An Introduction to… Elliott Smith
By Craig Smith • Aug 13th, 2010 • Category: News
Having been blessed with seeing Elliott Smith perform several times over his all-too-short career, Webcuts has nothing but admiration, appreciation, and love for an artist who was one of the great, if not greatest, songwriters of our generation. Should it be that some of you are unfamiliar with his work, Domino Records in the UK are to release on November 1, An Introduction To… Elliott Smith. A album featuring 14 tracks compiled from all seven of Smith’s albums: Roman Candle, Elliott Smith, Either/Or, XO, Figure 8, From A Basement on the Hill, and New Moon.
A fairly uneven representation of his career (and at 14 tracks, one that barely scratches the surface), An Introduction… does as the title suggests and offers as good a starting point as any into his solo recorded work, featuring heavily with material from his quietly breathtaking Either/Or album of 1997 and then a track here, a track there from his other 4 studio albums, his posthumous final album From A Basement On The Hill and the compilation of unreleased material New Moon. Bravo on Domino’s part in keeping Elliott’s flame burning, but if you want the full Elliott Smith experience, (and with no “St.Ides Heaven” or “I Didn’t Understand” on the compilation, you really need to) then a whole ‘nother world awaits.
The tracklisting for An Introduction To… Elliott Smith:
1. Ballad of Big Nothing – from Either/Or
2. Waltz #2 – from XO
3. Pictures of Me – from Either/Or
4. The Biggest Lie – from Elliott Smith
5. Alameda – from Either/Or
6. Between The Bars – from Either/Or
7. Needle In The Hay – from Elliott Smith
8. Last Call – from Roman Candle
9. Angeles – from Either/Or
10. Twilight – from From a Basement on the Hill
11. Pretty (Ugly Before) – from From a Basement on the Hill
12. Angel In the Snow – from New Moon
13. Miss Misery (early version) – from New Moon
14. Happiness (single version) – from Figure 8
You can listen to and download “Between The Bars” (from Either/Or) here:
http://soundcloud.com/dominorecordco/elliott-smith-between-the-bars
Elliott Smith – Between The Bars by DominoRecordCo
Craig Smith is no pop, no style.
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I definitely, definitely would have included “I Didn’t Understand.” But these things will never please everyone.
It always puzzles me when best ofs get released so many years after an artist’s disbandment/demise. Contractual? And also only 14 tracks, no rarities? I’m not sure who this is aimed at in all honesty.
I think, probably, that the target audience is your average non-obsessive music listener who sees it in a chain book/CD store and thinks, “Elliott Smith, I’ve heard of him, I’ll check this out.” For the most part I think Best Of’s exist for this casual audience, because when I or other music obsessives I know check out an artist, we usually start with the first album, the newest album, or the seminal album(s).