Elliott Smith
 

Elliott Smith
By ArtistInTheAmbulance & Crowquill

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b6...elliott_bw.jpg

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

ahhhh I love his music. I don't have either/or or XO though... :(

XO is my favorite album, either/or is good but not one of his best. I'll upload them at some point for you over the next week.

Really? Thanks!

I think my favourite album is either Figure 8 or From a Basement on the Hill

Either/Or is his only good album and everythig else is trash.

Really. Well, I suppose everyone's entitled to their view, even if it is completely and utterly wrong...

At least you can admit it.

Chris says:
well, i've decided it is about a needle in a haystack, and he's happy because he keeps finding it
ethan (wear your makeup like a weapon.) says:
hahah okay
ethan (wear your makeup like a weapon.) says:
and bungalow is gonna reply saying
ethan (wear your makeup like a weapon.) says:
either/or is his only good album all his other work is ****
Chris says:
groovy

I'm just consistant :p:

Love Elliott.

Favorite album, From a Basment on a Hill.
Closely followed by Either/Or

Consistently wrong.

^ seconded

Another case of someone who wouldn't be hyped half as much as he is if he never commited suicide.

Either/or is brilliant. From a Basement on a Hill, XO, Figure 8, all garbage.

I didn't know he was dead until I had heard half his albums, and I still thought he was amazing. Stop making excuses for being wrong, and face the truth.

Thank you for exposing me to the truth Enlightened One. His albums suck.

Shit.

lol, the evidence was inconclusive it could've been murder. IGNORANCE FTW!

You make no sense, how you could like either/or then dismiss off his entire body of work as garbage is pretty stupid. But I suppose thats another expletive deleted opinion?

Please explain to me why either/or stands out and is so much better then the rest, why does it polarise the rest of his back catalogue in such a startling manner?

Also something I find funny about you saying From A Basement On The Hill is garbage.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y83...mabasement.jpg

and your proof of this is?...

Plus, now you're being contradictory. haha you lose.

I'm not sure how Expletive Deleted feels on the subject, let's wait for her to post. And Either/or doesn't polarize his 'back catalouge'. Either/or is his back catalouge. After Good Will Hunting, and after he left Kill Rock Stars, his music sucked. Either/or is great, he was a one album wonder.

And I guess you also feel that the evidence was inconclusive if Kurt Cobain killed himself too?
People can't accept that musicians commit suicide. He hari karied himself, end of story.

I guess I have to re-state that I like Either/or every post for you.

EDIT: Inevitably ethan will point out that s/t and roman candle came out before either/or.
It's funny that you are trying to convince me that my opinion is wrong. Either/or is good, his other albums really suck.

I could care less about Kurt Cobain, the fact is it was declared inconclusive. Lighten up seriously.

You're full of contradictions, you say all either/or is a good album. Then say all his albums suck. (as pointed out by moonlit). You also say, after he left Kill Rock Stars his music sucked, yet he didn't just release either/or on kill rock stars he also released self titled. Another contradiction. And I wasn't aware either/or was his back catalogue, brand new news to me.

EDIT: Nice, edit your post after I post mine in hopes to make me look dumb. Genius move and I didn't include Roman Candle because it was released on Cavity Search.

I'm yet to listen to that album for the albums thing, but Laith loves this guy. So I ussually like alot of his taste so lets just wait and see

Firstly, my edit wasn't after yours, and if it was it was by a split second seeing as I never saw your post before my edit. Secondly, check your facts, for your sake, before you say dumb things. Either/or was on Kill Rock Stars, in fact it was his final album on that label.

His death was ruled a suicide, so if you an a couple other conspirators wanna say it was 'inconclusive' then go for it. I'll stick to believing the people who examined evidence, and who are trained to make those kind of desicions.

No it wasnt, do your research it was declared inconclusive as of 06.

And I never said either/or wasn't released on kill rock stars. "he didn't just release either/or on kill rock stars he also released self titled."

Learn to read n00b.

I am aware of what albums he released on Kill Rock Stars, and of them, Either/or is the only one worth buying.
He sucks, you can go listen to your singer songwriter sh*t and suck Bright Eyes and Elliott Smith's balls all you want. Doesn't change the fact that 90% of their output is garbage.

lol, temper temper mr facts. You should go to teh doctor for last word syndrome fo real.

Talk about contradiction.

It's natural for scene kids to d*ck ride their favorite musicians and not give it up.

I'd like to point out to you Alex that you love love loved Bright Eyes for the longest time. I don't know if you do now but now you're saying he's bad. quit being a contradictory elitist

I do like Bright Eyes, once again, about 2 albums.

And seeing as this is no longer an elliott smith disucussion in anyway, the arguement is over.

Back to his music,

hxxp://www.sendspace.com/file/bg7l8a - XO

hxxp://www.sendspace.com/file/zm1t93 - From A Basement On The Hill

hxxp://www.sendspace.com/file/6jvsoa - either/or

If I find anymore links i'll post them.

I have no idea why Ethan seems to think that Alex steals his opinions from me or whatever, since other than both liking Screamo and a few popular Indie bands, our tastes are pretty different. Anyway, I like Either/Or (bit overrated, though), and haven't really bothered listening to the rest of his albums. I don't really care if Alex thinks they're garbage or if Ethan thinks they're the best thing ever, because I'm just not interested in listening to Elliott Smith anymore than I do now.

Happy?

Oh, and Rufus Wainwright > Jesus > Elliott Smith > Bright Eyes.

I really didn't like From a Basement on the Hill it just isn't my type of music. I wouldn't mind listening to it, but it's really nothing I could possibly scream about

Eliot is amazing. He's probably one of the most poetic and influential musicians for a really long time.

My favorite album of his probably From the Basement on a Hill
And off that album I love: Lets Get Lost, Fond farewell, King's Crossing, Last Hour, and Shooting Star

I think my favorite song of all time from him is Cupid's trick his either/or album

He did wrote great songs though. Either/or is my favorite album.




Best Nick Drake rip off ever :)

Elliott Smith is easilly one of my favourite acoustic artists, From A Basement On A Hill is my favourite album.

Rufus Wainwright DOES kick ass, but I don't know if I'd compare him to Smith, myself.

P.S Thanks for the albums Crowquill!

I just ordered Either/Or off of interpunk, I liked a few songs I had found online and figured i'd buy an album. If I really like that album then i'll probably buy a couple more.

^WOO!

I don't really see the whole Nick Drake rip-off thing...

&, his death dayy is coming up.
October 21stt.
that is all.

elliott* from a basement on the hill*

Yeah, same here..They have folk in common..i personally dont hear too much of a resemblance.

swimintheundertow is stealing my lines now?

:(

:'(