Hatful of Hollow

Hatful of Hollow
Missing image SmithsHatful.jpg Album sleeve
Compilation album by The Smiths
Released	December 16, 1984
Recorded	England, 1983 and 1984
Genre	Indie
Length	56 min 12 sec
Record label	Rough Trade
Producer	John Porter, The Smiths, Roger Pusey, Dale Griffin
Professional reviews
The Smiths Chronology
The Smiths (1984)	Hatful of Hollow (1984)	Meat Is Murder (1985)

Hatful of Hollow is a compilation album by The Smiths that features BBC Radio 1 studio recordings and two contemporary singles with their B-sides. It was released on December 16, 1984 by the band's British record company, Rough Trade, and eventually on November 9, 1993 by their American label, Sire Records, which had initially declined to release the album.

Contents

1 About the album 1.1 Cover 1.2 Composition 1.3 Song differences 2 Track listing 2.1 LP 2.1.1 Side A 2.1.2 Side B 2.2 CD 3 People involved 3.1 The band 3.2 Additional musicians 3.3 Technical staff

About the album

Hatful of Hollow was released just months after the band's debut, The Smiths. That such a sizable compilation of high quality music was released so early on in The Smiths' career demonstrated to many that they were an excellent and enduring band.

Cover

The current sleeve for Hatful of Hollow is the 1987 re-issue sleeve, featuring an unnamed model. Originally, the picture was larger and showed the model sporting a Cocteau drawing; additionally, it had a large sky blue frame with the legends "The Smiths" and "Hatful of Hollow" underneath the picture. All editions after 1987, however, feature the cropped version with the text superimposed.

Composition

The album consists mainly of songs recorded over two BBC sessions. The first was with Kid Jensen on July 4, 1983. The second was with John Peel on September 21, 1983. The album also features the band's debut single, "Hand in Glove", and their two most recent singles, "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now", and "William, It Was Really Nothing". Finally, the album contains three recent B-sides: "How Soon Is Now?", "Girl Afraid", and "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want".

Of these tracks, "How Soon Is Now?", originally the B-side to "William, It Was Really Nothing", would receive a separate single release in 1985 in the United Kingdom and the United States. It reached No. 24 in the British charts, but failed to chart in the U.S. Morrissey and Marr lamented the lack of chart success of what they considered their strongest song thus far; it looks like market saturation (the song had already appeared on the "William, It Was Really Nothing" single and Hatful of Hollow album) played a part.

Song differences

The variety of sources from which track were drawn means that the album features versions of songs that are very different from those on other albums. Some of the major differences are:

• "What Difference Does It Make" has heavier and more natural sounding guitars than the version on The Smiths.
• "These Things Take Time" features more prominent bass and less controlled percussion than the studio version that would appear on later compilations. Sliding guitar pieces accompany the chorus.
• "This Charming Man" has more softer and more upbeat vocals and guitars than the version released as a single and on The Smiths.
• "Hand In Glove" is the version that appeared on the original single, not the one on The Smiths. It features a fade-intro, louder bass, and vocals that sound very distant.
• "Still Ill" opens with a harmonica solo and sounds less hollow than the ersion on The Smiths.
• "Back to the Old House" is an acoustic piece with haunting, poignant guitars and vocals.
• "Reel Around the Fountain" has duller sounding drums and acoustic guitars than the version on The Smiths. The bass is more prominent, but the piano and organ pieces are not included.

Track listing

All tracks written by Morrissey/Marr.

LP

Side A

1. "William, It Was Really Nothing"
2. "What Difference Does It Make?" (BBC)
3. "These Things Take Time" (BBC)
4. "This Charming Man" (BBC)
5. "How Soon Is Now?"
6. "Handsome Devil" (BBC)
7. "Hand in Glove" (single version)
8. "Still Ill" (BBC)

Side B

1. "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now"
2. "This Night Has Opened My Eyes" (BBC)
3. "You've Got Everything Now" (BBC)
4. "Accept Yourself" (BBC)
5. "Girl Afraid"
6. "Back to the Old House" (BBC)
7. "Reel Around the Fountain" (BBC)
8. "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want"

CD

Same as LP.

People involved

The band

• Morrissey – voice
• Johnny Marr – guitars, harmonica, mandolins
• Andy Rourke – bass guitar
• Mike Joyce – drums

Additional musicians

None.

Technical staff

• John Porter – producer
• The Smiths – producers
• Roger Pusey – producer
• Dale Griffin – producer
• Stephen Street – engineer

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