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Thread: Elliott Smith

  1. #1
    All around crackpot LumtheMad's Avatar
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    Here's some information in regards to the album he was working on before his death.(what a damn damn damn shame)

    Nine months after Elliott Smith's death, his final album is being prepared for an October release.

    From a Basement on the Hill is slated for an October 19 release on Anti- Records, nearly a year to the day after Smith’s death. The singer had almost completed the album before he died from knife wounds suffered in his Los Angeles apartment on October 21 (see "Singer/Songwriter Elliott Smith Dead; Friends, Fellow Musicians Pay Tribute"). Although initial speculation pointed toward suicide, the circumstances of his death are the subject of an ongoing investigation.

    The album was assembled by Smith's longtime producer, Rob Schnapf, and Joanna Bolme, Smith's onetime girlfriend and current bassist for Stephen Malkmus' band, the Jicks, who worked on his 1997 breakthrough album, Either/Or. Smith's family commissioned the pair to help finish the album, which Smith had recorded over the course of three years.

    Using a combination of detective work, instinct and notes and demos Smith left behind, Schnapf and Bolme carefully steered the album in the direction they believed Smith intended.

    Originally conceived as a double album, the final version of From a Basement on a Hill has been pared down to 15 tracks that run the gamut of Smith's musical styles.

    Lyrically, the subject matter is less impressionistic than Smith's previous album, Figure 8, and more direct and confessional about his tumultuous life and drug abuse. "Shooting Star" and "Fond Farewell" all contain allusions to his troubled final years. ("The cold comfort of the in-between/ A little less than a human being/ A little less than a happy high/ A little less than a suicide" — "Fond Farewell.") "Strung Out Again" conveys the fallout of drug addiction: "Just looking in the mirror will make you a brave man/ I know my place, hate my face."

    Musically, the album reconciles Smith's two musical identities — the haunting, raw-nerve acoustic work of his early records and the more expansive, psychedelic and symphonic pop of his later material — taking its aural cues from the lo-fi aesthetics of 1997's Either/Or while maintaining the exploratory nature of his final albums, XO and Figure 8.

    While the songwriting is sophisticated, the sound is intentionally rough around the edges, with a distinct element of controlled chaos.

    Some tracks are uncharacteristically heavy and build to crescendos of explosive guitars and drums ("Coast to Coast," "Shooting Star"). Musically, "Strung Out Again" bridges these two worlds, beginning with delicate acoustics before bursting open with abrasive drums and fuzzy, swirling guitar overdubs.

    Opening with a droning interlude of mumbling spoken-word passages and ghostly noise, "Coast to Coast" is one of Smith's most ambitious studio creations. The oblique opus soon erupts with a distorted cacophony of drums played by the Flaming Lips' Steven Drozd and former Beachwood Sparks member Aaron Sperske.

    Conversely, the most emotionally arresting track, "Twilight" — a vulnerable, melancholy acoustic number — harkens back to Smith's seminal Either/Or disc. Other songs also closely cling to spare and raw minimalism ("Little One," "Let's Get Lost"). Ardent fans will recognize many of the album's songs from Smith's stark acoustic performances over the years.

    The album concludes with an alternate, updated version of "A Distorted Reality Is Now a Necessity to Be Free," the B-side to Smith's last single ("Pretty [Ugly Before]") that was originally released on Suicide Squeeze Records in August of 2003. The new version, free of the "Strawberry Fields"-ish organ, is still Beatlesque but contains drastically different, vaguely political lyrics: "It's so disappointing, first I put it all down to luck/ God knows why my country don't give a f---."

    The track will be available a few months before the release of Basement (August 10) on the Future Soundtrack for America, a compilation assembled by Barsuk Records and McSweeny's Publishing to benefit Moveon.org and similar organizations.

    Thirty-four tracks were recorded for the From a Basement on the Hill sessions, and currently there are no specific plans for the remaining 19 songs. B-sides and unreleased material from Smith's two previous albums fall under his contract with DreamWorks Records (which is now owned by Universal Music Group) and it is presently unknown if and when that material will see the light of day, though demoed material for XO called "The Jackpot Sessions" has recently leaked online. Basement is being released on Anti- because Smith’s contract with DreamWorks allowed him to release albums on smaller independent labels.

    From a Basement on the Hill track list, according to Smith's longtime publicist:

    * "Coast to Coast"
    * "Let's Get Lost"
    * "Pretty (Ugly Before)"
    * "Don't Go Down"
    * "Strung Out Again"
    * "Fond Farewell"
    * "King's Crossing"
    * "Ostriches & Chirping"
    * "Twilight"
    * "A Passing Feeling"
    * "Last Hour"
    * "Shooting Star"
    * "Memory Lane"
    * "Little One"
    * "A Distorted Reality Is Now a Necessity to Be Free"
    I do not suppose I shall be remembered for anything. But I don't think about my work in those terms. It is just as vulgar to work for the sake of posterity as to work for the sake of money.

    Orson Welles

  2. #2
    Senior Member fd's Avatar
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    I shall be checking that out
    IF YOU CANT BEAT THEM, AVOID THEM FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE.

  3. #3
    All around crackpot LumtheMad's Avatar
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    Love his music. He was a very talented guy. I'll be interested to hear this new one. I was really excited about it when he was living. I still am excited now but nowing it's some of the last things we'll ever hear thats new also sad.....
    I do not suppose I shall be remembered for anything. But I don't think about my work in those terms. It is just as vulgar to work for the sake of posterity as to work for the sake of money.

    Orson Welles

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    I already have it.. its great.





    so far, last track is hittin the hardest.. very nice hook
    -TheXodus-

  5. #5
    All around crackpot LumtheMad's Avatar
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    So how would you compare it to his other work? I really enjoyed his last two albums for Dreamworks......
    I do not suppose I shall be remembered for anything. But I don't think about my work in those terms. It is just as vulgar to work for the sake of posterity as to work for the sake of money.

    Orson Welles

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    Figure 8 was great.. this somehow did me right..

    its a good mix of dark guitar driven, acoustic and beatlistic numbers.. the final song on the cd sounds like the beatles..


    it sucks he's gone.. and that he didnt finish the album...
    -TheXodus-

  7. #7
    All around crackpot LumtheMad's Avatar
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    Th uncompleted work of Elliott Smith i am sure is far greater than the completed work of most.

    Figure 8 is a gem. Great songs and great production. He was hitting on everything for that album. XO is also great. I love Waltz #2.
    I do not suppose I shall be remembered for anything. But I don't think about my work in those terms. It is just as vulgar to work for the sake of posterity as to work for the sake of money.

    Orson Welles

  8. #8
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    Originally posted by LumtheMad@Aug 30 2004, 07:12 PM
    Th uncompleted work of Elliott Smith i am sure is far greater than the completed work of most.

    Figure 8 is a gem. Great songs and great production. He was hitting on everything for that album. XO is also great. I love Waltz #2.
    if u want it.. hook up wiht me on soul seek


    my screen name is the same on here...
    -TheXodus-

  9. #9
    All around crackpot LumtheMad's Avatar
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    Thanks Sd! I'll try and do that!
    I do not suppose I shall be remembered for anything. But I don't think about my work in those terms. It is just as vulgar to work for the sake of posterity as to work for the sake of money.

    Orson Welles

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