Tag Archives: Elliott Smith

Shorties

New Old Heatmiser: Lowlife

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Audio: Heatmiser – “Lowlife” (’92 cassette)

From The Music of Heatmiser, out October 6 on Third Man. Single out now.

It’s weird to think that Elliott Smith’s solo stuff started out as a home-recorded side project to his main gig, Heatmiser, who would sign to Virgin Records in 1995. Ultimately, the solo work would eclipse the band but you might not have predicted that at the time.

Smith and Neil Gust were college pals and after they graduated they moved back to Portland and formed Heatmiser with Smith’s high school buddy Tony Lash on drums and Brandt Peterson on bass. They demoed “dozens of songs” in 1992 and self-released six of them on a cassette titled “The Music of Heatmiser” that they sold at shows and local record shops. And now Third Man Records is reissuing The Music of Heatmiser “on vinyl and streaming for the first time, along with 23 demos, live tracks, rare versions and never before released songs.” With the announcement Third Man has dug up a live video of “Lowlife” from a 1993 show in Fort Collins, Colorado.

It’s fun to hear young Elliott Smith rocking out and hollering. It’s two minutes of grungy Pacific Northwest juvenilia but there’s still a poppy sense of melody underneath and the band kicks ass.

Heatmiser: bandcamp, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

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Shorties

The Gambler

Kenny Rogers is one of those performers who can be considered a one-hit wonder. That claim can be easily disputed—and somewhat justifiably so—because during his long career Rogers sold 64.7-million certified units on a global basis. While that may not seem like a whole lot, know that it puts him just behind Janet Jackson (65.3-million) and just ahead of Santana (62.8-million). And to provide a bit of color, know that he is well ahead of Bob Dylan, who is at 48.1-million, and while Rogers’ career started in 1958 and Dylan’s in 1959, Rogers has been dead since March 2020, so Dylan has a few years on Rogers.

The song that is arguably Rogers’ signature, one that people know of even if they have no idea who is performing it, is “The Gambler,” which he released in 1978. He wasn’t the only one who recorded the song written by Don Schlitz that year: Johnny Cash put it on his album Gone Girl, which also includes a cover of Jagger and Richards “No Expectations.”

The chorus of “The Gambler” is the part of the song that everybody knows, or at least knows partially (certainly the first two lines):

You got to know when to hold ’em,
Know when to fold ’em,
Know when to walk away,
And know when to run.
You never count your money
When you’re sittin’ at the table.
There’ll be time enough for countin’
When the dealing’s done.

One of the characteristics of good poker players is that they know how to bluff. Bluffing is simply the art of making the other participants believe that something that isn’t (the cards in your hand are a mess) is (you have a royal straight flush). It is simply a fake that is meant to be taken to be real. And for a poker player—or for many other types of undertaking—those who can make people part with their money for something that really isn’t the case can prosper.

It is worth pointing out that a bluff isn’t a cheat. Those who bluff and lose ideally “know when to walk away.” Those who cheat and realize that they’re about to be called out on it had better “know when to run.”

There will be a new Kenny Rogers album, Life is Like a Song, that will be released on June 2. Rogers’ widow, according to the AP, “curated the posthumous record.”

Given the number of performers of the modern era who have died, posthumous records have become something of a common phenomenon, especially for performers who had had a good run when they were still in real time.

Back in 2016 the New York Daily News reported, shortly after his death, “Prince leaves behind a cache of unreleased music so vast that his estate could put out a posthumous album every year for the next century.”

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Shorties

New Fran video: Palm Trees

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Video: Fran – “Palm Trees”

Directed by Maria Jacobson. From Leaving, due January 20 on Fire Talk.

Fran is a Chicago-based group led by Maria Jacobson. Do you love Elliott Smith’s “Waltz #2 (XO)”? Of course you do. So check out “Palm Trees.” It’s not just the time signature or the drum tone, but also the vibe of beautiful sadness and a sense of the looming apocalypse.

Jacobson said, “This vid is my first venture shooting/editing – most of it was filmed on tour with Bret Koontz band on the east coast.”

If you like what you’re hearing be sure to check out her charming senior class commencement speech from when she graduated from Bennington in 2014!

Fran: bandcamp, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

Continue reading New Fran video: Palm Trees →

Shorties

New Lorde video: Fallen Fruit

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Video: Lorde – “Fallen Fruit”

Directed by Joel Kefali and Ella Yelich-O’Connor. From Solar Power, out now on UMG.

Hey, remember when Billy Bragg and Wilco started digging through Woody Guthrie’s old boxes of unfinished songs and put out two really solid albums of that material and then Jay Farrar was all like, ” I want in on that!” and Billy Bragg released a third album of that Guthrie material that Jeff Tweedy thought wasn’t up-to-snuff but it was cock-blocking Farrar so whatever? Wild times.

“Fallen Fruit” sounds like Lorde’s take on an unfinished Elliott Smith song and let me tell you reader, I am all about it. I miss Elliott Smith being in thew world–a lot. Lorde channels his mastery of melody and melancholy with just a hint of danger in “Fallen Fruit.”   She hits right on target and the result is a lovely reminder of what we’ve lost with Elliott Smith gone from the world but what we still have in writers like Lorde.

Lorde: web, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.
Shorties

New Phoebe Bridgers video: Savior Complex

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Video: Phoebe Bridgers – “Savior Complex”

Directed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge. From Punisher, out now on Dead Oceans.

In a humorous yet not entirely unexpected move, indie darling Phoebe Bridgers has tapped the similarly named creator of the BBC hit series “Fleabag” to direct a music video. Phoebe Waller-Bridge directs Phoebe Bridgers. Get it? Ha ha.

I love this song. I love Elliott Smith. Phoebe Bridgers certainly doesn’t attempt to hide her love of Elliott Smith. On 2017’s Stranger in the Alps as soon as I heard the chorus of “Demi Moore” I was like, oh, this person loves Elliott Smith as much as I do. I was not wrong.

Bridgers has gone on the record as saying that Smith’s music is “like The Beatles to me, and I mean that in every way. If someone doesn’t like his music, I actually feel like I’m not going to agree with them about anything. It informs everything I like.”

The title track of her latest album features an imaginary conversation with Smith: “What if I told you I feel like I know you / But we never met?”

I get that.

It also contains the lines “Hear so many stories of you at the bar / Most times alone, and some looking your worst / But never not sweet to the trust funds and punishers.” If you’ve ever met one of your heroes and shamelessly gushed to them how much they mean to you until their eyes glazed over, you know what it’s like to be a punisher. We all try to be cool but it’s hard to shut off that valve once you start pouring your guts out.

My all-time favorite “Elliott Smith being nice to strangers” story comes from Buddyhead’s Travis Keller:

In the summer of 1999 I talked my friend Marko Shafer into driving 1,000 miles with me from Los Angeles to Olympia, WA last minute to attend a DIY festival he knew little to nothing about called Yo Yo A Go Go. I was excited to see The Make Up, Thrones, Sleater-Kinney, Dead Moon but the main attraction was without a doubt Elliott Smith. But when we arrived at The Capitol Theater we learned that the show was sold out. Determined to get in despite the odds, I walked down the side alley of the theater and saw Elliott Smith standing by the back door. I shit you not. He was wearing a trucker hat that said “WHO’S THE BOSS?” and pulling from a cigarette as you’d expect him to be. I explained to him that my friend and I had drove all the way from Los Angeles to see him play but couldn’t buy tickets, in a way only a fan-dorking 19 year old could. To which he replied with something along the lines of “Well I’ve got two guest passes and no friends, wanna be my friend?” And like that he finished his smoke and led us in the back door. We walked past several bands who were setting up their gear, and Elliott asked “Who’s the boss” which immediately got the response as if on cue “you are Elliott!” Elliott then led us to the side of the stage where I sat for the entirety of his performance and shot this photo. You could hear a fuckin’ pin drop in that sold out theatre of 1500 people. Afterwards, we went to a bar with Elliott and chatted. I think it was my second time in a bar ever. He was beyond sweet, seemed generally interested in what I had to say. He was funny, intelligent and charming. One of the realest people I ever met and I feel lucky to have gotten a chance to be around him while he was here.

“Savior Complex” is Bridgers’ most Elliott Smith sounding song since “Demi Moore,” especially the way she sings “But I’m too tired to have a pissing contest…” It’s classic. And it’s great.

The video is cute too. Spoiler: The dog’s the protagonist.

Phoebe Bridgers: web, twitter, bandcamp, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

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Articles

Remastered, expanded edition of Elliott Smith’s Either/Or coming in March

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Either/Or was the first Elliott Smith album I bought. Like a lot of people outside the Pacific Northwest my first exposure to Elliott Smith was the movie Good Will Hunting. Or maybe a pal put something on a mixtape. I can’t remember why but at the time I was opposed to buying soundtracks, so I picked up Either/Or essentially as a way to get my favorite song from the film: “Say Yes.”

I immediately became obsessed. Songs like “Ballad of Big Nothing” and “Rose Parade” had a melodic sensibility that appealed to the Beatles fanatic in me and the dark, clever lyrics were right up my Tom Waits-loving, low-life alley. The recording sounded like it was made by people who reeked of stale cigarette smoke and beer sweat. This was the 90s and bars couldn’t be divey enough for people like us. The dirtier and cheaper, the better. Elliott Smith sounded like a guy we might see in the corner booth at Teazer’s, sipping something in a rocks glass and nodding along and smirking when a not-too-terrible song got played on the jukebox. This is what I projected onto him anyway from listening to the album and looking at the cover photo.

We didn’t have wikipedia in those days so I had to gather clues by scouring the liner notes: “recorded at joanna’s house, my house, the shop, undercover inc., heatmiser house, and laundry rules.” The label was Kill Rock Stars, the home of Bikini Kill and Sleater-Kinney. This was all we had to go on, to make up narratives of our own.

Years later, I’d finally get a chance to see him in concert, but the show was a disaster and he was a mess. A year and a half later, he was dead.

Since then, there have been a number of posthumous releases. First there was From a Basement on the Hill, a collection of the stuff he was working on before he died. In 2007 there was New Moon, a compilation of 24 outtakes mostly recorded between 1994 and 1997. I interviewed archivist Larry Crane back then about putting together that release. A couple years later I interviewed Crane again about what he found in the archives since New Moon. He said there probably wasn’t enough unreleased stuff to release another album, but “There are a lot of interesting alternate and live versions of songs though. I could see doing ‘bonus disc’ versions of the proper albums as a possibility.”

Continue reading Remastered, expanded edition of Elliott Smith’s Either/Or coming in March →

Articles

Chris Staples – Golden Age

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Chris Staples_HeadshotI maintain a playlist called Golden that pulls together a bunch of songs that give me fall shivers and nostalgic heartstring tugs. There’s loads of Beck’s Sea Change, Kurt Vile’s Walking on a Pretty Day, Steve Gunn’s Sundowner, Elliott Smith, Damien Jurado, Lord Huron, and now…Chris Staples.

Staples’ new album, Golden Age, shares more in common with those songs and that feeling than its title. There’s a type of sadness, without being maudlin. And maybe that’s to be expected. After a rough patch where Staples was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes that resulted in pancreas failure, a bike accident that required surgery, and the dissolution of a long-term relationship, Chris Staples is afforded some sad bastard time.

But that’s what’s great about this record: it’s not sad bastard music. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE me some of that. But Staples’ album maintains a bit of pop bounce with lovely melodies and simple production. It’s been described as a “subtle” record, which I guess is as good anything I would come up to describe the production. Because subtlety implies hidden complexity, and this record has that in spades.

Give a listen to lead off track “Relatively Permanent” and tell me you aren’t ready to sit down with Chris, have a beer, and talk about where you grew up.

Continue reading Chris Staples – Golden Age →

Shorties

Watch a newly digitized Elliott Smith video: Coming Up Roses

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Vimeo: Elliott Smith – “Coming Up Roses” (raw play back take)

This is wonderful. Ross Harris recently transferred the original 16mm negative from his 1995 video for Elliott Smith’s “Coming Up Roses” and this is the entire play back take. Harris says, “I was overcome with emotion watching the tenderness in which Elliott gently prompts Raul the back up singer when he is supposed to chime in with the harmony. The few moments that Elliott drops the music video facade and lets that shy smile his friends knew so well are precious to me.”

Look for a profile on Ross Harris and his work with Elliott Smith in an upcoming issue of Monster Children.

Via Sweet Adeline.

Continue reading Watch a newly digitized Elliott Smith video: Coming Up Roses →

Articles, MP3s

Five From the Archive: Elliott Smith in 2003

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Elliott Smith is giving Warren Zevon a run for his money. Or is this just the second time I’m highlighting work by Elliott Smith? Either way, you can expect more. This one will be the most painful. The year was 2003. I had just arrived at my hotel in York, England (business trip). I called my then wife to check in now that I was at my destination. She told me Elliott Smith had killed himself. Stabbed himself – twice – in the chest. I distinctly remember having a physical reaction to this. I was lying on the hotel bed, with my legs hanging over the edge, my feet on the ground (bed was low, I know). I felt like my heart skipped a beat, and had a sudden rush of… adrenaline or something.

Elliott Smith!? Dead!? He’d barely just begun. One of the greatest songwriting voices around at that time. At least I’d gotten to see him a handful of times in New York, and was able to appreciate his talent before he died. Thankfully for all of us, there are about 95 Elliott Smith shows currently available on the Live Music Archive. What follows is a selection of tracks from his final year, 2003. What a loss.

1. Elliott Smith – “Rose Parade”. Just Smith on the acoustic guitar as accompaniment. Lo-fi audience recording, but it captures the song pretty well. Just don’t play it loud at a party. Full show: September 19, 2003 – Redfest, Salt Lake City, UT

2. Elliott Smith – “Coast to Coast”. This is one of my favorite songs from Basement on the Hill. Fucking awesome. It’s a lo-fi audience recording, too, but it’s a full band this time. This particular show has been downloaded over 19,000 times. Full show: May 28, 2003 – The Derby, Los Angeles, CA

3. Elliott Smith – “A Distorted Reality Is Know A Necessity To Be Free”. Demonstrates how vulnerable he was at this time. The audience is deadly quiet (after the banter and a few false starts at the beginning, anyway). Full show: May 22, 2003 – Belly Up Tavern, Solana Beach, CA

4. Elliott Smith – “King’s Crossing”. Favorite track from Basement. Acoustic version. Full show: January 31, 2003 – Henry Fonda Theatre, Los Angeles, CA

5. Elliott Smith – “Pretty (Ugly Before)”. Full show: May 3, 2003 – The Steamboat, Austin, TX

You can find earlier coverage of Elliott Smith’s work on Five For the Archive here.

Image of Elliott Smith courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.

 

MP3s

Five From the Archive: Elliott Smith’s Best Covers

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Elliott Smith always picked interesting songs to cover. Some that were well known, some that were more obscure. But they were all good. They certainly hit my musical sweet spot. These five selections are just a sampling — he was a serial covererist — and you can find more just browsing through the shows available on the Internet Music Archive.

1. Elliott Smith – “Harvest Moon”. I’ll be honest. I’m a huge Neil fan, but not that big a fan of this song. Or the album it comes from. But this is a really tender cover of the song, and I think Elliott brings out the best in the song. I think I prefer this version over Neil’s. Full show:  April 5, 1999 – Ludlow’s, Columbus, OH

2. Elliott Smith – “Jealous Guy”. He played this a lot in 1998. His whistling is a little weak in this version — which is why he usually asked the audience to whistle with him — but the sound quality is outstanding. Soundboard recording. Full show: April 17, 1998 – Black Cat, Washington, DC

3. Elliott Smith – “Ballad of a Thin Man”. “Something is happening, but you don’t know what it is… do you, Mr. Jones?” When it starts, just Elliott playing his guitar, you can hear the telltale rustle of the snare as he strums. It’s about to get loud in there. Full show: October 11, 1998 – 400 Club, Minneapolis, MN

4. Elliott Smith – “Isn’t It a Pity”. “Isn’t it a pity? Isn’t it a shame? How we break each other’s hearts, and cause each other pain?” Lyrically, it’s a perfect cover choice for Elliott. Heartbreaking vocals accompanied only by his acoustic guitar. A soundboard recording. Full show: August 12, 1998 – Maxwell’s, Hoboken, NJ

5. Elliott Smith – “Out on the Weekend”. This is the poorest quality recording of the bunch. It’s still going to blow your mind. It wraps up with about two minutes of mumbling into the microphone, but I can’t understand what he’s saying… From: December 21, 2001 – Showbox, Seattle, WA