Hatful of Hollow (1984)

Hatful of Hollow is a compilation album by the English rock band the Smiths, released on 2 November 1984 in the United Kingdom, by Rough Trade Records. The album features tracks from BBC Radio 1 sessions, their first single "Hand in Glove" (a different mix of which had been included on the band's debut album released earlier in the year) and two new singles and their B-sides. It was eventually released in the United States on 9 November 1993 by Sire Records, which had initially declined to release the album in the country. Sire instead added the song “How Soon Is Now?” to the American version of the band’s 1985 LP, Meat Is Murder, and later released the double-album Louder Than Bombs in the US in 1987, which is effectively a hybrid of Hatful of Hollow and a subsequent UK compilation album The World Won't Listen, along with additional songs that do not appear on either.

Hatful of Hollow reached No. 7 on the UK Albums Chart, remaining on the chart for 46 weeks. In 2000, Q placed the album at No. 44 on its list of the "100 Greatest British Albums Ever".

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.

For John Peel on 18 May 1983 (broadcast 1 June): "What Difference Does It Make?", "Miserable Lie", "Reel Around the Fountain", "Handsome Devil" (all four songs were later released as the Peel Sessions EP)

For David Jensen on 26 June 1983 (broadcast 4 July): "These Things Take Time", "You've Got Everything Now", "Wonderful Woman"

For Jensen on 25 August 1983 (broadcast 5 September): "Accept Yourself", "I Don't Owe You Anything", "Pretty Girls Make Graves", "Reel Around the Fountain"

For Peel on 14 September 1983 (broadcast 21 September): "This Charming Man", "Back to the Old House", "This Night Has Opened My Eyes", "Still Ill"

When first broadcast, these radio sessions featured songs which were otherwise unavailable, with the exception of "Handsome Devil", a version of which had already appeared as the B-side to the "Hand in Glove" single. All were subsequently re-recorded for singles or for the band's debut album the following year. "This Night Has Opened My Eyes" was recorded in the studio in June 1984, but the only version ever released was the September Peel session.

"This Charming Man" was specifically written for the band's second Peel session. It was an attempt by Johnny Marr to emulate both the work of labelmates Aztec Camera and the Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love".

Hatful of Hollow also features the band's debut single "Hand in Glove", as well as their two most recent singles prior to the album's release, "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" and "William, It Was Really Nothing", along with their respective 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 both the UK and the US and was added to the US version of The Smiths’ subsequent studio album Meat Is Murder. The single reached No. 24 in the British charts, but failed to chart in the US. Morrissey and Marr lamented the lack of chart success of what they considered their strongest song thus far.

Song differences

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

"What Difference Does It Make?" is played in a higher key than the version on The Smiths.

"These Things Take Time" is less streamlined than the version on the "What Difference Does It Make?" 12-inch single.

"This Charming Man" lacks the guitar intro that would later appear on the single release. The rhythm and beat features more of a Motown influence, and the song lacks the sudden dramatic pauses of the later studio version.

"Still Ill" opens and closes with a harmonica solo, played by Marr, and is slightly slower than the version on The Smiths.

"You've Got Everything Now" is more raw than the version on The Smiths and also does not feature any of the latter's keyboard parts.

"Back to the Old House" is an acoustic performance, featuring just Morrissey and Marr, as opposed to the full band version on the "What Differences Does It Make?" single.

"Reel Around the Fountain" lacks the keyboard parts played by Paul Carrack that are present on the album version of The Smiths. Michael Hann of The Guardian opined that the Peel version is "a grave and stately thing, with Marr's spectral and sparse guitar-playing draped over the song like gauze," adding that that the later version on The Smiths was transformed into a "conventional country-pop song", and that the bassline was changed.

In addition, the original single version of "Hand in Glove" is included, as opposed to the remixed version by John Porter that appears on The Smiths. It features a fade-in and fade-out and more prominent bass from Andy Rourke.