The walking, descending melody of “Southern Belle” shows off his acoustic guitar chops, while “The White Lady Loves You More” is like Roman Candle with more atmosphere.
ELLIOTT SMITH EITHER OR BLOGSPOT FULL
Opening with “Needle in the Hay,” which sets the mood for a full album filled with spare acoustic-based songs, Smith boasts improved sound quality and songwriting. Smith’s second solo record, released on Olympia, Washington’s Kill Rock Stars, marks a substantial improvement over Roman Candle - not necessarily a vast improvement, but an improvement nonetheless. “No Name #3,” along with “No Name #2″ and “No Name #1,” are some of the highlights.
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Though recorded on four-track with a lot of tape hiss, the songs rise above the sound quality. The strong but vulnerable whisper-like approach to singing, busy-but-melodic guitar picking, and spare instrumentation would become Smith’s solo earmarks. Gonson co-wrote "No Name #1" but Roman Candle is undeniably a collection of solo Smith compositions. Comparing his work with Heatmiser and solo, think of Cop and Speeder as the stuff you’d put on for the ride into the city for the night and Roman Candle as the soundtrack for the late-night ride home. Released on Portland-based Cavity Search, the album’s nine tracks show a much quieter side of a guy who played loud rock most of the time. But compared with what Smith would go on to do, this is definitely not the artist at the top of his game. 5), but Smith’s first solo release almost completely eclipsed his band’s entire output.Ī collection of songs recorded at home on a four-track recorder, Roman Candle is better than an ordinary demo. In 1994, Heatmiser would show some strong improvement with the release of a second record ( Cop and Speeder) and an EP ( Yellow No. Taking the guitar and drum sound of Helmet with the melodicism of Hüsker Dü and the tightness of Fugazi, Heatmiser could have very well been lost in the grunge pile given the time they were around. Michael Azerrad compared the band’s sound to Fugazi, Hüsker Dü and Helmet in Trouser Press and I agree.
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Debuting in early 1992 with its original lineup, Smith sang and played guitar alongside singer/guitarist Neil Gust, bassist Brandt Peterson and drummer Tony Lash.įollowing a self-released tape, The Music of Heatmiser, Frontier Records released Dead Air in 1993. Playing in bands throughout high school and college, Heatmiser was the first band he was in that gained some national recognition. Smith, who did not like his first and last name having the same first letter, would go by Elliott from high school on. Smith had the kind of knack that makes many people envious: he could do something musical with almost any instrument. A gifted musician, he first learned piano, then clarinet, then guitar and went from there. Growing up on a standard diet of the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Hank Williams, Motown, KISS, punk rock and new wave, he started writing his own songs at a very young age.
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The main comparison that I would make with these artists is the music they made is timeless because it was inspired by the timeless records they grew up on.īorn Steven Paul Smith in 1969 in Omaha, Nebraska, Smith grew up with his mother in Duncanville, Texas (a town near Dallas), but spent most of his high school years living with his father in Portland, Oregon. The deal is, there wasn’t just sadness in their songs and lives: there was beauty, happiness and hope too. Just like Nick Drake’s and Jeff Buckley’s lives and music, people tend to paint all of these supposed mopes into a corner of super-sad music. The music of Elliott Smith is too often overshadowed by his short life.