1984 album by The Smiths with the following songs:
-
William, It Was Really Nothing
- What Difference Does it Make?
- This Charming Man
- How Soon Is Now?
- Hand in Glove
- Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
- This Night Has Opened My Eyes
- Accept Yourself
- Girl Afraid
-
Back to the Old House
- Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want
"A cut-price compilation of two BBC sessions (John Peel, 21/9/83 and Kid Jensen, 4/7/83) and recent singles tracks, released in November 1984. It charted at No. 7 in the UK album charts.
That such a sizable compilation of such extreme quality was released so early on in The Smiths' career merely shows just how brilliant a band they were.
As with almost everything The Smiths released, Morrissey has plonked "Hand In Glove" on, in revenge for its original poor chart performance. "This Night Has Opened My Eyes" was available for the first time on this album.
The radio sessions are worth it for Marr's guitar work alone, which is quite simply excellent. His note-intensive Byrdsian melodies provided the perfect antidote to such soul-less bands as Spandau Ballet and electropeople like Gary Numan.
The title of the compilation, I assume, is a reference to what people usually keep inside their hats, i.e. their brains."
analysis by John Levon, moz@compsoc.man.ac.uk , and republished with kind permission.