Image:Wikimedia commons.įirst up is my favourite track on the album, the high tempo, repatative drum-beat-driven 'Speed Trials'. Smith during one of his last performances in Febuary 2003. With that said, here are four of my personal highlights. His guitar-playing skills improved greatly and by recording his vocals and guitar separately he allowed the full range of his tremendous, melodious and fragile voice to come through in clean harmonies.Įither/Or runs 36 minutes and 32 seconds long and consists of 12 songs, all of which are wonderful in their own way and non of which can be called 'fillers'. He maintains these themes on Either/Or but drops much as the self-pity and, by increasing his production values, allows his (somewhat) lighter, less bitter and more vulnerable side to come through.Īlongside the nihilistic observations about drugs and LA life are themes of love and whimsy simply not there before. 'May be a long time 'til you get the call-up, but it's sure as fate and hard as your luck'Įither/Or is, in many ways, the culmination of everything Smith was building to with his previous albums - the hopelessness filled Roman Candle (1994) and the heroin feuled Elliott Smith (1995). He took his troubles, blended them with witty observations and poured them down the microphone.

Despite this, Smith's sound was something completely unique, because it came right from the heart. Smith's lyrics could have been written by late '60s Lennon-McCartney (albeit on a particularly sad day) and his hooks and melodies sound like outtakes straight from Pet Sounds. Of these idols, his adoration for The Beatles and The Beach Boys are the most telling in terms of his own musical output. Unlike so many of his contemporaries - the likes of Jeff Buckley for example - Smith wore his influences on his sleeve. Smith released 5 albums during his lifetime and one of them, 1997s Either/Or, remains the benchmark for all indie-folk and lo-fi artists 22 years later. Whatever the truth, one thing is undeniable - the power and beauty of the music he left behind.

The Nebraska native passed away in October 2003 by suicide, although theories and conspiracies about his demise have continued to circulate for the last 16 years. When it comes to lo-fi hero Elliott Smith (1969 - 2003), it's hard to decide what was sadder, his life or his music.

Elliott smith either or youtube