Title: Figure 8
Artiste: Elliott Smith
Genre: Folk/Indie
Familiarity: I've heard one other album; didn't love it, didn't hate it. Don't understand the messianic status he gets from so many people here, I really don't.
1. Son of Sam: Like the wistful, folky tone of the opening anyway.Yeah, this is pretty good. Uptempo, cheerful sound for such lyrical matter.
2. Somebody that I used to know: This is just okay.
3. Junk bond trader: I like this one though; there's a kind of sense of menace about the beat. It sounds tougher somehow. The bells are great too.
4. Everything reminds me of her: This is just a bit too moany and self-indulgent, one of the things I dislike about the guy, from the admittedly little I've heard from him. This is probably why I hated that Sun Kil Moon album too: I'm not paying (well, I'm not, but that's beside the point) to hear you whine about how **** your life is, dude. (Sorry, I know he's dead, but he doesn't get a pass for that)
5. Everything means nothing to me: Beautiful piano; this is far far better. Not sure though why he decided to place two tracks with very similar titles one after the other? Really nice though. Oh, I take it back: the way it exploded at the end. That's getting a Blue!
6. L.A: Well, it was going to have to be something really special to top that last one, and this one ...isn't. I mean, it's okay, but it's no Special K, ya know?
7. In the lost and found (Honky Bach)/The Roost: Very much a Supertramp vibe to this one, like it. Lead out is good too.
8. Stupidity tries: This is quite good, like the hammering, punchy guitar allied to the more sort of dreamy sound of the synth. Great ending too. Puts me sort of in mind of Hannon.
9. Easy way out: Back to the somewhat whiny songs, though the kind of waltzy feel to the tune is nice, and there's a certain feel of Paul Simon in the vocal.
10. Wouldn't mama be proud: This one's okay, but just that.
11. Color bars: This is better.
12. Happiness/The Gondala Man: Nice kind of psychedelic meets the Beatles feel to this. Not bad.
13. Pretty Mary K: This actually sounds like very early Genesis. Weird. Plenty of Beatles there too.
14. I better be quiet now: As the title suggests, much more laidback and it's quite nice really. Again, I wonder if this and the next two tracks are meant to convey a message?
15. Can't make a sound: Starts off pretty basic acoustic but then kicks up rather well and I really quite like this one now.
16. Bye: Nice little echoey classical piano to end. Sweet.
End result: More or less as I expected. People will blast me, but I warned ya. I don't hate Smith but I don't love him, and I don't see why he gets the props he does. He was a great songwriter and a good singer, but so were tons of others. Why is he so much better than, say, Dan Fogelberg, David Gates or Neil Hannon? A good album, certainly, but it hasn't changed my mind about Smith, and this is what people seem unable to get: I don't hate him or think he's no good. I just don't get the worship, that's all.
So, Love or Hate? Under the new, less tolerant and more hardline regime, this can only get the very first
Like. It's edging towards Love, but it never quite makes it.