image of four unknown women at a fairground, taken by German photographer Jürgen Vollmer in the early 1960s. The band first used the photograph on the back cover of The World Won't Listen, singer Morrissey feeling the girls looked like the band members themselves.[2]
Despite its name, this remastered compilation is not a truly complete source of Smiths recordings, as several officially released songs are missing on both the standard CDs and LPs. These include:
The "deluxe version" of the box set contains several of these tracks as part of the 7-inch vinyl set, but is still missing several studio and live tracks.
All songs written by Morrissey and Johnny Marr, except: