"Hatful Of Hollow"
November 1984
William, It Was Really Nothing
What Difference Does It Make? (Peel session 31/5/83)
These Things Take Time (Jensen session 4/7/83)
This Charming Man (Peel session 21/9/83)
How Soon Is Now?
Handsome Devil (Peel session 31/5/83)
Hand In Glove
Still Ill (Peel session 21/9/83)
Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
This Night Has Opened My Eyes (Peel session 21/9/83)
You've Got Everything Now (Jensen session 4/7/83)
Accept Yourself (Jensen session 5/9/83)
Girl Afraid
Back To The Old House (Peel session 21/9/83)
Reel Around The Fountain (Peel session 31/5/83)
Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want
UK CD [Rough Trade ROUGHCD76]
UK CS [Rough Trade ROUGHC76]
UK LP [Rough Trade ROUGH76]

Australia CD [CBS RTANZ451070-2]
Australia CD [1988 reissue on Festival D30104]
Australia CD [1993 reissue on Warner Australia 91893-2]
Australia CS [CBS RTCANZ009]
Australia CS [1988 reissue on Festival C30104]
Australia LP [CBS RTANZ009]
Australia LP [1988 reissue on Festival L30104]

Brazil LP [WEA 610.7056]
Brazil CS [WEA ??]
Brazil CD [1993 reissue on WEA 91893-2]

Canada LP [Sire 25 16421]
Canada CS [Sire 25 16424]
Canada CD [1993 reissue on Sire/Reprise CDW-45205 ]

EEC LP [RT/EMI Holland ROUGH76]

Europe CD [WEA 91893-2]
Europe CS [WEA 91893-4]
Europe 10 [WEA 91893-1]

France CD [Virgin 30257]
France CS [Virgin 50290]
France LP [Virgin 70290]

Germany LP [RT Deutschland RTD26]

Greece CS [Virgin VG50093]
Greece LP [Virgin VG50093]

Holland LP [Megadisc ROUGH76]

Italy CS [Rough Trade ROUK776]
Italy LP [Rough Trade ROUGH76]

Japan CD [Tokuma Japan (32)35JC-129]
Japan CD [1987 reissue on Victor VDP-5080]
Japan CD [1990 reissue on Victor VICP-2002]
Japan CD [1993 reissue on WEA WMC5-543]
Japan CD [1995 reissue on WEA WPCR-302]
Japan CD [2006 reissue on WEA WPCR-12439]
Japan LP [Tokuma Japan 25RTL-21]
Japan LP [1987 reissue on Victor VIP-4218]

New Zealand LP [CBS RTRANZ009]

Peru CS [WEA/El Virrey 00918934]

Philippines CS [DVNA Products MC-ROUGH-76]
Philippines LP [DVNA Products ROUGH-76]

Portugal LP [Transmedia TM/RT 76]

Spain CS [Nuevos Medios 44 104]
Spain LP [Nuevos Medios 43 102L]

Sweden LP [MNW ROUGH76]

USA CD [Sire/Reprise 45205-2]
USA CS [Sire/Reprise 45205-4]

 

Additional information:
The 2006 Japanese cd reissue is slipped inside a mini-replica of the original Tokuma Japan LP sleeve. Even the inner sleeve, obi and label are replicas of the ones from the original LP pressing.

 

Artwork information:
The photograph is of an anonymous fan of Jean Cocteau who tattoed a drawing by his idol (from his book "Le Livre Blanc" ["The White Book"]) on his shoulder. The photo is uncredited on the album but was lifted from the July 1983 issue of French magazine Libération. A blue bar which appeared next to the photo in the magazine turned out to be the tint of blue used on the album cover.

The photograph is on blue background for early releases. The reissue of the album on all formats in the UK in the spring of 1987 used a close-up of the same photo, without the blue borders. When the album was released for the first time in the United States in 1993, the latter cover was also used. For the 2006 Japanese reissue in mini LP sleeve replica, the original blue-border artwork was used again.

A photo of the band taken by Paul Slattery at Glastonbury in 1984 is found inside the original gatefold LPs (view in left frame).

 

Etchings on vinyl:
UK LP: THE IMPOTENCE OF ERNEST / IAN [EIRE]
(only on original Rough Trade release, not on the WEA reissue).
The a-side etching was the same as on the recent "William, It Was Really Nothing" single. The b-side was from Johnny Marr to his brother Ian.

 

Additional release date information:
UK LP and cassette: 12/16 November 1984
Germany: 5 November 1984
UK CD: December 1985
UK reissues with different artwork: Spring '87
USA/Canada cd and USA cassette: 9 November 1993
UK/Europe WEA re-release: 15 November 1993
Japan WEA 1993 re-release: 10 December 1993
Japan WEA 2006 re-release: 13 September 2006

 

Chart peak information:
UK: 7 (27 when reissued at mid-price in 1995)
USA: never charted

 

Certifications:
UK: Gold on 20 November 1984
UK: Platinum on 12 October 1987

 

Promotion:
UK: This album was promoted at the time of release with white label copies of the LP format. A Scott Piering APPEARING press sheet was usually slipped inside the record's generic white sleeve, or affixed onto it.

Australia: Promotion was done at the time of the original release of this album with promo copies of the LP format. These had the same content and artwork, except for the labels which were of the usual black and white 'hat man' type with promo-only warnings on them.

Brazil: Promo LPs were gold-stamped at the back of the sleeve and stamped in ink of the records' labels. A 4-track various artists promo EP (1.015) featuring "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" was distributed in 1986, possibly for promotion of this album. The record came slipped in a yellow sleeve with brown text. A different 4-track various artists promo EP (803.315) from 1986, this one titled "Um Presente Da Bandeirantes FM-96", also features "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now".

Canada: Gold-stamped copies of the LP were distributed for promotion. A four-artist promo 7" (WEA EP#2) with the song "William, It Was Really Nothing" was sent to radio to promote this album. A various artists radio promo cassette titled "Stop Look Listen" (SLLC36) also featured "William, It Was Really Nothing".

France: Stamped copies of the LP were distributed for promotion.

Japan: Promotion of the original release was done via copies of the LP format with a white SAMPLE sticker on the sleeve and the usual extra 3-character promo text printed on the label. Promo cds for the 1987, 1990, 1993 and 1995 reissues have a promo sticker on the case and promo text on the cds' inner ring. The promo cd for the 2006 reissue in LP-replica sleeves have a white and red promo sticker on the back and 'sample loaned' etched on the cd's inner ring. Copies of the double-cd set featuring this album and "The Queen Is Dead" were stamped on the back for promotion.

New Zealand: Promo copies of the LP are the stock ones with a 'demonstration' sticker on the label of side B.

USA: Although this album wasn't released in the USA until 1993, it was still promoted with an advance cassette (Sire/Reprise 4-45205-A). The cassette's inlay was the generic blue Sire/Reprise one with titles.

 

Quotes:
Morrissey, October 1984: "A good portion of our mail contains imploring demands that we release versions of our songs that we recorded for Radio One sessions, and the band and I suddenly realised that we hadn't even proper-sounding tapes of them ourselves, except for a few dire bootlegs that we bought at our concerts. As far as we're concerned, those were the sessions that got us excited in the first place, and apparently it was how a lot of other people discovered us also. We decided to include the extra tracks from our 12" singles for people who didn't have all of those, and to make it completely affordable."

Johnny Marr, to the BBC6 website: "(...) After our first album came out, we realised that some of the versions of the songs on the album weren't as good as the way we did them on the John Peel session. Because of this we put out a compilation called 'Hatful Of Hollow', which featured those John Peel sessions, and as a result they pretty much became the definitive versions of the songs we recorded for John."