Elliott Smith. An Education For Mr. Toad

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Well now, I’m in the mood for this! Given Matthew’s admitance last week that he knew very little about Elliott Smith I thought it would be a good idea to write about him and to play some tunes by him, for his benefit upon his return from holiday, for those of you who have little knowledge of him, and also for everyone who reads this site and loves his music. Cause let’s be honest, there’s never a point when you can have had too much Elliott Smith now is there?

I guess there’s no point delving into his tragic death – was it murder or was it suicide? I guess we’ll never know, but his death shook me to my core because he was one of the most important musicians for me growing up and still is essential listening for me. I’ve been listening to him since I was at school and there’s not a huge amount of artists I can say that about. Whilst Kurt Cobain’s death shocked me, Elliott Smith’s death totally saddened me. Thinking that he’ll never produce new material is quite a disappointment, but then fortunately we have plenty of amazing material to enjoy from his all too short life . I think it was Mr Bear who said last week that there are no bad Elliott Smith albums, let alone mediocre. And I completely agree.

The starting point for me was XO, his 4th studio album working my way back through Either/Or, his self titled album and his debut Roman Candle. I remember his 5th album Figure 8 coming out when I was living in the Netherlands and making my way to the indie record store to get my hands on it. I remember this particularly well as Mule Variations by Tom Waits and Come On Die Young by Mogwai came out about the same time. These 3 albums are still 3 of my favourites – though my copy of Figure 8 has gone missing since. If anyone borrowed it off me could I get it back please, I will buy another copy, but that one had sentimental value! And then we have his final album From the Basement On the Hill, which was never actually finished by Smith himself prior to his death. And finally his pothumus release New Moon, a collection of rareities and b-sides from the Either/Or, XO period of his life.

None of these albums is bad. Not one. I love them all. But if I had to pick one that has stuck with me then it would definitely be my starting point of XO. This was the first time that he truly fleshed out his songs. The bare bones and stripped back lo-fi of the first 3 albums was replaced with a more produced sound and fuller use of instrumentation on this particular album and was the change in direction that would continue on both Figure 8 and From a Basement on a Hill. I think most fans are divided at this point. They either love Either/Or and everything before it or XO and everything after it. I fall into the second bracket. However, I do love the first 3 albums as well.

Anyways, this post was never about whats better or whats worse because its a moot point. He simply was a genius and I love everything he’s done. His music deserves to be heard by everyone and he should be more widely credited for the wonderful albums he produced. So please, sit back, relax and enjoy a variety of his tunes.

No Name#1 from the album Roman Candle – Elliott Smith