Let's talk about one of the biggest songwriters of the 90s if not ever
>fav song?
>best album?
>anything
Elliott Smith thread
Ayden Murphy
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Christian Martinez
Elliott a cute!!
Owen Brooks
love the attention he's been getting here recently
I have no idea what my favorite song is but some of my favorites are Pitseleh, Alameda, Twilight, St. Ide's Heaven
Asher Walker
yeah, he deserves a lot of attention as he is one of the greatest songwriters ever
Ayden Thompson
I love his either/or album but fav song would be waltz #1 I think it was the first song of his I've ever heard.
Either/Or and XO got me through tough days couple years back.Overall, Elliott is my favorite songwriter along with Frusciante
Cameron Gonzalez
op here. by the way my favourite must be Ballad of Big Nothing, I could listen to that for years
Luke Hill
the Heatmiser version of Christian Brothers
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Carson Carter
He's a talentless hack. Go fuck yourselves plebs.
Adam Miller
>hey look how retarded I am
Leo Young
>fav song
talking to mary, the biggest lie, waltz #1, ballad of big nothing, rose parade or twilight. i love his tricky fingerpicking stuff but i love some of his simpler sad songs too.
>best album
either/or but i think my favorite contrarian's choice is roman candle
elliott inspired me to try picking up guitar and writing my own music. he's been one of my favorite musicians for years and i only seem to appreciate him more with time.
Tyler Hill
>Alameda or Waltz 2
>Either/Or
>Greatest alt-folk artist of all time, one of the great american songwriters ever
Levi Collins
>Greatest alt-folk artist of all time
eh, try Tama
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Ethan Evans
literally who
Landon Miller
don't be such a pleb
Jayden Lewis
Either/Or [Kill Rock Stars, 1997]
he could too be popular--he just doesn't want to be, that's all ("Rose Parade," "Say Yes") *
XO [DreamWorks, 1998]
high tune, low affect ("Waltz #2 [XO]," "Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands") *
Figure 8 [DreamWorks, 2000] Neither
From a Basement on the Hill [Anti-, 2004] Dud
Grayson Scott
Elliott Smith
Daniel Phillips
list of all unleaked studio recordings (confirmed to exist)
2:45 AM (Lucky 3)
A Fond Farewell (alternate version)
A Passing Feeling (acoustic version)
Baby Britain (acoustic demo)
Baby Britain (acoustic, live on WBCN)
Baby Britain (acoustic, live on WXRT)
Baby Britain (Lucky 3 version w/electric overdubs)
Baby Britain (instrumental)
Ballad of Big Nothing (alternate lyrics version #2)
Barriers
Begin the Begin (REM Cover)
Bled White (acoustic demo)
Bled White (2 Meter Sessies with Quasi)
Blind Alley
Bottle Up and Explode (2 Meter Sessies with Quasi)
Brand New Game (From a Basement on the Hill mix)
Carl's El Camino (Alternate Kiwi Maddog 20/20)
Carry On Wayward Son (a clip has surfaced)
Cecilia/Amanda (XO Version)
Closer to the Heart (Rush cover)
Condor Ave (early version)
Confusion (acoustic demo)
Confusion (studio version)
Don't Go Down (alternate acoustic demo)
Don't Go Down (alternate version)
Easy Way Out (Either/Or version)
Echo Park
ELK
Everything Means Nothing To Me (demo)
Few Laps a Fruit Cup and a Funeral
Glass Onion (Beatles Cover)
Grand Mal ("slow version")
Happiness (2 Meter Sessies)
1/2
Hunter Morris
Hey Jude
I Didn't Understand (acoustic demo)
I Didn't Understand (full orchestra version)
I Didn't Understand (XO piano version)
I Don't Give a Fuck (Basement-era "Where I Get it From")
I Love My Room (alternate version)
If You Want My Love (Cheap Trick cover)
Independence Day (2 Meter Sessies solo version)
Inspector Detector (Instrumental - Version 1)
Inspector Detector (Instrumental - Version 2)
Instrumental #2, 1983
Instrumental #3, 1983
Isolation (John Lennon cover)
It's Alright (From a Basement on the hill-era "Go By")
Johnny B. Goode
King's Crossing (acoustic demo)
Little Caesars (early "True Believer")
Long, Long, Long (studio version)
Mama's Boy
Mayan (clip has surfaced)
Memory Lane (XO era acoustic demo)
Misery Let Me Down (2 extra lines before being aborted, unknown radio session)
Mr. Goodmorning (version 2, aka "Key Biscayne")
Needle in the Hay (full band mix)
New Disaster (instrumental)
No Name #5 (alternate version)
Ocean (instrumental)
Ocean (clip has surfaced)
Ocean (alternate version, rehearsal)
Ocean (Kim on vocals, rehearsal)
Ocean (Kim on vocals, studio version)
Oh Well, Okay (alternate version)
Outward Bound (clips have surfaced)
Outward Bound (Kim on vocals, rehearsal)
Outward Bound (Kim on vocals, alternate rehearsal version)
Piano Thing
Pink Noise/White Noise
Punch and Judy (with Baby Britain acoustic intro)
Rock #1
Rock N'Roll Suicide
Say Yes (2 Meter Sessies)
Shooting Star (acoustic)
Sophistry
Sorry My Mistake (2 Meter Sessies acoustic)
Sorry My Mistake (with vocals)
Soul Cake (instrumental cover)
Splitzville (Roman Candle version)
Stairway to Heaven (clips have surfaced)
woops, 2/3
Noah Richardson
Stickman alternate version/mix 4
Stickman alternate version/mix 5
Stickman alternate version/mix 6
Stickman alternate version/mix 7
Stickman alternate version/mix 8
Stickman alternate version/mix 9
Stickman alternate version/mix 10
Stickman alternate version/mix 11
Stickman alternate version/mix 12
Stickman alternate version/mix 13
Stickman alternate version/mix 14
Stickman alternate version/mix 15
Strung Out Again (acoustic demo)
Sweet Adeline (Jackpot instrumental)
Sweet Adeline (acoustic demo)
Tequila
The Dicks on D-3
The Enemy Is You (organ version)
The Last Hour (organ version)
Theme from Rocky
True Believer (Instrumental, aka Little Caesars)
Unfinished Song
Unknown Tangerine Dream Song
Unknown Uncle Tupelo Song
Untitled Song in G
Untitled Voicemail Audio Experiment (a clip was shared on Heaven Adores You)
We're All Friends Now (studio version)
White Room (Cream cover)
Yer Blues (studio version)
Also, look at this for anyone who's truly interested: songs.alphabet-town.com
So, which one would you guys want to hear? I personally would like to hear his cover of Rock n Roll Suicide, but iirc Larry Crane says the vocals were never added. I wish they would just release everything but at the same time I understand not wanting to put out studio demos.
Christian Cook
Justin Rodriguez
John Barnes
Hudson Lopez
Say Yes gives me chills every time
Jose Bennett
So
Did he do it?
Liam Moore
hard to tell
possibly
Bentley Roberts
Satellite and Clementine are my fav songs of his. I think Either/Or, S/T, and Roman Candle are all extremely close in terms of quality (excellent). Elliott got me through some tough times in my life and for that, he will always have a special place in my heart. Fucking brilliant songwriter.
Carson Martin
(you)
Robert Richardson
I remember going through all of Elliott Smith's albums a few years ago chronologically, I loved the first three, with each one building upon the last, and improving. But, XO is really where I lose interest. XO kinda just throw out everything Elliott Smith did great, and makes music that is much less special than the stuff he used to be making
John Allen
>favourite song
Probably Angeles
>favourite album
Either/Or
And I absolutely agree. Incredible song writer and a very underrated guitar player too.
Nicholas Gonzalez
I believe Mama's boy is a basement era remake of Either/or. Might want to note that.
Brayden Hernandez
I lile the guy but feel hes overrated. He didnt do anything outside the rock norm whereas all the other 90s indie bands were being pretty creative.
>Modest Mouse
>Built to Spill
>Pavement
>Neutral Milk Hotel
>Mercury Rev
Sure Elliot wrote hooks and melodies as good as those bands but never treaded the experimental territory they did.
Mason Campbell
Also I think you forgot a few, though I am not sure if it has been confirmed there are studio versions of these, since dreamworks (now sony?) has not divulged any info as to what is in their vaults
a silver chain
blue mood
flowers for charlie
my new freedom
come to me/you make it seem like nothing
confidence artist
unlucky charm
Also dont forget the basement version of new monkey, of which an alleged demo has been released, but no one is sure if it's really the basement version, or if it was recorded later.
Owen Peterson
Yeah, but in songwriting he was at the level or even better
Anthony Phillips
>Sure Elliot wrote hooks and melodies as good as those bands but never treaded the experimental territory they did.
I guess you don't really understand how complex some of his melodies were. You also have absolutely 0 sense of key changes or chord structures because Elliott was an absolute master in that regard, better than every artist on your list, and I like all of those artists a lot.
not to peg any of those artists down, becuase they're all great, but you don't know what you're talking about.
Jacob Nguyen
>I guess you don't really understand how complex some of his melodies were. You also have absolutely 0 sense of key changes or chord structures because Elliott was an absolute master in that regard, better than every artist on your list, and I like all of those artists a lot.
From a standpoint of songwriting sophistication though there are a lot of people who are at least competitive. I mean Stereolab, The High Llamas, Prefab Sprout, Sean Lennon, etc. are on pretty much the same level. That's well above most rock songwriting but on the whole not really super uncommon.
Also Elliott had really great arrangements too, so I don't know what that guy's problem is
Jordan Lewis
>I mean Stereolab, The High Llamas, Prefab Sprout, Sean Lennon, etc. are on pretty much the same level.
In terms of key changes and chord complexity? not even close.
Jose Long
>In terms of key changes and chord complexity? not even close.
um actually yes, maybe you should listen to them
Owen Powell
King's Crossing. Nothing else he did is close to it imo.
Adam Campbell
Alameda....makes me feel like giving up on literally everything
Levi Sanders
Possibly his bleakest song.
Kayden Green
christian brothers
Joshua Hill
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Learn how elliott played them. Learn how he used a pretty bizarre tuning for tomorrow tomorrow, look at how many chords he fits into the chorus and their progression on stupidity tries. and read that undergraduate thesis and realize your wrong.
Matthew Cruz
Never listened to him but I very much enjoy Rilo Kiley's two tribute songs to him.
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Dominic Ross
lots of people employ idiosyncratic approaches to songwriting, a published formal analysis doesn't elevate it to genius. you can analyze plenty of things (including the Stereolab song I linked) and find shit that's similarly unusual. it's not as remarkable as you think
Adam Morris
>he used a pretty bizarre tuning for tomorrow tomorrow
you mean Nashville tuning? because the main guitar part is in standard. only the overdub is in Nashville tuning
Justin Evans
it was recorded without over dubs as per a rob schnapf interview i saw. It has since been taken off the internet.
Joseph Rodriguez
um, it obviously uses overdubs. there is clearly two guitars in the beginning. they were both played by him, so that's an overdub
Parker Cook
it's very obvious from listening to it that there are multiple overdubs
Henry Diaz
double tracking the same thing is not an over dub. It is not two guitars in the beginning, its a twelve string in a variation of nashville tuning which makes there sound as though there are two because of the resonance of multiple strings being the tuned to the same note.
Elijah Bailey
WOW, Christgau has utterly horrible shit taste?! No fucking way! I had no idea!
Grayson Harris
I think it was basically a 12 string guitar but with the bass strings swapped out like you would with Nashville tuning.
Levi Wilson
that's not really that remarkable
Noah Richardson
>Everything Means Nothing To Me (demo)
need this before i die
Jordan Hernandez
What is the guy on the end of coast to coast saying? I can make out a few words but I don’t know what it is
Nicholas Richardson
It was some poem that guy had written, I think an alternate version can be found somewhere, I forget the guys name though. It can easily be found on the alphabet town website though.
David Reyes
I tried listening to Either/Or but it sounds like gay garbage that a 13 year old girl would listen to.
Adrian Price
bait harder, dumbass