I keep watching movies where the director (or musical coordinator) chooses to lay down a quiet plaintive acoustic guitar song over the most poignant moment of the movie. And every time that happens, and I say “wow, that song is quite nice, I’d like to listen to more songs like that,” and look up who sings the song. And for the last two weeks, I keep finding out that it’s (the lamentably late) Elliott Smith.
So, Dopers who are already fans: if I want to begin adding his albums to my collection, which one(s) do I start with? Are there stinkers to be avoided?
My tastes in this neighborhood of music are tough to describe. I like Beth Orton, Dar Williams, Natalie Merchant, and have been acquiring a taste for Aimee Mann. I prefer older David Gray and Dave Matthews to newer; I like Nick Drake and Beck’s latest album just fine. I love short melodic tunes by the Grateful Dead. I deeply dislike Pink Floyd, most of The Cure, The Grateful Dead when they noodle, and most of what could be described as “emo” with the notable exception of the soundtrack from Garden State.
Now I am not as much of a fan of his as a lot of people I know, but I can atleast help you out some. Take all this with a grain of salt - somebody more knowledgable will be along shortly to help you out even more.
Meanwhile…
Most people, from what I can gather, consider “XO”, “Either/Or”, or “from a basement on the hill” to be his best works. XO has the song from Keeping the Faith and I believe Either/Or has a track from Good Will Hunting. Either/Or is some of his earlier, more raw material while XO probably contains the most production out of any of his albums. This isn’t a bad thing; in fact, it is hardly noticable.
Anyway, From a Basement on the Hill is probably his saddest work, since it is both posthumous and vaugely suicidal in tone. I enjoy it the most, but I really haven’t listened to any of his other works all that much. You can find some tracks to listen to off of his (the?) website, but really if you want whispy, sad Elliot Smith songs, you can’t really miss if you buy an Elliot Smith record.
Smith contributed heavily to the Good Will Hunting soundtrack, and his song “Needle In the Hay” (a sad song about his own heroin problems) featured prominently in *The Royal Tenenbaums * as well. I agree that XO and Either/Or are both great Smith albums, but I probably listen to XO more because of the waltzes on there.
Here’s a good online introduction to Elliott Smith. It’s a tribute show made when he died and it has some of his best music and some interviews about him. The first two songs on it are IMHO his best (Miss Misery and Waltz #2).
As for albums I also vote for X/O and Either/Or about equally. Not much controversy here. But man I wish he’d lived to make more.
If you like him, may I suggest you give Rufus Wainwright a go, and also Sufjan Stevens. I’m only familiar with Sufjan Stevens from his recently released Illinois(e) and it really makes me want to check out his earlier work.
There are no stinkers, and there aren’t that many so you can just grab them all. I think Roman Candle’s still my fave.
We’d been following (worshipping) him since he was in Heatmiser and the household was gravely shocked and horrified by his suicide. What a waste.