Should the pesky kids in your life be deaf to everything but what’s screamed out by blubbing monkeys on The X Factor, should you be nearing tears yourself on the back of the conundrum that pits you somewhere between recognising Simon Cowell’s unifying impact on your family’s Saturday nights and his evil death grip on the gullet of the arts, should you be reaching, grasping for some gentle way of re-educating the generation below yours, well, have I got just the yoke for you.
On October 29, Domino will release An Introduction to … Elliott Smith on CD and lovely collectable vinyl. It will feature fourteen tracks compiled from all seven of Elliott’s albums: Roman Candle, Elliott Smith, Either/Or, XO, Figure 8, From A Basement on the Hill, and New Moon. Domino state their intention as “enabling new generations to learn about Elliott’s music by providing a pathway for people to delve more deeply into his immensely satisfying catalogue.” This is wonderfully noble. This is what big brothers are for, you know, the best big brothers who do amazingly philanthropic things like introduce you to Radiohead, by way of compensation for introducing you to Iron Maiden (hi, Seán!).
The tracklisting goes:
1 Ballad of Big Nothing - from Either/Or 2. Waltz #2 - from XO 3. Pictures of Me - from Either/Or 4. The Biggest Lie - from Elliott Smith 5. Alameda - from Either/Or 6. Between The Bars - from Either/Or 7.Needle In The Hay - from Elliott Smith 8. Last Call - from Roman Candle 9. Angles - from Either/Or 10. Twilight - from From a Basement on the Hill 11.Pretty (Ugly Before) - from From a Basement on the Hill 12. Angel In the Snow - from New Moon 13. Miss Misery (early version) - from New Moon 14. Happiness (single version) - from Figure 8
What?! No Son Of Sam? Bastards. Here’s Between The Bars instead:
Elliott Smith - Between The Bars by DominoRecordCo
How something so whispery-thin and delicate could be so filling is a question for a physicist, which I’m not. Nor was the Last.FM user I recently witnessed posting “Great stuff! When can we expect a new album?” on the very late Elliott’s page; Gawd bless the pair of us.
I’ve recently been re-listening to a lot of Elliott Smith, you’re so right about the whispery-think sound having so much depth. I would urge everyone to get this album.