Best…I is a compilation album by The Smiths. It was released in August, 1992 by the new owner of their back catalogue, WEA (Sire Records in the United States). Its highest British chart position was #1; it reached #139 on the U.S. charts.
About this album:

WEA (now the Warner Music Group) had acquired the entire Smiths back catalogue in early 1992. Along with the re-release of all original albums and compilations, they immediately set to work compiling a Best Of in two volumes. It was the first time a regular best-of compilation had ever been made of The Smiths material and the album effortlessly reached the top of the British charts. The British press groaned about sell-out and low track selection coherence.

The material is more or less picked and sequenced at random, and consists of both singles and album cuts. It was followed later the same year by its sibling, ...Best II. The first spin-off single, a re-release of "This Charming Man", reached #8 in the singles chart, the highest position a Smiths single had ever reached. A second single promoting Best...I, an edited re-release of "How Soon Is Now?", got to #16 (the uncut version is featured on the compilation).

…Best II is a compilation album by The Smiths. It was released in November, 1992 by the new owner of their back catalogue, WEA (Sire Records in the United States). Its highest British chart position was #29; it did not chart in the U.S.

About this album:

WEA (now the Warner Music Group) had acquired the entire Smiths back catalogue in early 1992. Along with the re-release of all original albums and compilations, they immediately set to work compiling a Best Of in two volumes. It was the first time a regular best-of compilation had ever been made of The Smiths material and the first volume effortlessly reached the top of the British charts. This, the second volume, fared considerably worse. The British press continued to groan about sell-out and low track selection coherence.

The material is more or less picked and sequenced at random, and consists of both singles and album cuts. As with the first volume, in the U.K. a spin-off single was released: "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" (which had originally been earmarked as a single back in 1986 but was ultimately passed over in favour of "Bigmouth Strikes Again"). The single was released ahead of the compilation album and reached #25.

Tracklist