Elliott Smith - Either/Or POLL (+ 20th anniversary reissue news)

the people that made the Heaven Adores You movie had a real opportunity to do something like that, and imo the soundtrack was a serious letdown. if they had access and permission to release "True Love," which is from the Dreamworks years/Brion sessions, why did they pad the rest of the thing with songs taken straight off of already released albums? "LA," "Everything Means Nothing to Me," "Happiness," and "Son of Sam" are all already widely available on his records. And I hate that "The Last Hour" is listed as an early/alternate version, but it's exactly the same take that was put on Basement. What a waste of space. I'm pretty sure the family put the kibosh on releasing "Abused" and "Suicide Machine" back when Basement was compiled, but I don't know why they didn't include stuff like "Everything's Okay" or "Stickman." Actually, "See You in Heaven" would've been perfect for a soundtrack, given that it's an instrumental.

I mean, this Dreamworks era compilation already exists as a multi-disc bootleg called Grand Mal, y'all should check it out if you haven't, it's all over YouTube...

Hey I know this is my 3rd post in this thread about the same song. Someone mentioned to me that "Everybody Has It" was possibly written by Tony Lash and not Elliott. Was wondering if anyone can confirm/deny.

tried looking up its BMI registry, came up blank. Did a little digging and it seems like Tony wrote it.

Wow, that band really did have compatible songwriters.

sweet interview with Larry Crane about building Jackpot! with Elliott, recording with him, and remastering/compiling the materials for the Either/Or reissue. https://www.fretboardjournal.com/podcast/podcast-132-recording-engineer-larry-crane-elliott-smith/

Just listened through XO for the first time in many years. To my shame had pretty much forgotten about the existence of Oh Well, Okay though I bet I could still play it on guitar if I sat down to it.

By comparison to either/or it seems much more like a collection of stuff he got recorded while he had access to a studio, an album in the truest sense of the word, whereas either/or feels very much like you're visiting the same psychic and sonic space on every track.

Watched Heaven Adores You again and realised there's a version of King's Crossing from one of the Murder Of Crows tapes played in the background early in the film, which I missed the first time around. He kept that tune a loooong time.

Flappy you have a wealth of knowledge on all things Elliott and I completely agree with your opinion of the Heaven Adores You soundtrack. While some of Elliott's earliest recordings are interesting as a curiosity there's so many unreleased and just straight up obscure tunes in the archives that they didn't touch. I can only hope that DreamWorks said ok to a track or two, but are waiting to do reissue's of XO and Figure 8 or just compiling a New Moon type collection of their own.

Hey flaps do you know anything about the song True Love, like when it was written and recorded?

This song finally jumped out at me today, and wow it's fantastic. Both lyrics and arrangement. This has happened separately with what, literally almost 100 songs now since his death, and that's not including FABOTH and New Moon! It's just mindblowing. This guy will always be my favorite.

"true love is a rose behind glass" this guy and his drug references
http://i.imgur.com/jDhb7Pz.jpg

True Love was recorded and completed with Jon Brion in early 2001. Elliott showed up with the song on a two-inch reel the night he got to Dave McConnell's studio, great anecdote here from the p4k oral history:

When he showed up, it was around 2 a.m., and he was in two cars; his girlfriend [Valerie Deerin] was driving one car and he was driving the other car, and both cars were full of all of his belongings. I mean everything from his apartment. I was thinking he was gonna show up with a suitcase and a backpack and a couple of guitars, but it was like five guitars, a giant keyboard, amps, and then five suitcases of clothes. He had toys, books, you name it. And then he had medication, and various other things.

He also brought all his his two-inch reels that he was working on at Jon’s house. So we drank a couple of beers and I gave him the tour of the place and everything, and then he goes, "OK, there’s a song on here that I recorded by myself at Jon’s place that I want to keep, that I really like. Why don’t you just mix this song for me and I’ll be back in the morning.” Then he left. He was like, "I’ve got some errands to run right now, I’ve got some stuff I gotta do.” Remember, this is 2 a.m.—well no, by now it’s 4 a.m., because we had talked about my philosophy on recording and producing for two hours.

So I put the reel on the machine and I started listening to the song, just by myself. And the first time I heard it, just pushing up the faders so I could hear the different instruments and his voice, I got the chills. It was one of the most haunting, beautiful songs I’d ever heard. It sounded nothing like the music I’d heard him do before. It sounded way more intricate, way more complex.

It reminded me of Rachmaninoff, but with lyrics, with a story. Sitting in there alone, I almost had an out-of-body experience because I knew that I was about to work on one of the best things I’d ever worked on in my life. So I spent the next three or four hours mixing the song, which was called "True Love Is a Rose". It's a shame because that song never ended up on the album. He wanted it to be on the album, it was one of his favorites.

So he finally got back, listened to my mix, loved it, and then he says, "Let’s start recording another song." At this point he probably hasn’t slept in two days.

imo "True Love is a Rose" is a much better title, I assume Elliott abbreviated it at some point before he died (sort of like how "A Fond Farewell" was called "A Dying Man in a Living Room" for a while).

I don't know why it wasn't included on FABOTH - couldn't have been the grim drug content, or that it was from the Brion sessions (Twilight was also completed with him). Amazing song, pretty remarkable that his abilities as a songwriter, lyricist, and recording artist accelerated along with his drug abuse, even if he was a fucking mess live. Dunno how he was able to record these incredibly complicated and intricate songs - all by himself, every instrument - while being a total butterfingers live, even in 2003 as he was getting better.

wow. thanks. gotta read that p4k thing, haven't got around to it yet.

did this motherfucker write a GOOD song EVERY DAY? it's just stupid

new old interview uploaded the other day, from 9/16/96

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYgspts1c6c

sweet video of Angeles & Coming Up Roses- the cover of Either/Or was taken backstage at this show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKDYeWzk5-c

arrgh if the camera were just a little to the left so we could see his fingers...

also, that Bocephus shirt would be the ultimate piece of ES memorabilia, wonder if it's out there somewhere

this one's a bit better:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzHsRMAz348

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

The whole of that show from Tempe (supporting Sebadoh) where the cover of either/or was shot is also on YouTube, from the other angle, albeit in slightly poorer quality.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBFvlYn6PhU

After much careful deliberation, I went with "Say Yes," which is the first Elliott Smith song I ever heard

yesterday i read an interview between elliott and mary lou lord from early 1998, and elliott said he wrote Say Yes and Between the Bars in one sitting while watching Xena: Warrior Princess with the sound off 😳

i would like to ask elliott in what way does "i figured you out" sound like the eagles. love that song. mll does alright by it.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

All songs accounted for. Marvelous, as it should be.

I had a moment where I thought I should have made sure 2:45 got one, but I'm glad someone was on it.