So I don't know how interested people would be in this, but I figured I'd give it a go since Elliott is my favorite artist ever. I don't think he has a single bad song and I'd go so far as to say that I consider a large number of his songs to be perfect - or near perfect! Such an extreme talent. If anyone else ends up caring about this thread, my goal is to go through Elliott's discography track by track starting with Roman Candle and ending with New Moon. I'm also very interested in giving some days to unreleased stuff and/or b-sides, as some of the songs that never made his records are indeed my favorites.
First up is the title track of Roman Candle. I've always been amused that this is the first track of his solo career, as it possesses a sense of anger and urgency that not too many of his tracks do. It feels frantic, it feels cold and bitter. The low-fi nature of the recordings go hand-in-hand with every song on this record, but I especially think it enhances this one.
I would certainly be interested going forward. I love his material. I have a real soft spot for him. I don't listen all that often, as the entire dynamic is pretty heartbreaking, so I sort-of have to be in a certain mood. Having said that: I believe I have virtually all of the released commercial stuff (and a few live shows), so I'm familiar with the material. I just can't plug in all song titles and whatnot into any pertinent analyses. Hopefully I can contribute while (more likely) learning things.
Today's song is Condor Ave. We may only be on the 2nd song of this thread, but Condor is probably my favorite Elliott song. It's littered with absolutely beautiful guitar flourishes and creates an incredible atmosphere. The story of the song seamlessly weaves through to create, in my opinion, one of the most impressive and rich songs Elliott ever made. Some history about this song. The liner notes may credit this song solely to Smith, but its origins are actually rooted in a co-write with Garrick Duckler for Elliott's late 80s recording project named A Murder of Crows. On this (unfortunately uncirculating) cassette, there exists a proto-version of Condor Ave. that is largely the same except for some lyrical changes here and there as well as Elliott's singing style being incredibly different. Most of the lyrics to that version of Condor Ave. were written by Garrick Duckler, with Elliott writing the actual music. The bones of the lyrics were retained into the Condor Ave. we all know and love from Elliott's solo debut, but some lines were altered from the original Duckler-penned version. For example... Original: "She took the old pale ridge long past condor avenue" Roman Candle: "She took the oldsmobile out past condor avenue" Original: "Chimes fell over each other like worn amputees" Roman Candle: "Chimes fell over each other, I feel onto my knees" Original: "Someone's throwing bricks out past Condor Avenue, and it will make a poor girl out of you" Roman Candle: "Someone's burning out on Condor Avenue, trying to make a whisper out of you" And so on. Anyway, this is a great, great song and a lot of people don't know that there's a handful of Elliott songs that were originally Duckler co-writes from the 80s. I look forward to sharing more regarding the rest once we get to them. Also, sorry that I'm kind of sucky about giving my personal thoughts on songs... I feel much more comfortable dumping all my knowledge of the song's actual history as opposed to personal feelings. haha.
And for anyone interested, here is the circulating section of the early Condor Ave. The lyrics I used to highlight the changes don't all appear in this clip, and I believe we only know them because of a partial transcription provided by someone who is hoarding all of Elliott's 80s tapes. (There's 6 of em'!)
I also adore Elliott Smith and don't think he gets his due. I am pretty busy these days, but will try to contribute. Thanks for the above clip! Never heard that one before.
Today's song is No Name #1 The first of 6 "no name's", I absolutely adore this song and it's definitely my 2nd favorite on RC. I find myself playing this song every time I pick up an acoustic guitar. This song features some of the only percussion on the album, which was provided by Pete Krebs credited as "Kid Tulsa". This track is credited to Elliott and J.J. Gonson, who also took the photograph used on the cover art for Roman Candle. She has taken a handful of other Elliott-related pictures and they're all very cool, I would for sure suggest looking her up. More specifically, she contributed the chords to No Name #1, although I do not know if she came up with the lovely little deviations and flourishes that accompany the main chords throughout the song. A few live versions of No Name #1 that I really enjoy include the 6/2/98 show and the 1/31/03 show.
I'll probably be mentioning dates like this a lot, as listening to Elliott's many stunning live shows is one of my favorite parts of his music. We're blessed to have so many high quality soundboard recordings of him from his acoustic days, to his full band gigs, and his final 2003 shows. Plus some songs I'll be covering are only available to us as a live recording, so for anyone who wants to follow along or check some of his live stuff out, this Archive.org link has tons of Elliott bootlegs for streaming/download. There's some seriously magical stuff in here. https:// archive.org /details/ ElliottSmith
Here’s another interesting tip for all ES fans. The podcast called My Favorite Elliott Smith Song: Episodes Various musicians and artists talk about Elliott and choose a favorite song. Some of the best episodes are with people that knew him personally. I especially recommend Jason Lytle of Grandaddy and of course, Pete Krebs.
Today's song is No Name #2. The second of the 6 No Name's, this one feels a bit calmer and different than its predecessor, but honestly #1 and #2 have always felt like two halves of the same coin to me. I don't have a whole lot to say about this song, but it's a very nice track with a memorable acoustic riff throughout. When I was first getting into Elliott I really really loved this song for some reason, and I still love it, but something about it really drew me in. I really enjoy the delivery of the opening lines, "concrete hands picked up/the telephone ring" and the usage of "he didn't give a hoot" has added some character to the song which I really enjoy. It was very rarely played live, not seeing its debut until early 98' and only sporadically played afterwards. I wouldn't go so far as to describe it as a "hidden gem" among Elliott's lesser known stuff, but it's certainly enjoyable.
Today's song is No Name #3 Last no name before taking break to a named track! Anyway, this is a really beautiful song. It sways along with a unique dreamlike atmosphere, but I think it still fits and was sequenced very well with the 2 proceeding no names. There's an underlying tension in this song that I think is created by the little guitar riff bobbing up and down, it's a really nice touch. I also really enjoy the little instrumental break towards the middle. This song is notable for being the only Roman Candle song to appear in the soundtrack for Good Will Hunting, which of course is the soundtrack that catapulted Elliott into the spotlight with Miss Misery, but we'll get to that another day. I dig it.
Much looking forward to this thread as it progresses. Smith was one of the best songwriting talents of his generation.
While just a casual fan, I love what I've heard of Elliot's music. I probaly started listening about 1997, about the time of Good Will Hunting. In fact I put Elliot's songs from that soundtrack into a nice little EP, and I play it a lot. I know we'll discuss Miss Misery later, but I consider that song a masterpiece. I do not have Roman Candle, but like what I've heard so far. I will enjoy following this thread.
Today's song is Drive All Over Town This is a song that I barely ever hear anyone, even Elliott fans, talk about... and I don't know why, because this song really just does it for me. It feels so sinister and desperate, brooding and antagonistic. Surprisingly, this song has never been played live as far as I can tell, and that's a shame because I think it would have been really neat to dig up during his full band-era and played with a bigger arrangement. It's amazing he's able to capture so much mood and tension with an acoustic guitar, a cheapo 4 track and mic, and some skillful vocal layering.
Today's song is No Name #4 Ok. Last No Name for a while, but this one is really great. One of the more musically upbeat tracks on Roman Candle, No Name 4 is one of my favorites on the record. Some of it almost feels like it has a twinge of country influence! The vocals here are really great, and the "Cause I don't know who's around/And you look scared" part has always stuck out to me for some reason. Something else I've noticed just recently is the similarities from the first verse of No Name #4 to the first verse of Drive All Over Town... "Two dollar color pictures from a photo booth/Dirty stepped on lying out on the floor of their room Faces fell long in the half light/He looks all wrong but that’s her alright Look at him smiling full of teeth/Clenched tight" and "For a change she got out before he hurt her bad/Took her records and clothes And pictures of her boy/It really made her sad Packed it up and didn’t look back/I’m okay lets just forget all about it" Perhaps two sides to a failing relationship? I normally don't analyze songs in that way, but I took notice of it and think it's really neat... intentional or not! Just something to chew on. As for any live versions, I will take this opportunity to mention the March 6th, 1995 show, in which No Name #4 (and a great version of Condor) was played. This show actually just recently got a soundboard upgrade last September, so check it out! It sounds great.
This one and Last Call are probably my favorite off Roman Candle. Like many of his songs it seems like a simple little ditty at first but is deceptively odd and strange underneath.
Today's song is Last Call Quite easily the heaviest song on Roman Candle, Last Call is absolutely phenomenal. There's something so incredibly satisfying and complete about this composition, so incredibly mature and fleshed out on what is essentially a demos album. From the blistering delivery of every line in this song to the perfect usage of electric guitars on this largely acoustic album, Last Call is stunningly amazing. I have a funny habit of saying every Elliott song is "a real favorite of mine" or the like, and I do mean that for a lot of his songs, but this truly is a favorite favorite in every sense of the word. All 4 minutes and 38 seconds grab you and don't let you go. I'd also like to mention that this tracks showcases Elliott's knack for arrangement and dynamics. The balance and struggle between the soft-ish acoustic parts fading in and out, surrounded by the scathing and loud electric parts just makes for such an exceptional and wonderful song. For trivia's sake, I'll mention that the "church bells and now I'm awake/and I guess it must be some kind of holiday" was taken from an earlier Elliott song titled Shiva Opens Her Arms (that line sound familiar? ), but I will devote a day to that song in the future. For anyone curious, my plan for organizing these posts is "Studio Album in order -> any random/singles/unreleased tracks from the era -> Next studio album in order -> etc, etc, etc" and also have some time at the conclusion of his studio albums/compilation to post about any odds and ends floating about. A little off topic from Last Call, but I've been meaning to fill y'all in on that and now's as good a time as any. This song was played semi-frequently by Elliott in his acoustic sets, of which I would suggest the December 30th, 1999 show as there's a soundboard of that on Archive.org and it's an extremely wonderful and intense performance. To my ears, this song has always begged for a full band performance, and up until about a year ago I thought no such thing existed! I was wrong, thankfully! I can't find this show on Archive.org or YouTube, but the May 16th, 2000 show (which can be found in an mp3 download from Elliott Smith Bootlegs ) has a really cool full band rendition of Last Call. The quality isn't the best, but as far as I'm aware it may be the only recording or even performance of Last Call Elliott did with his full band, so check that out if you can.
Okay, maybe this is my favorite song on Roman Candle. But it might just be that the last Elliott song I listened to moves right up the charts Love this verse: Well you know one day it'll come to haunt you That you didn't tell him quite the truth You're a crisis You're an icicle You're a tongueless talker You don't care what you say You're a jaywalker and you just just walk away And that's all you do And of course some lyrics that are very powerful and poignant considering Elliott's narrative, "You start to drink you just want to continue / It'll all be yester year soon" and "switch me off safely".
Today's song is Kiwi Maddog 20/20 The only instrumental on Roman Candle, and one of just two (three if you count Ostrich) instrumentals to be a dedicated song on Elliott's studio albums. For what it's worth, I think this song does a great job of capturing the overall feel of the album and it definitely feels like a closer. A lid being put on the box of musical-vignettes this album is full of. It's a nice enough track, though I usually only find myself listening to it during a listen of Roman Candle as a whole. It was originally titled "Carl's El Camino" and is apparently fairly similar to that earlier and differently named version. This wasn't the only instrumental Elliott was experimenting with around this time. There are a few more from the same timeframe that wouldn't see release until 2016's Heaven Adores You soundtrack, but I'll probably talk about them later. That wraps up Roman Candle. I have a few odds and ends to cover before moving onto Self Titled, but we'll be there very soon. I should start having more to say about some of the future tracks too because there's just not too much documentation or known history with these RC songs. I hope you've enjoyed would I could provide for Roman Candle, though.
His songs are strange and twisty sometimes, even when they aren't great. I'll be interested in this thread.
I am sure most here are familiar wirh Maddog 20/20, a notorious bum wine. Surprising it does come Strawberry-Kiwi, that must be really nasty. Due to that big twangy this, this tune has a vague surf feel to me. This will be the only Elliot Smith song I will be saying that about.
Today's song is We're All Friends Now One of Elliott's many played-live-but-never-released songs, this one is a pretty interesting, pleasant, and straightforward song. The Nine Inch Nails reference is kind of neat, and the vocal melody of the verse is very nice. I think it sort of trails off in the middle and towards the end now with a few too many "we're all friends now's", could have used another verse, but I really do like it and I'm glad we have a good sounding recording. Parts of it reminds me of First Timer, so maybe elements of this one were recycled at some point. This video of it was technically filmed and played outside of the Roman Candle era, but I'm doing this song now since it was actually written around the same time as the other Roman Candle songs. There does exist a "studio" (well, demo) version of this song, but Larry Crane (The archivist for Elliott's estate and owner of Jackpot! studios in Portland) has said that the demo version has a very different mood than the live version and it would have "sat kind of odd on Roman Candle".
