9. The SmithsHatful Of Hollow

Being a guitarist, I’m a huge admirer of Johnny Marr but I also love Andy Rourke’s bass playing. Maybe he’s not cited as much but wow – what a bass player! This compilation has my favourite Smiths songs on it. I can remember hearing The Smiths in session on the radio and then listening to their debut album and thinking, where’s the reverb? I prefer these versions. It’s a combination of radio session versions and B-sides but even the B-sides were amazing; songs like ‘How Soon Is Now?’ It also has ‘This Night Has Opened My Eyes’ which is one of my favourites, as is ‘What Difference Does It Make?’ As a collection of songs, it’s a winner.

I teach guitar and some of my students asked me to teach them some of the songs here and that’s testament to how good these songs are.