Hatful of Hollow

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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, just months after the band's debut, The Smiths. Eventually, on November 9, 1993, it was also released by their American label, Sire Records, which had initially declined to release the album.

1 Cover
2 Composition
3 Song differences
4 Track listing
- 4.1 LP
  - 4.1.1 Side A
  - 4.1.2 Side B
- 4.2 CD
5 Personnel

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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.

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Composition

The album consists mainly of songs recorded over several BBC Radio 1 sessions in 1983 (tracks shown in bold were included on the album). When first broadcast, these radio sessions mainly featured songs which were otherwise unavailable - all were subsequently re-recorded for singles or the following year's debut album, with the exception of "This Night Has Opened My Eyes" which was only ever recorded for the September Peel session. Many fans, and the band themselves, considered the original radio session versions to be superior to the re-recordings, especially those on The Smiths.

For John Peel on 31 May 1983: "Handsome Devil", "Reel Around The Fountain", "Miserable Lie", "What Difference Does It Make?" (all four songs were later released as an EP).
For David Jensen on 4 July 1983: "These Things Take Time", "You've Got Everything Now", "Wonderful Woman"
For Jensen in September 1983: "Accept Yourself", "I Don't Owe You Anything", "Pretty Girls Make Graves", "Reel Around The Fountain"
For Peel on 21 September 1983: "This Charming Man", "Back To The Old House", "This Night Has Opened My Eyes", "Still Ill"

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", with their B-sides "Girl Afraid", "How Soon Is Now?", and "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want".

"How Soon Is Now?" 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.

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Song differences

The radio session versions of songs are different from other studio recordings. Some of the major differences are:

"What Difference Does It Make?" has heavier and more natural sounding guitars than the version on The Smiths.
"Back to the Old House" (originally the B-side to "What Difference Does It Make?") is an acoustic piece with haunting, poignant guitars and vocals.
"These Things Take Time" features more prominent bass and less controlled drums than the version from the "What Difference Does It Make?" 12" single. 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 some versions of The Smiths. Additionally, there is no solo guitar introduction.
"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 version on The Smiths.
"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.