The Quietus: "Something They’ll Never Have: Why Hatful of Hollow is The Smiths’ Best Album" (November 12, 2024)

Despite not being a proper album, Hatful Of Hollow possesses a freshness and immediacy that was lost elsewhere in The Smiths’ discography, argues Toby Manning on the record’s 40th anniversary

Something They'll Never Have: Why Hatful of Hollow is The Smiths’ Best Album | The Quietus

Despite not being a proper album, Hatful Of Hollow possesses a freshness and immediacy that was lost elsewhere in The Smiths’ discography

thequietus.com

No gate/nag screen:

https://archive.is/PuPr3

Hatful of Hollow 40 today

 

[Gregor Samsa]

Right. It's a compilation - how is it a fair comparison? I would also consider Louder Than Bombs better than some of the studio albums because it has more songs I like, but there's no point is there?

Difference is, all the songs from Hatful are from the same era, and it sounds like all the material has been culled from the same session (even though some of it are radio sessions and some are regular studio recordings), which makes it almost as cohesive as a studio album, whereas Louder draws from basically their entire career (and contains dreck like Golden Lights and a vastly inferior version of BTtOH) and sounds much more like a Best Of.

 

[ZOOM FROM GLOOM]

Difference is, all the songs from Hatful are from the same era, and it sounds like all the material has been culled from the same session (even though some of it are radio sessions and some are regular studio recordings), which makes it almost as cohesive as a studio album, whereas Louder draws from basically their entire career (and contains dreck like Golden Lights and a vastly inferior version of BTtOH) and sounds much more like a Best Of.

Golden Lights is wonderful in context









And yeah, the version of BTTOld House on Hatful is intimate and cool, but the novelty wears thin. And so prefer the Louder version, I feel is stronger …

 

[SuedeMoz]

Difference is, all the songs from Hatful are from the same era, and it sounds like all the material has been culled from the same session (even though some of it are radio sessions and some are regular studio recordings), which makes it almost as cohesive as a studio album, whereas Louder draws from basically their entire career (and contains dreck like Golden Lights and a vastly inferior version of BTtOH) and sounds much more like a Best Of.

OK, so it should be compared against their debut album? That's really the point I was replying to.

 

[April Snow]

I think it might depend where you are from too?

Here in Australia my audiophile group introduced me to The Smiths (earlier this year).
The Queen is Dead is their all time favourite by The Smiths .......and Hatful is the next.
I think Louder Than Bombs was a US release only at the time, so they have fond attachment to Hatful as that was also an Aussie release.

I have since picked up the Hatful of Hollows UK 1st press on Vinyl & Louder Than Bombs US 1st Press on vinyl and both live very happily in my collection.

I really cannot choose my favourite Smiths album as it changes all the time -
Recently acquired the UK 1st Pressing of the debut album - it blew the socks off of Aussie 1st Pressing.

The interesting thing about the Aussie 1st Vinyl Pressings, they had an extra track too, that was not on the UK releases, so I am still happy to have them in my collection.

 

[Roman Holiday]

And yeah, the version of BTTOld House on Hatful is intimate and cool, but the novelty wears thin. And so prefer the Louder version, I feel is stronger …

Hands down.

 

[Juan Dulces]

It's hard to put them in order if favorite to least.. because they're all AMAZING, but I'll try:

Meat is Murder
Strangeways
Debut
Queen is Dead

The American version of The Smiths LP is a very good listen, with both TCM and Hand In Glove (w/o the fade-in) included. That version of Hand In Glove really rocks. Additionally, The US version of Meat Us Murder included HSIN (start of side 2 on the cassette, just like TCM was for US Smiths LP). That was certainly a good listen as well, especially for my first Smiths record.

It's too hard to rank them, I think anyway. Each one contains many Smiths masterpieces, and is worth 10,000 listens.

 

[Gregor Samsa]

OK, so it should be compared against their debut album? That's really the point I was replying to.

Or viewed as a standalone album.

 

[Gregor Samsa]

Do you need to be American in order to prefer the comparatively glossy, electric version of BTtOH over the sparse, timeless, acoustic version found on Hatful?

 

[Gregor Samsa]

And yeah, the version of BTTOld House on Hatful is intimate and cool, but the novelty wears thin. And so prefer the Louder version, I feel is stronger …

Cool! Novelty!

 

[blah blah]

There is no BEST Smiths because everything is good, but if there were it would be Strangeway

 

[Musician]

N

Do you need to be American in order to prefer the comparatively glossy, electric version of BTtOH over the sparse, timeless, acoustic version found on Hatful?

No the European Me (hehe) also prefers the Louder version

 

[Gregor Samsa]

N

No the European Me (hehe) also prefers the Louder version

Odd.

 

[Ashley_TakeABow]

The American version of The Smiths LP is a very good listen, with both TCM and Hand In Glove (w/o the fade-in) included. That version of Hand In Glove really rocks. Additionally, The US version of Meat Us Murder included HSIN (start of side 2 on the cassette, just like TCM was for US Smiths LP). That was certainly a good listen as well, especially for my first Smiths record.

It's too hard to rank them, I think anyway. Each one contains many Smiths masterpieces, and is worth 10,000 listens.

I think that's the version of The Smiths I have on vinyl! I'll have to give it another listen to make sure.

It is very hard to rank them, because they're all solid gold. I made my ranking based off of, "Higher rank: Has most of my favorite songs? Lower rank: Which one has skippable songs?" Well.. The Queen is Dead has a couple of songs that sometimes I'm just not in the mood to hear. "I know it's over" I love, but it has a sad message behind it that's very personal to me (I heavily consumed it during a very sad time in my life) so sometimes I just cannot listen to it. "There is a light" is a beautiful song but I have grown tired of it. I sometimes will leave it on, but I never seek it out to listen to anymore. The opening song to the album is one of my top 10 favorite songs though.

I really want to throw my cards in and write my own detailed ranking of all of their songs, or something along those lines. I will one of these days. I have a hard time finding motivation to write anything other than these posts on Solo.

 

[gashonthenail]

It might be addressed in the article and I’ve not read it but it’s not a studio album. It was meant as a jump on the bandwagon, maybe they’re a flash in the pan, rag and tag copy and paste from the activity that was happening at the time.
Yes it’s good, but to me that’s less important than the fact that it was a cash in compilation without the planning, love, sweat and tears as something like Strangeways, which doesn’t get the love it deserves from some stalwarts

I know what you mean, but I don't think it was entirely that. I think it was a recognition that the first album was unsatisfactory. And this was their way of 'correcting' that in the minds of the fans. It was a wonderful 'taster' before the great leap forward that was Meat is Murder.

Hatful Of Hollow was the point where even to doubters began to really believe the hype surrounding the band. It was their true debut in every sense…

BBC - Music - Review of The Smiths - Hatful Of Hollow

 

[Famous when dead]

 

[DagenhamDan]

Do you need to be American in order to prefer the comparatively glossy, electric version of BTtOH over the sparse, timeless, acoustic version found on Hatful?

No, I've always much preferred the b-side version, just a much warmer sounding version with Johnnys beautiful guitar sound. Maybe sounds glossier than the Hatful version, but all the better for it.

 

[Gregor Samsa]

No, I've always much preferred the b-side version, just a much warmer sounding version with Johnnys beautiful guitar sound. Maybe sounds glossier than the Hatful version, but all the better for it.

I had no idea there were so many of you!

 

[ZOOM FROM GLOOM]

No, I've always much preferred the b-side version, just a much warmer sounding version with Johnnys beautiful guitar sound. Maybe sounds glossier than the Hatful version, but all the better for it.

Just sounds solid, stronger. Even the drums tempo somehow accentuates the sadness of it. Swings more, overall. And that bass!

 

[Famous when dead]

‘Hatful Of Hollow’ At 40: A Guide To Every Song On The Smiths’ Classic Rarities Collection

‘Hatful Of Hollow’ At 40: A Guide To Every Song On The Smiths’ Classic Rarities Collection - Dig!

Its songs are a mix of singles, B-sides and radio session tracks, but The Smiths’ ‘Hatful Of Hollow’ album deserves its exalted reputation.

www.thisisdig.com

 

[SuedeMoz]

Do you need to be American in order to prefer the comparatively glossy, electric version of BTtOH over the sparse, timeless, acoustic version found on Hatful?

I prefer the Hatful version but the versions are different enough to almost be two different songs. At the end of the day, I'm glad to have both.