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Roman Candle
$15.99 CD
$15.99 LP
From a Basement
$15.99 CD
$17.99 LP
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ELLIOTT SMITH
Roman Candle - Remastered
(Kill Rock Stars)
 "Roman Candle"
"Drive All Over Town"
ELLIOTT SMITH
From a Basement on the Hill
(Kill Rock Stars)
"Let's Get Lost"
"Shooting Star"
As a Pacific Northwest native, it's hard to get away from Elliott Smith. His plaintive voice and intricate guitar playing comes down like the rain when you travel through Oregon and Washington, from most every café stereo system and friend's car, he's there right next to you when you're having a beer or picking through a used record bin. I remember waking up on my friend Brandon's floor on New Year's Day, and everybody just wanted to listen to Elliott -- like he was some kind of baroque-pop hangover balm. But for a brief period of time, before singing "Miss Misery" at the Oscars in 1998, before signing with DreamWorks Records, and before his suicide placed him firmly in the canon of mythical Evergreen songwriters who were lost too soon, Smith's records were still passed around like a handshake, and we praised his glory in whispers and fervent nods. The magic was, and still is, very real; I don't listen to him as much as I used to, kind of the way that I don't spin Revolver as much as I used to. But when I do visit the chapel that has become Elliott Smith, I still get chills from the heavenly swells of multi-track harmonies, Alex Chilton-isms, and that wounded, crackling voice.
Arguably, Smith's most beloved albums came out on the Olympia, Washington indie label Kill Rock Stars (who put out Elliott Smith, Either/Or, and the posthumous release New Moon), and the label has spent years working hard to maintain Smith's legacy. Now, with the re-release of Smith's debut, Roman Candle (originally on Cavity Search), and the first posthumous record, From a Basement on the Hill (originally an ANTI- Records release), they have consolidated Smith's entire catalog save the two DreamWorks albums. One of the more notable items of importance to come from this game of record company politics is the re-mastering of Roman Candle, courtesy of Larry Crane, who is the editor of Tape Op Magazine and the archivist for Smith's family. Crane removes some of the more alarming squeaks and rattles from Elliott's close-mic'd playing style, and for a vast majority of his fans, this is a very good thing -- that infernal noise made from sliding your finger roughly against a guitar string, that strange hiss that results from multi-tracked hard consonants? Most of them are gone or softened to the point of being background ambience even on loud listens. Conversely, this will be a major sore spot for some Smith fans, who have become so intimate with his records that every squeak is an inexorable part of the whole, and perhaps enjoy his music partially for the sense that each listen feels like eavesdropping.
The songs on the debut, like the standout "Condor Avenue," are resilient and defiant as ever. The "No Name" tracks that make up half of the record retain their melodic surface charm and delicacy while Smith's lyrics effectively communicate the spitfire and rage just underneath. As for the first post-suicide record, From a Basement on the Hill, it remains one of the scariest and most crushing albums in pop music history. The dissonant, crunchy opening of "Coast to Coast" is the antithesis of the bright chord that kicked off The Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night." Smith's crackling voice and distorted guitar sound like instruments engaged in a final battle with themselves, and on "Don't Go Down" Smith channels his "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" to even greater effect. And yet there was also ample indication on From a Basement on the Hill that a different Elliott Smith was struggling to emerge, full of renewed vigor to complete his best album and get clean; it's evident in his lyrics: "I feel pretty, pretty enough for you/I felt so ugly before, I didn't know what to do." And then...well, you know the rest. [MS] (Reissued 2010)
Order Roman Candle CD by Texting "omcdelliottroman" to 767825
Order Roman Candle LP by Texting "omlpelliottroman" to 767825
Order From a Basement CD by Texting "omcdelliottfrom" to 767825
Order From a Basement LP by Texting "omlpelliottfrom" to 767825 |
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The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
The Drums
