New Moon already collected two full discs' worth of B-side material from this same time period in 2007, and the sprawling, internet-only Grand Mal tapes assemble everything after KRS even released several alternate takes from Either/Or in 2012 to celebrate the 15th anniversary. For its 20th anniversary, Kill Rock Stars is reissuing the album, adding previously unreleased material and a hefty remaster supervised by Larry Crane of Jackpot Studio, which he founded with Smith in the mid-'90s. Elliott Smith's third solo LP holds a distinctive, bittersweet place in the collective memory of Portlanders-it's the moment that marks his transition from beloved local treasure to renowned, Oscar-nominated celebrity. It might have been more interesting had he sung "Angeles.Elliott Smith, Either/Or: Expanded Edition (Kill Rock Stars) soared after he took his bow at the Oscars with Celine Dion and Trisha Yearwood. Ironically, "Angeles" was included on the Good Will Hunting soundtrack, which won Smith the acclaim of Hollywood's biggest, brightest, and best connected voting body, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. The lyrics are a darkly biting rejection of the hypercapitalist dream machinery of Los Angeles (it would make a great theme song for Smith's label, Kill Rock Stars). "Angeles" is equally ethereal - Smith's acoustic fingerpicking spins out notes which briskly move around a single atmospheric keyboard chord, like aural minnows swimming toward a solitary light at the surface of the water. He sings, in his endearingly limited whisper, of late-night drinking and introspection, and his subdued strumming creates a minor-key mood befitting the mysteries of self. "Between the Bars," for example, plays Smith's strengths perfectly. The humbler arrangements are better suited to the sparse equipment. While the full-band songs are catchy and smart, Smith's recording equipment isn't quite up to the standards set by the Beatles and the Beach Boys. The most alluring numbers, however, are still his quietly melancholy acoustic ones. Several of the songs mimic the melody mastery of pop bands from 1960s. While he still plays all the instruments himself, he plays more of them. Elliott Smith's third album sees his one-man show getting a little more ambitious.
0 kommentar(er)
