''Hatful of Hollow'' is a compilation album by English rock band

the Smiths The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. They comprised the singer Morrissey, the guitarist Johnny Marr, the bassist Andy Rourke and the drummer Mike Joyce. They are regarded as one of the most important acts to em ...

, released on 12 November 1984 by

Rough Trade Records Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London, England. It was formed in 1976 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove. Having successfully promoted and sold records by punk rock and early post-pu ...

. The album features

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

studio recordings and two contemporary singles with their

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

s. It was eventually released in the United States on 9 November 1993 by

Sire Records Sire Records (formerly Sire Records Company) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Records. History Beginnings The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehr ...

, who had initially declined to release the album in the US. Sire instead released '' Louder Than Bombs'' in the US in 1987—which contains several of the same tracks as ''Hatful of Hollow''—as well as many from the UK compilation '' The World Won't Listen''. ''Hatful of Hollow'' reached No. 7 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

, remaining on the chart for 46 weeks.David Roberts ''British Hit Singles and Albums'', Guinness World Records Limited In 2000, '' Q'' magazine placed the album at No. 44 on its list of the "100 Greatest British Albums Ever".

Cover

The current sleeve for ''Hatful of Hollow'' is the CD issue sleeve, featuring a cropped photograph of the otherwise unknown Fabrice Colette taken by Gilles Decroix. The original sleeve, pictured above, included a tattoo of a

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the s ...

drawing on Colette's left shoulder, which Colette commissioned in June 1983 because he idolised Cocteau. The photograph is taken from a July 1983 special edition of the French newspaper ''

Libération ''Libération'' (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Initially positioned on the far-left of France ...

''. Additionally, the old cover had a large sky-blue frame with the legends "The Smiths" and "Hatful of Hollow" above and underneath the picture. Editions after 1987 feature the cropped version with the text superimposed, although the 2011 vinyl re-issue reinstated the original sleeve.

Composition

The album consists mainly of songs recorded over several

sessions in 1983. Tracks shown in bold were included on the album. # For

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

on 18 May 1983 (broadcast 31 May): "Handsome Devil", "Reel Around the Fountain", "Miserable Lie", "What Difference Does It Make?" (all four songs were later released as the ''

Peel Sessions John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

'' EP) # For

David Jensen David Allan "Kid" Jensen (born 4 July 1950) is a Canadian-born British radio DJ and television presenter. Born in Victoria, British Columbia, Jensen began as a radio DJ on Radio Luxembourg. Jensen was later a broadcaster for the BBC from 1976 ...

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 mainly featured songs which were otherwise unavailable. 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. ''Hatful of Hollow'' also features the band's debut single, "

Hand in Glove "Hand in Glove" is the debut single by English rock band the Smiths, written by singer Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr. It was released in May 1983 on independent record label Rough Trade. It peaked at No. 3 on the UK Indie Chart but di ...

", and their two most recent singles prior to the album's release, " Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" and "

William, It Was Really Nothing "William, It Was Really Nothing" is a song by the English rock band the Smiths. It was released as a single in August 1984, featuring the B-sides " Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want" and " How Soon Is Now?", and reached No. 17 in ...

", along with their respective

s, "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. It reached No. 24 in the British charts, but failed to chart in the US. Morrissey and

Johnny Marr Johnny Marr (born John Martin Maher, 31 October 1963) is an English musician, songwriter and singer. He first achieved fame as the guitarist and co-songwriter of the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. He has since performed with numerou ...

lamented the lack of chart success of what they considered their strongest song thus far. "How Soon Is Now?" also featured on the soundtrack to the 1986 film '' Out of Bounds'', but wasn't included on the accompanying soundtrack album.

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? "What Difference Does It Make?" is a song by the English rock band the Smiths, written by singer Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr. It was the band's third single and is featured on their debut album, '' The Smiths''. A different version, r ...

" has heavier and more natural-sounding guitars than the version on ''

The Smiths The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. They comprised the singer Morrissey, the guitarist Johnny Marr, the bassist Andy Rourke and the drummer Mike Joyce. They are regarded as one of the most important acts to em ...

''. It is also in a higher key than the version on ''The Smiths''. *"These Things Take Time" features bass that is more prominent and drums that are less controlled than in the version from the "What Difference Does It Make?" 12" single. Sliding guitar figures accompany the chorus. *" This Charming Man" has softer and more upbeat vocals, guitars and even drums than the version released as a single and on some versions of ''The Smiths''. The bass line is louder and altered slightly. Additionally, there is no solo guitar introduction. *"Still Ill" opens and closes with a harmonica solo, and sounds less hollow and slightly slower than the version on ''The Smiths''. *"You've Got Everything Now" is slower than the version on ''The Smiths'' and does not have any keyboard part. The bass line is also altered slightly. *"Back to the Old House" is an acoustic piece with melancholic guitars and vocals, as opposed to the full band version on the "What Differences Does It Make?" single. *"Reel Around the Fountain" has duller-sounding drums and

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

s than the version on ''The Smiths''. The bass is more prominent, but the piano and organ parts are not included. It is also in a higher key than the version on ''The Smiths''. In addition, the original single version of "Hand in Glove" is included, not the remixed version that appears on ''The Smiths''. It features a fade- intro and fade-out, louder bass, and vocals that sound very distant.

Track listing

All BBC sessions previously unreleased.

Etchings on vinyl

"THE IMPOTENCE OF ERNEST" is etched into the runout groove of side A. As well as being a pun on

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

's ''

The Importance of Being Earnest ''The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People'' is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious ...

'', it is an allusion to the

impotence Erectile dysfunction (ED), also called impotence, is the type of sexual dysfunction in which the penis fails to become or stay erect during sexual activity. It is the most common sexual problem in men.Cunningham GR, Rosen RC. Overview of mal ...

that

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...

suffered in his final years. "Ian (EIRE)", etched on side B, refers to Marr's younger brother.

Personnel

* Morrissey – vocals *

– guitars, harmonica, mandolin, slide guitar on "How Soon Is Now?" * Andy Rourke – bass guitar * Mike Joyce – drums, tambourine

Additional musicians

* John Porter – electronic percussionFletcher, T, 2012. A Light That Never Goes Out: The Enduring Saga of the Smiths. 1st ed. U.K.: Random House. p. 355. on "How Soon Is Now?"

Production

* John Porter – producer * The Smiths – producers *

Roger Pusey Roger Pusey is a former BBC Radio 1 producer who worked on the Peel Sessions. He was previously producer of the station's Tony Blackburn morning show. He produced versions of a number of tracks for The Smiths including "This Charming Man", "What ...

– producer * Dale "Buffin" Griffin – producer * Martin Colley -

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

* Mike Robinson – engineer ("Accept Yourself")

Chart positions

Album

Sales

References

{{Authority control The Smiths compilation albums Peel Sessions recordings B-side compilation albums 1984 live albums 1984 compilation albums Rough Trade Records compilation albums Rough Trade Records live albums Sire Records compilation albums Albums produced by Dale Griffin Albums produced by Roger Pusey Sire Records live albums The Smiths live albums