I'm really sad he's gone. I don't think anyone in recent years has been able to write such great music. I'm a big fan of John Lennon and George Harrison. Smith seems to have channeled their writing skills. I'm listening to "From a Basement on the Hill". When I first heard it. I liked it, but upon further listen it really grows on you. Coast to Coast is great. The rest of the album is what the Beatles could have done. To a much greater extent than ELO. I've liked Smith since I heard his tunes on the soundtrack for "Good Will Hunting". Every album is good. Hearing this latest makes me realize I may never hear such an original and passionate artist on a new album. I guess I'll have to be happy with my 60s and 70s music.
I'm still floored by the quality of "From A Basement on the hill". If he had lived to truly "finish" the album it probably could've surpassed "Figure 8". I discovered Elliott with his major label debut "X/O". My hipster indie-rock friends already knew him from his work with the band heatmiser, and his early records on the "Kill Rock Stars" label. Who knows where he could've gone after the "Basement" album. That album, along with Figure 8, are destined to become classics. If "Basement" is Elliott's "Abbey Road", then "Figure 8" could be his "White Album".
I was just listening to a boot of a Elliott solo show in Sweden that absolutely slays me every time. Gone but not forgotten!!!!!
I love his hook-laden songwriting so much that I'm almost considering getting the CD (pictured below). His brief career produced some of my favorite songs. I still don't have "Either/Or" or "Figure 8". "XO" was fantastic. "Roman Candle" was also good with home demos recorded on a four-track. I also have "Kill Rock Stars". String Quartet Tribute to Elliott Smith
Agree!...but if you don't have it yet, you have got to go get ‘Either/Or’ immediately! In early 2003, I was really getting into Nick Drakes music and was (and still am) a bit obsessed with his "Pink Moon" album; so I was seeking Elliotts cd’s out because I had read some reviews comparing Smith to Nick Drake. Either/Or is the album that got me into Elliott Smith (and its still the Smith album that I keep going back to). I purchased it on a recommendation from a record store clerk who described Elliotts music as "pretty power pop". My first reaction to Elliotts music is that 1) His music didn’t really sound like Nick Drake at all and it was not really what I would call ‘power pop’ & 2) his voice seemed different (perhaps a bit too timid sounding) something that had to grow on me. But the songs!…these melodies had such a familiar quality and an almost perfect simplicity to them! I swear that not since I was a teen getting into The Beatles, Smith’s 'Either/Or' compelled me to sing along with the tracks and made me want to dust off and play the guitar and learn songs again! I unfortunately never saw Smith play live, in fact I didn’t actually start getting the rest of his albums until after his death in late 2003. At the time I was barely beginning to get into his prior ‘Either/Or’ self titled release (the one with “needle in the hay” in it). After totally absorbing all his Albums (including some of his Heatmiser work and unreleased demos) and having a year long obsession with his ‘XO’ album, I can’t stress enough what a truly great loss to music and what a truly great talent this man was! Got the ‘From A basement…’ album and gave it a spin ‘once’ and for some strange reason, haven’t been able to revisit it since it was released last year. It’s not that I didn’t like it, maybe I’m just a bit sad too that this is going to be his last album…(a way of prolonging the ‘new album’ absorption process? I don’t know) I’ll have to give it a spin soon...
I was introduced to Elliott Smith through XO, and I played it to death for a year. I especially like the first three tracks, and how on initial listening, you're not really sure where the songs are going. "Tomorrow Tomorrow" sounds like something straight from Led Zeppelin III! Figure 8 didn't have as many of those surprise moments for me (it was almost as if he went a little too electric and Beatley). The new one is where it's at, though. I would recommend listening to From a Basement on the Hill through headphones. Many of the basic tracks were recorded with two drummers, and I'd swear that the rhythm tracks were slowed down before vocals were added (much like The Beatles' "Rain"). It's a delicious sonic treat either way.
