Well, i'd been listening to the Queen Is Dead (yeah, i listened to that one first) and then i decided i'd get The Smiths. The first song blew me away, and it got multiple listens right away. The next few are undeniably good, but my mind must've been elsewhere when i heard them. I'm not even sure if i got to This Charming Man in the first listen. But when i did give it a listen it did strike me as a great song, and so did What Difference Does It Make and Hand In Glove (along with others). So i wasn't very clear in what i said i guess :P
Suffer Little Children was also a mind blower when i gave it a true listen, and i've been getting more and more into the other tracks xD
About the whole compilation thing, i do like Hatful Of Hollows a lot, but i feel Reel Around The Fountain sounds much worse than in the original album.

Suffer Little Children is a great track and all the more poignant when you look into its background (the Moors Murders).

Yeah, it definitely gives the song a very haunting feeling, but at the same time i feel it's a very "warm" song, it's probably just Morrissey's voice and the jangly guitars though. I could fall asleep to this tale of horror, which is disturbing but brilliant at the same time.

I've always loved Suffer Little Children, but wasn't aware of the connection. That gives me a lot more appreciation for it.

Of the children buried on the moors only one remains unfound.
The body of 12 year old Keith Bennett is still buried out there in a shallow grave and Brady still refuses to give any clues to it's whereabouts.

An interesting animated video on youtube made for the song.

i've liked the smiths for a while. enjoyed the deep haunting voice and interesting reverb they've done for their albums. i have to admit, i wasn't of the connection with the video above either.

William It Was Really Nothing is a track i just keep coming back to...it's just brilliant. And i also really like the video, i'd post it here but i don't know how to :(

always one of my favorite tracks, and to post a vid you need to take the final code from the video's youtube html and wrap it in [youtube] tags

Right, here it is, not very good quality, but meh:



It's a pretty normal "stage performance" video, but i guess Morrissey's little dance (which is pretty weird to say the least xD) and their appearance in general sum up the smiths pretty well.
The whole thing is a bit ridiculous, but really cool at the same time xD

I love The Smiths, they're my favorite band. I can see how the dancing and a bit of the Morrissey look can come out as ridiculous, but i think that's part of his charm and i actually think it's pretty cool. As far as the songs go i love every single one, from this charming man to how soon is now, pretty girls make graves, sheila take a bow, frankly mr. shankly, william it was really nothing, panic, there's a light that never goes out, etc, to say a few. The lyrics, in my particular opinion are amazing, and yeah, a bit depressing. I think The Smiths had a great impact in the 80's music in the U.K. and for me are one of the most influential bands for brit rock and "indie". Besides i feel quite identified with some of Morrissey's ideals. Great band.