Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Blender
Chicago Tribune
Los Angeles Times
Pitchfork Media	8.3/10
Q
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
Select	4/5
Uncut
The Village Voice	B

Strangeways, Here We Come is the fourth and final studio album by the English rock band the Smiths. Released on 28 September 1987 by Rough Trade Records, it reached number two on the UK Albums Chart, staying in the chart for 17 weeks. All of the songs were composed by Johnny Marr, with lyrics written and sung by Morrissey. The album was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry on 1 October 1987 and also by the Recording Industry Association of America on 19 September 1990.

Slant Magazine listed the album at No. 69 on its list of "Best Albums of the 1980s", writing that "Whether or not Strangeways, Here We Come ended the Smiths' brief career with their best album has been the subject of considerable debate for nearly a quarter century, but it definitively stands as the band's most lush, richest work."

The Smiths recorded what was to be their final studio album at The Wool Hall studios in Beckington, Somerset, England (established and then-owned by the band Tears for Fears). Between the album's recording in March and its release in September 1987, Johnny Marr exited the group, ending the band. Strangeways is the only Smiths album to feature Morrissey playing a musical instrument: piano in the song, "Death of a Disco Dancer".

Marr felt the band was ready to enter a new musical phase, and was determined to avoid formula and move away from their previous "jingle jangle" sound. He started to look for different influences, finding an interest in The Beatles' White Album. The band used synthesised saxophone and string arrangements and drum machine additions.

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