It’s an album of classic A-sides + B-sides.
Yes, but I had all those songs by virtue of owning
Louder Than Bombs and
The Queen Is Dead. I think the only exception was "Money Changes Everything," of which I had a live version on a cassette copy of a bootleg owned by a friend. I think it was recorded at a Los Angeles show and had Marilyn Monroe on the cover. "I hope security don't ruin your night but I'm sure they'll do their best."
There has been, throughout Morrissey's career, an impulse to "
re-issue, re-package, re-package." The one I can appreciate the most is
Hatful of Hollow because the production values on the first album are somewhat off. But even better than that one was another cassette copy I had (from the same friend) of (I think) either an earlier recording session or a compilation of demos, but it was most of the songs from
The Smiths plus "Handsome Devil," "These Things Take Time," "Wonderful Woman," &c., and they all had a fire and a raw intensity. It was what the first album should've been. I'm sad to have lost it. I don't have any cassettes from my youth anymore except for R.E.M.'s
Chronic Town EP.