On “Please Please Please Let Me Get what I Want”, what Stevie has referred to as “the perfect Smiths’ song”, in under two minutes they truly do cap off the album in a subdued, melancholic pop song – representative of the better aspects of the band. Initially released on 12 November 1984, The Smiths’ first compilation album, Hatful Of Hollow, collated a well-chosen selection of BBC Radio 1 session tracks alongside several standalone singles and their respective flipsides. I'm not even joking with that title, I mean, woah, every single track that comes from an album is beyond amazing, but, the B-sides are just something else. This photograph was taken in 1947 by his friend Nelva Jean Thomas in his home town Fairmount, Indiana.

This features some nice, early versions of "What Difference Does It Make", "This Charming Man" and"Hand in Glove", as well as classic tracks like "These Things Take Time", "Reel Around the Fountain" and "Please Please Please, Let Me Get What I Want". It is difficult to single out any particular track as being a highlight, and excessively impossible to name even one bad or unnecessary song. Even in eighty years, well after I’ve moved on from my teenaged sentiments and have fully matured as a music listener, I will have this album to thank. I do not deny they are one of England's most important musical exports, they unfortunately just didn't rock my boat. It isn’t even so much similar bands they introduced me to, nor just bands that influenced the Smiths or vice versa.

The album features tracks from BBC Radio 1 sessions, their first single " Hand in Glove" (a different mix of which had been included on their first album) and two new singles and their B-sides. We all have one band, one record, perhaps one song, which opened us up to music, to art, and to be particularly overdramatic, to the world itself.

I once checked and was surprised to discover that HoH and TWWL (the British version at least) share no tracks. Spurred on by a brace of positive reviews, Hatful Of Hollow more than fulfilled its brief to keep the spotlight on The Smiths during the period between the release of their self-titled debut album and 1985’s UK chart-topping Meat Is Murder. The Queen is Dead is oft regarded as the pinnacle of the Smiths music, and as one the cornerstones of music history. This juxtaposition that graces every song only helps to highlight the few instances when Marr matches Morrissey’s depressive state and creates an all-encompassingly emotive piece.It’s endured ever since, too, because it adroitly brings most of the band’s landmark (and most sought-after) early recordings together under the one roof. Editions after 1987 feature the cropped version with the text superimposed, although the 2011 vinyl re-issue reinstated the original sleeve.