Elliot Smith

Anton17

After years of coercion I've decided to give Elliot Smith a try. Not really a big fan of singer/songwriter stuff, cos they're almost always overrated e.g Jeff Buckley, Damien Rice, Rufus Wainright... I do like Aimee Mann though and apparently her stuffs not disimmilar to Smiths.
So anyways, what album should I start of with, something more accesible would be good. Any suggestions?

440Hz

Start with XO or Either/Or def the best. Im not sure I could pick between the two... maybe chronologically might be best. Lots of Elliott Smith fans would say that Figure 8 was not a good album anyway, but thats rather controversial!! :eek: Roman candle and Elliott Smith are good two but I would say to start with Either/Or first and then XO. Personally, my favourite is XO. Excellent album.

Enjoy!!!!

dead air

XO. Every track on that album is excellent.

nickcave

440Hz wrote:

Start with XO or Either/Or def the best. Im not sure I could pick between the two... maybe chronologically might be best. Lots of Elliott Smith fans would say that Figure 8 was not a good album anyway, but thats rather controversial!! :eek: Roman candle and Elliott Smith are good two but I would say to start with Either/Or first and then XO. Personally, my favourite is XO. Excellent album.

Enjoy!!!!

Yeah I agree. If you don't like Either/Or, you surely won't like any of his others.

garthv

Or get the Good Will Hunting Soundtrack, he did a load of tracks on that, its the album that got me into him

su_dios

Love his stuff! Bit ironic though to have "needle in the hay" playing during the attempted suicide scene in The Royal Tenenbaums? Anyway I got into him after listening to the soundtrack to that film that my mate had, then I eventually got the chance to watch the film, loved it and bought either/or. Got everything else since. Maybe too many filler tracks throughout his discography though?

nickcave

su_dios wrote:

Maybe too many filler tracks throughout his discography though?

I can't think of a single one. My least favourite of his are Christian Brothers and Last Call, but there are many people who really like them. There's a very distinct possibility that I'm biased, but I think that all his stuff is at least likeable, some just take time to get into. He also had plenty of songs that never made it onto any album, so it wasn't as if he rushed any of them in to lengthen the album.

Anton17

Thanks, I picked up XO this morning, it's 9.99 in tower. Can't seem to find either/or anywhere though.

emc2

I would suggest picking up from a basement on a hill next. It's a super super album.

lordgoat

Last Call - Sick of it all...

Figure 8 is my fav album by a longs ways but that doesn't mean i don't like the rest...

440Hz

Anton17 wrote:

Thanks, I picked up XO this morning, it's 9.99 in tower. Can't seem to find either/or anywhere though.

Try online play.com or something. cheaper too.

ChuckProphet

I think Either/Or is his masterpiece. Then XO, then figure 8. The best solo male artist of the last 10 years by a long shot.

sweetie

ChuckProphet wrote:

I think Either/Or is his masterpiece. Then XO, then figure 8. The best solo male artist of the last 10 years by a long shot.

Have to agree. Ryan Adams isn't fit to lick his boots. Was an honour to
meet him years ago at his tbmc gig. What a lovely, humble person.

Pitseleh

I can't think of a better place to begin than 'From A Basement On The Hill' and the undescribably splendiferous opening track 'Coast To Coast'. That's where I did and never looked back. I think that would've truly been his masterpiece if he'd completed it.

Anton17

I put X0 on my ipod to listen to on the bus home from college. Fell asleep after the first few songs, it seem really good though, quality nap it was too.

Basq

Have loads of Elliott Smith's stuff scattered round various CD's and stuff for a couple of years. I have always loved his stuff and was severely saddened when the news of his suicide hit.

Updated my CD collection recently and got everything he ever done.. even some rare B-sides and early demos (early version of 'Bottle Up & Explode' being truly fantastic).

The man is, in my eyes anyways, a true musical genius.. and it seems sad that he's now most appreciated after his death.. but isn't that always the way!

RIP Elliott!

Jimmy_Jazz

ChuckProphet wrote:

The best solo male artist of the last 10 years by a long shot.

I'd say the last 20-odd years. He's up there with Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen in my mind.

toffeapple

What tragic waste...he is missed..we have to listen to poxy David Gray releasing the same album every couple of years

Admiral Scoop

Just buy all of his albums. ALL of them are great albums although Roman Candle is probably my least favourite. If you look on his official message board, which is on www.sweetadeline.net you can download his demos and unreleased songs from the last album which includes a cover of Cat Stephens' song trouble. There's 24 songs (I think) and they're all pretty good.

lordgoat

www.elliottsmithbsides.com

it's got them all, you can get torrents of old hows too, there's a few websites but sweetaddy has link to most of them

i love elliott

future butterfly, gonna spend the day....