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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Recorded mildly better than his debut (Roman Candle), the self-titled second solo album is one of the most understated and incredible albums to emerge from the American indie-rock scene in the 1990s. With his nimble picking fingers behind him, Smith writes sad, little songs about drugs and romantic co-dependence that border on the obsessed. "Needle in the Hay" and "The White Lady Loves You More" are exemplary tunes that fuse the Beatles' pop sense with Neil Young's sense of doom. Lying in his own burned out basement, Smith can rough up the gentlest love song with a few salty words of choice. --Rob O'Connor
Product Description
Wistful second album from 1995 ... his debut for Kill Rock Stars! Features "Needle In The Hay" and "Clementine".
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This is the second in the trilogy of Elliott's lo-fi acoustic albums (the first being Roman Candle and the third being Either/Or) and is an excellent example of the man's talent.
Anyone who cannot stomach simplistic, raw production values might want to steer clear but with songs as strong as this, there is no need to dress them up in silk.
Anyone who cannot stomach simplistic, raw production values might want to steer clear but with songs as strong as this, there is no need to dress them up in silk.
Elliott is an alternative artist but these songs also have a pop sensibility, making them accessible, despite the fact they are at times very dark and moving. He has a keen ear for a melody and never bores the listener. Just as well, as he relies mostly on just an acoustic guitar and his voice to convey his deep, tortured and at times, sweet, lyrics. To swamp his songs in swathes of instrumentation and production would be a shame anyway. This is songwriting at its purest.
Vocally he sounds like a gentle Kurt Cobain with a touch of the Beatles, and his guitar technique is up there with Nick Drake and Paul Simon. The man is sheer class, yet listening to this, it feels like a secret no-one else knows about. That is the intimacy of Smith's songwriting.
Standout tracks include Needle in the Hay, Southern Belle and Coming up Roses but there are many more nuggets of gold to be enjoyed. All in all, if you like your songs stripped bare and bleeding, you'll love this.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I've been listening pretty much non-stop to Smith ever since I first discovered him a couple of years ago, sadly too late to ever see him perform. I had noticed his song needle in the hay, which kicks off this album, in Wes Anderson's film The Royal Tenenbaums, and been slightly intrigued, but I quickly forgot all about it. It wasn't until I read an article in Uncut magazine that I decided to investigate, and he turned out to be pretty much excactly what I was looking for; at the time I was getting really into virtuoso acoustic folk/blues guitarists, like Bert Jansch, Nick Drake, John Martyn etc, and much as I loved them I was kind of missing the pretty chorus melodies and structures of pop and rock music. Elliott Smith was both a classical-standard fingerpicker and a masterful tunesmith, his folky playing perfectly tempered by his obvious love of Elvis Costello, The Kinks, Big Star etc, and his voice, while delicate and sweet, betrays his background playing in punk and alternative rock bands. The best description I can come up with is a cross between the Nirvana unplugged album and Pink Moon by Drake; a lot of people have compared him to Neil Young, and I can kind of hear that too.
This is his second album, and was my first port of call; if you're new to him, it's an excellent point of entry, containing several of his most loved songs, like needle in the hay, christian brothers, clementine, southern belle, the biggest lie etc, and finds him in his early Kill Rock Stars (his label) phase, before he moved to a major and started playing around in big professional studios; while these later albums are excellent (the one upshot of Smith's short career is that he never made a bad album) I have always preferred the intimacy of these stark four track songs, with their demo sound quality and tape hiss, perhaps because outside of old delta blues records you rarely get to hear a true musical genius captured in such a lo fi way. Roman Candle and Either/Or are both similarly recorded, though the latter has a little more going on, with more frequent electric guitars, drums and keyboards, pointing to the direction he was to take on his next two albums. I recommend you buy this, and if you like it you should consider all his records essential purchases, including the two posthumous compilations From A Basement On The Hill and New Moon.
This is his second album, and was my first port of call; if you're new to him, it's an excellent point of entry, containing several of his most loved songs, like needle in the hay, christian brothers, clementine, southern belle, the biggest lie etc, and finds him in his early Kill Rock Stars (his label) phase, before he moved to a major and started playing around in big professional studios; while these later albums are excellent (the one upshot of Smith's short career is that he never made a bad album) I have always preferred the intimacy of these stark four track songs, with their demo sound quality and tape hiss, perhaps because outside of old delta blues records you rarely get to hear a true musical genius captured in such a lo fi way. Roman Candle and Either/Or are both similarly recorded, though the latter has a little more going on, with more frequent electric guitars, drums and keyboards, pointing to the direction he was to take on his next two albums. I recommend you buy this, and if you like it you should consider all his records essential purchases, including the two posthumous compilations From A Basement On The Hill and New Moon.
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This is outstanding, I got to hear about this guy through a friend who's taste is sometimes suspect but this! The opener Needle in The Hay is in my favourite movie of recent times the royal tenenbaums in its best scene such swirling, swelling melancholy tugs at every bit of your head he shall leave a hole in music
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
The Lo-Fi Blues...
For those who want something with a stripped-back sound, something which brims with honesty and intimacy could do no wrong than this album by the late Elliott Smith. Read more
Published 3 months ago by DPVC
Another classic album
To discover Elliott Smith is truly a life changing experience. Is that an exageration? I don't think so. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Paul
Wonderful Album
Quite possibly the best Elliott Smith record available, it is also one of his most stripped, simple and fragile. Read more
Published 20 months ago by jacob
Elliot Smith
Classic Elliot Smith, familiar style to those who have listened to XO with excellent recording quality. Read more
Published on 26 July 2009 by Matthew Watkins
Very Disappointed
I bought this after reading the reviews on Amazon, because to be honest i have never heard of the guy. Read more
Published on 6 Jan 2008 by Jools
BUY IT!!!
I dispare when i tell people i like elliott smith and they reply, "Elliott who???" He uis quite simply the best artist i have every come accross!! Read more
Published on 17 Dec 2004 by "pete0215"
Amazing
I discovered Elliott Smith around three weeks ago and immediately spent some precious dole money on three of his albums. Read more
Published on 10 Sep 2000
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