Elliot Smith Appreciation thread

[placebo]

Yes Spikey, get Either/Or. It's amazing.
His self-titled is awesome as well.
Actually, it's all awesome. One of the most underrated musicians around. If only he were still alive.

 

[placebo]

I've been meaning to check out Smith for ages, only heard great stuff about his music. Going to get an album now while I remember. What do you recommend for a first up album?

Either/Or or his self-titled. They are more acoustic based though.

He tends to use more instruments in his albums after that.

 

[Zarrix]

Either/ Or it is

 

[placebo]

 

[Roos4eva]

Either/ Or it is

Top choice, my favourite album.

The album that got me into him was 'Figure 8', but I can honestly say that he never wrote a bad song and all his stuff with Heatmiser was top shelf as well.

Still gutted that he died, but at least we got to hear a fair chunk of what he was capable of unlike Jeff Buckley.

 

[anti_]

'amity' on XO is the only song i just really dont like.

thats saying something, when he has about 200 odd songs.

the thing that makes him such a quality artist is the fact that his b-sides are just as good as the released songs. im hoping for more to be uncovered, every one is gold.

 

[placebo]

'amity' on XO is the only song i just really dont like.

thats saying something, when he has about 200 odd songs.

the thing that makes him such a quality artist is the fact that his b-sides are just as good as the released songs. im hoping for more to be uncovered, every one is gold.

Agreed.
Some of his b-sides are his best songs. Just look at the album 'New Moon' and all of his unreleased music, covers, b-sides on it; they're fantastic.
His covers are also a strong point to go along with the b-sides.

 

[placebo]

Also just a warning for newcomers; for some fans, it takes a while to get into Smith.
When I first heard him I thought 'Eh, he's okay, nothing special' but after months of heavy listening he just grows and grows on you and you realise how good he actually is.. and then you end up with a framed Elliott Smith picture on your wall

 

[anti_]

agree, it can take a few listens.

the first time i heard him (on either/or), i thought the first few tracks were pretty nice...then i heard 'angeles' and i was completely sold.

then you go through the phase of 'this album is my fav' 'nah this one is'...then they all are.

did i tell anyone i like elliott smith?

 

[danielcan]

They're all good.

Either/Or
Elliot Smith (with the Parkour cover)
Figure 8
New Moon
XO

I seem to be missing Roman Candle and From a Basement on the Hill. Anybody have those?

I think Either/Or and XO are his best. New Moon was a posthumous release and really good too.

 

[placebo]

'Between the Bars' and his cover of John Lennon's 'Jealous Guy' was what sold me originally.
And then after Either/Or I just had to go buy the rest of his albums.

 

[anti_]

roman candle is an awesome album. pretty under-rated i think. a very short listen with some great tunes.

no name #3 is one of his best.

basement on the hill is still great, but you can tell its not how he pictured it to be. some of the tracks he recorded arent on there as his family held them back. still great songs on there though (lets get lost, coast to coast, twilight). grab the demos of this era, some of his best ones (stickman, true love).

 

[placebo]

@Danielcan

Yeah, I've got Roman Candle and From a Basement on the Hill.

Roman Candle is a really nice soft acoustic album.
FaBotH is a little tricky because it was released post-humously and we'll never know if it sounded the way Smith intended however it's still a good listen and has a more 'heavy' sound to it although there are still a couple of acoustic gems like 'Twilight' on it.

 

[cammo84]

I could listen to "Needle in the hay" every day of my life and not get the slightest bit bored of it, classic track IMO.

 

[Zarrix]

Almost finished listening to Either/Or. And it isn't hard to fathom why he is unamimously praised on here.

 

[placebo]

Enjoyed it then Zarrix?

 

[Zarrix]

Was great, will be investing more time into his music for sure.

 

[placebo]

Ah, success!

Good to hear.

 

[cammo84]

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[Damon_3388]

It matters not when you start listening to an artist, what matters is why you begin to listen to them. I hope it was his music that drew you to him and not the fact that he is a dead rockstar and is now popular because jjj have played him to death (no pun intended).

I used to listen to Triple J almost religiously between 1998-2002 (I barely listen to any radio now), and I remember them always mentioning Elliot Smith, yet for the life of me I couldn't name one song by him or remember how any of his songs went. That being said, I've always meant to give his music a good listen (mainly because of the universal praise he receives), so I'll probably get around to that sometime.

 

[Bruce Monteath]

Always loved his songs when I heard them but never got around to buying the albums. I started rectifying that by buying Xo yesterday. Brilliant.
I will be getting more.

 

[Jimmy_the_Gent]

Probably my all time favourite muso.

Sad that he died when he did because he was hanging with the flaming lips just before and it seemed as though he was going to try his hand at some experimental, psychedelia music, like the Lips.

Coast to Coast and Kings Crossing on Basement would've been an early indication of that.

Also, for those people getting into him, check out From Portland to Elliott when you run out of material. I can't say it's a good album but it has one or 2 decent covers. Actually, wait till after you've checked out Heatmiser to pick up that album.

 

[anti_]

i've only really listened to 'mic city sons' from heatmiser extensively.

i got the others i just havent got around to it, i will soon. i think elliotts vocals are fairly average in those albums from what i have heard though.

 

[deledio7]

Great to see so many people like Elliott. I seriously know of no one personally who has heard of him.

Either/Or or A Basement to the Hill are his best albums IMO, but you can't fault anything he did. It serious is a tragedy that he was taken so young as he was such a talented artist.

Do you think you could hook me up with that link anti? Unfortunately I haven't heard alot of his b-sides and unreleased tracks. Cheers.

 

[DJ Dupree]

A song called Twilight?

An album called New Moon??

Man, my other half would love this guy.

In all honesty, I prefer unproduced Elliott. I started with Basement on the Hill, then got the earlier stuff. I like Figure 8, like XO more, but seriously love Basement on the Hill, Either/Or and the self-titled one.

It still astounds me what he was capable of in his room woth a borrowed 4-track. Those earlier albums are inspirational.