Elliott Smith "Either/Or"
 

Elliott Smith "Either/Or"
http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/...9L._AA240_.jpg
Label: Kill Rock Stars
Release Date: February 25th, 1997
Genre: Singer-Songwriter/Indie-Folk
Tracklist:
1. Speed Trials
2. Alameda
3. Ballad of Big Nothing
4. Between the Bars
5. Pictures of Me
6. No Name # 5
7. Rose Parade
8. Punch and Judy
9. Angeles
10. Cupid's Trick
11. 2:45 AM
12. Say Yes

An album thats often championed as his best, and in some cases only good album and while Either/Or doesn't come near the latter title it still holds a good chance at the former. Holding Smith classics such as Angeles, Say Yes, Between the Bars and Alameda and being a solid release all the way through.

This album marks a key transition for his sound, branching out on styles that were only slighted hinted at with 95 release Elliott Smith you see a wider array of instruments (all played by Elliott) and more polished sound as well as better quality and better production. This album shows Elliotts talent as an arranger better than most I think, he shows he has an ear for melody and knows how to construct a song better than most singer/songwriters of recent times.

While this album is one of my favorites the main weak point is in a few of the songs, the lyrics. The words do flow with music perfectly making it much more about the delivery then the words themselves. Though sometimes some of the lines are hard to ignore. But this album still holds some of his finest lyrical pieces, most particularly Between the Bars which is a completely lyrically driven song and with verses like "Drink up baby, look at the stars / I'll kiss you again between the bars / Where I'm seeing you there with your hands in the air / Waiting to be finally caught" its hard not to be captivated. The majority of the songs sit in the right place though, with great lyrics and music such as No Name #5, Angeles, Rose Parade and Say Yes.

Either/Or is a very important album being the bridge between his early lo-fi folk sound to his later baroque pop and more layered sound and without a doubt the best album of his to start with as its the easiest to get into and one of his best, if not his best.

Rating: 8/10
Recommended Songs: Between the Bars, Say Yes, Angeles, No Name #5

i love this album. love it.

angeles is a great song.

i've listened to it like...50 times+

amazing!

This is possibly my favourite album ever. I can never get tired of listening to it.

favorite album by him.
so far.

XO > Either/Or
That said, Either/Or is still amazing.

i'm not sure how i feel about XO.
that's the first one i got.

it's good.
but perhaps i need to listen to it more to appreciate it.

that's usually how things go.

I listened to it a lot before I considered it my favourite. From a Basement was actually my favourite for a long time.

well, i don't know.
i hadn't gotten into elliott until like, last month.

so, i'm still just seeing.

you're in for a wild ride hah.

hah. that's what i assume.

but, that's okay.
can't keep listening to bright eyes for the rest of my life, eh?

Elliott
 

Elliott had a fabulous mind and his lyrics portrayed it nicely. "Either/Or" is just so splendidly done that it is really hard to match. Smith, in my opinion was the greatest song-writer of all time along with:

-Nick Drake
-Alexi Murdoch
-Lou Reed

I think many of us have been touched in some way by Smith's lyrical savvy. I know I have!

Nice username, Nick Drake is great.

Say Yes Demo>>>Say Yes album version.

Oh, I don't think I've posted here yet. This is an amazing album, with a lot of truly beautiful songs on it. Although it's not my favorite album of Elliott, it does have Rose Parade on it, which is clearly the best song on the album and his greatest song ever. Ever.

Yeah dude, gotta love the added tape hiss!

Gotta' hate the annoying sound effects on the album version...I think the demo is what the song should have been.

What sound effects? You mean the cough? Big difference, the demo/album version are only different because of the tape hiss/cough. They're the same song, stop trying to look cool.

No I mean the guitar effects. The demo version doesn't have them. It's purely acoustic.

Uh, part of the definition of a demo is that it's acoustic. I dislike the feel of the album version. It has nothing to do with me trying to be cool, I just like the demo version better.

If by guitar effects you mean the electric guitar that was still on one of the demo versions and does nothing but make the track fuller. Elliott didn't die mid-production, I think he knew what he was doing in adding it. I repeat: stop trying to look cool, the tracks are hardly different.

So because he knew he was doing it means I have to like it? Ok...Whatever his reasons, I don't like it.

Let's look at your original statement: Gotta' hate the annoying sound effects on the album version..." Sound effects include: an electric guitar (not what I'd really call a sound effect) and a cough. "I think the demo is what the song should have been." I'm very sure you'd know more than Elliott on this. The demo version is hardly different, the electric guitar makes it much more listenable in fact. Because it adds a level of interest and fullness to it you couldn't get with just an acoustic guitar.

Ah, I see you're trying to make a big deal out of what the song was meant to be. Guess what? I think the song would be best served by being purely acoustic. That has nothing to do with what Elliott Smith wanted it to be.

No but to go "Well even though I'm not the artist and have no input into his mind Im going to say this is how the sound should be just so I can look cool and uber obscures."

I never said that that's the way he wanted the song to be. I said that the demo was the way the song was meant to be. I never made any mention of his intentions. I was talking about the way I feel about it, if you have a problem with, fine.

Saying this is the way a song was meant to be is a pretty bold statement. You're basically saying that artist didn't know what he was doing with the song he wrote and recorded and that you do.

I personally prefer the demo version to the album version. Is it really that big a deal?

Yeah it is because I'm sick of your crap.

Ok...Why are you arguing with me then. If you're sick of me just don't talk to me.

OMG I can't belive theirs other people who listen to Elliott Smith, I thought i was the only one. Either/Or is amazing album, in fact a bought an acoustic guitar after hearing it.
Not a bad track on the album.

I like you

XO is a good album but not a good introduction to Elliott's music. Songs like Baby Britan are good but i perfer when it's just Elliott playing guitar and maybe some drums. If your new to Elliott Smith's music i get Either/Or or his selftitled album

I think Bled White can be a good intro.

I think From a Basement on the Hill is the best introduction to his music. It not only contains some of his best acoustic work (Let's Get Lost, Twilight) it contains his best electric work (King's Crossing, Pretty Ugly Before, Coast to Coast) and some of his best songs ever (basically look what I listed and there's others I could add like a Distorted Reality is Now a Necessity to be Free.) It's a very rough album and the people in charge of it messed up but its a very solid collection of songs and its the only album that I think sums up his career because it touches on a bit of everything he's done.

I think your forgetting "don't go down" on the electric work.

And Shooting Star too, damn I now want to listen to basement.

I'm in the mood for Figure 8.:D

XO is probably my least favorite Eliott Smith album by far...
It just doesn't really compare to Either/Or,
or any of his other ones