Elliott Smith
By ArtistInTheAmbulance & Crowquill
A Brief Biography
Elliott Smith was born in Omaha, Nebraska on August 9th, 1969 and died at 34 on October 21st, 2003. He was raised in Texas and moved around alot, from New York to California, though he spent the majority of his life in Portland, Oregon.
Elliott Smith played in two bands prior to Heatmiser, those bands were Stranger Than Fiction and A Murder Of Crows, there is only one known recording by both those bands which is The Machine by Stranger Than Fiction.
His solo career began in 94 when Roman Candle was released on Cavity Search though he'd been recording by himself on a four track for a long time. In 95 he released his Self-Titled and 97 Either/or both of which were on Kill Rock Stars which would later release the post-humus compilation New Moon. He would later sign onto DreamWork Records which released XO in 98 and Figure 8 in 2000. His most popular song was Miss Misery which was written for the Good Will Hunting soundtrack, he was nominated for an Oscar but lost to Celine Dion, he never showed any disappointment over this loss, if anything he showed relief. His two latest releases are From A Basement On The Hill which came out in October 19, 2004 on ANTI records and New Moon came out May 8th 2007 on Kill Rock Stars. There has been talk of more releases since its been reported Elliott had a catalogue of music that rivaled many singer/songwriters entire body of work and b-side sites have confirmed there is a good deal many that still remain unreleased.
Elliott Smith influenced a variety of musicians and that influence is most likely only just starting to show notable musicians hes influenced are: Blake Sennett, Kevin Devine, Ben Folds, Jenny Lewis, Conor Oberst, Emily Haines, Pete Krebs, Aaron Espinoza, Madeleine Peyroux and others.
Elliott's Sound
His first two releases Roman Candle and Elliott Smith are primarily low-fi acoustic in vein of Nick Drake. Though with Elliott Smith he introduced more instruments which would show what to come with Either/or.
Either/or, which is considered by many to be his best album serves as sort of a bridge between his nick drake-esque lo-fi stuff to his Beatles influenced baroque pop and clean acoustic sound that would come later.
His two major label releases after that XO and Figure 8 hold an obvious Beatles influence as well as cleaner more put together sounding acoustic songs that incorporate a variety of instruments and sounds he never had access to before.
From a Basement On the Hill is really just a compilation, it contains some of his most experimental tracks such as King's Crossing and Shooting Star as well as his stripped down acoustic songs like Twilight. New Moon is a compilation of songs from his Elliott Smith/Either/or era, so its sound is similar to that.
Discography and Recommended Tracks:
Roman Candle
Suggested Tracks:
No Name #1
Condor Ave.
No Name #3
Roman Candle
Elliott Smith
Suggested Tracks:
St. Ides Heaven
The Biggest Lie
Needle In The Hay
Coming Up Roses
Either/Or
Suggested Tracks:
Between the Bars
Angeles
Rose Parade
Say Yes
Alameda
XO
Suggested Tracks:
Waltz #2 (XO)
Pitseleh
Baby Britain
A Question Mark
Independence Day
Figure 8
Suggested Tracks:
Everything Reminds Me Of Her
Wouldn't Mama Be Proud?
Happiness
LA
Can't Make a Sound
From A Basement On The Hill
Suggested Tracks:
King's Crossing
Twilight
A Fond Farewell
Lets Get Lost
Pretty (Ugly Before)
New Moon
Suggested Tracks:
All Cleaned Out
New Monkey
Whatever (Folk Song in C)
High Times
Thirteen
sweet adeline | the official elliott smith site - by fans
MySpace.com - Elliott Smith - Rock / Pop / Acoustic - www.myspace.com/elliottsmithnewmoon