It’s a bit like Photoshopping a William Eggleston photograph. A criticism is the remastering – cracks feel smoothed over, vocals pushed forward, dynamics off.
Some of his most enduring work is here: the Spring breeze of Ballad Of Big Nothing, Between The Bars’ bittersweet 3am fug, the Nilsson-on-a-downer of Say Yes. Listen free to Elliott Smith Either / Or: Expanded Edition (Speed Trials, Alameda and more). The performances are never sloppy, the songs meticulously crafted. Perhaps the key thing here is, though you could call it low-fi (tape hiss, cardboard box-sounding drums etc), it doesn’t lack ambition. This was a home-spun labour of love and it’d make him an alternative star. Smith plays everything himself, recorded on four-tracks at various houses.
His grungier band Heatmiser, had recently dissolved after their major label debut and this – the result of a purple patch of creativity – feels like a reaction to that. And then there’s Smith’s vocals – as if delivering hushed, bittersweet confidences the choirboy gone to seed, smoking behind the church.Įither/Or was Smith’s third solo LP and his last as a cult concern. Like early Big Star or 1968 Beatles, here was a writer capable of perfect pop songs but allowing weirdness, melancholy and dissatisfaction to creep in, creating something markedly different and enormously appealing. Elliott Smith’s songs had that indefinable quality that makes those who fell for them believe that they were written for them and them only.
Just don’t expect to get much mileage out of the bonus features here.It feels strange when albums that feel as personal as handwriting end up receiving the remastered, expanded treatment. If you already own a copy of it, consider going for a double-dip on the strength of the remaster, particularly if you’re a stickler for fidelity. This is the best way to experience this classic album. If you’ve never heard Either/Or before, ignore the “low” score above and get this version of the album. I suppose this is the best excuse to get this material out there-I doubt XO will get its own reissue-but if you’re a bigger fan of Either/Or than you are of the man who made it, you won’t get much out of the extra stuff here. Also, the demos and alternate takes are only of songs from albums that predate and follow Either/Or. Rated 3 in the best albums of 1997, and 63 of all time album. Only two of the five live cuts here consist of songs from the album of which this release marks the twentieth anniversary of. Released 25 February 1997 on Kill Rock Stars (catalog no. These aren’t bad cuts but they’re here to please Elliott Smith devotees more than they’re here to decode Either/Or. What’s less worthwhile are the included live tracks and alternate versions of songs. “Speed Trials” sounds even more sinister with its cleaned-up multi-tracking, and that’s just the first track. Put simply, the album has never sounded better, in the best sense of the term. But whatever concerns that a cleaned-up version of Either/Or would consist of a glossy sheen on a masterwork should be discarded. This edition offers both remastered versions of the whole album as well as a smattering of live songs and alternate versions.Įither/Or is a rather intimate album, one whose bit of roughness could be considered part of its appeal. Crucially, though, this isn’t a review of Either/Or but its expanded anniversary edition. Twenty years later, Either/Or is as alive as when it was new. A testament to Smith’s ear for music and lyrical pen. It is all at once breathtaking, intimate, thrilling, somber, and uplifting. It contains twelve songs which were recorded from 1995 to 1996 at. This is the best album from one of the best singer-songwriters of our time. Either/Or is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Elliott Smith, released on Februby Kill Rock Stars. Elliott Smiths classic 1997 album, Either/Or, is widely regarded as his most notable work. There’s almost nothing to add to the conversation about Either/Or‘s merits. Elliott Smith Either/Or (Expanded Edition) Kill Rock Stars. However, I can’t begrudge anyone who says this is their favorite album of its year, its decade, or of all time. Mainly because OK Computer was the best of the lot.
I can’t go as far as to call Either/Or the best of the lot. And of course, Bjork’s Homogenic and Radiohead’s OK Computer. Oh, and also Modest Mouse’s The Lonesome Crowded West and Ben Folds Five’s Forever and Ever Amen. 1997 was the year of Bob Dylan’s Time Out of Mind, Mogwai’s Young Team, and Erykah Badu’s Baduizm.
That might sound like oddly specific praise, even mitigation, but 1997 was a stacked year for quality work. Kill Rock Stars,Įither/Or is an acceptable pick for the best album of 1997. Elliott Smith's most celebrated album has been reissued, remastered, and expanded.