Hatful Of Hollow

I don't know why it took me this long to discover just how great this band is but I guess it's better late than never! I grew up listening to all kinds of pop music when this band first made the scene but for some reason I was much more interested in what the other bands at the time were doing completely overlooking The Smiths. Now, years later, I finally know why this band is still held in such high esteem decades later while many of the other bands I listened to at the time have faded into relative obscurity. Generally speaking most 80s music have not aged well but listening to The Smiths and especially this album today I am amazed at just how great the music still sounds after all these years - a true sign of an all-time classic band.Having heard all their albums though, I've discovered that while I liked much of the first, second and last studio albums I only truly enjoyed the third album from start to finish and so in order to get those tracks and the great singles I got the "Queen is Dead" and this great album too. Granted there are other compilation albums like "Louder Than Bombs" for example but "Hatful of Hollow" is that unique compilation album that is a classic all in itself. Like Queen's and the Little River Band's original greatest hits albums for example, the tracks have a nice flow and order to them and to change them in any way would cause the overall listening enjoyment to suffer significantly. Every track seems destined to be present and in this precise order and album length making it rank among that rare compilation albums that are classic albums themselves. Even if you have every Smiths album and single you would still want to listen to this album from start to finish again and again. As a big REM fan I can't help but feel that The Smiths are like the REM of Manchester given the similarities in the songwriting style as well as the group's composition with both Peter Buck and Johnny Mar being the great guitarists to complement the eccentric vocal stylings of Stipe and Morissey.Smiths fans are in for a real treat here as this mini-lp replica sleeve (mlps) release is not only very well designed and assembled from good cardboard material but the sound quality is also very good. Also included is a 24-page booklet containing all the lyrics in both English and Japanese. By the way, the mlps version of "Queen Is Dead" is also very good and well produced.As for this mlps release, "Hatful of Hollow" comes very highly recommended!

nice album.

Fantastic albumNostalgia at its finest

Had this on cassette, but pleased the remastered CD is better than the original.

Delivered in good time. Brand new record perfect condition

good

The title "What?!?!" is in reply to Mr Peter Moylan's review of this album. I find it incredible that anyone, let alone anyone that professes to like The Smiths, could come away from this album unimpressed, let alone proffering a paltry 1 star rating.I can attest to the view expressed by numerous reviewers on this site, that this is the perfect introduction to the band and their music. I was a bit of a latecomer to the group and this was indeed my introduction and where I finally managed to get an extended listen to The Smiths and came to realise what all the fuss was about and what I had been missing.I was blissfully unaware at the time that it was an grab-bag album of out-takes and A/B sides and was gobsmacked to find that this was the case, such was the strength of the set.Magnificent, idiosyncratic and timeless music. Along with Bob Dylan's The Bootleg Series Vol 1-3, this is the greatest set of sweepings from the studio floor you'll ever hear.Buy without hesitation!

Purchased this for my brothers birthday. Arrived well packaged and he loved it