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Figure 8
 
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Figure 8 [CD]

Elliott Smith Audio CD
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
Price: £4.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
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Biography

Elliott Smith was born Steven Paul Smith in Omaha, Nebraska on August 6, 1969. His father Gary Smith was in medical school at the University of Nebraska, and his mother Bunny was an elementary school teacher. When Elliott was one year old his parents divorced, and he moved with his mother to Dallas, Texas. That same year, his father was drafted, assigned to the U.S. Air Force, and sent to the… Read more in Amazon's Elliott Smith Store

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Frequently Bought Together

Figure 8 + XO + Either/Or
Price For All Three: £14.77

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  • XO £4.79

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Product details

  • Audio CD (17 April 2000)
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Format: CD
  • Label: Polydor Group
  • ASIN: B00004S6GL
  • Other Editions: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 17,792 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s

Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or view the MP3 Album.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Samples
Song Title Time Price
Listen  1. Son Of Sam 3:04£0.69
Listen  2. Somebody That I Used To Know 2:09£0.69
Listen  3. Junk Bond Trader 3:49£0.69
Listen  4. Everything Reminds Me Of Her 2:37£0.69
Listen  5. Everything Means Nothing To Me 2:24£0.69
Listen  6. L.A. 3:14£0.79
Listen  7. In The Lost And Found (Honky Bach)/The Roost 4:32£0.69
Listen  8. Stupidity Tries 4:23£0.69
Listen  9. Easy Way Out 2:44£0.69
Listen10. Wouldn't Mama Be Proud 3:25£0.69
Listen11. Colorbars 2:19£0.69
Listen12. Happiness/The Gondola Man 5:02£0.69
Listen13. Pretty Mary Kay 2:36£0.79
Listen14. Better Be Quiet Now 3:35£0.69
Listen15. Can't Make A Sound 4:18£0.69
Listen16. Bye 1:53£0.79


Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

The death of the singer/songwriter (someone for whom an acoustic gig was an everyday event, not some MTV-style special occasion) has been inevitable for some time, so releases like Figure 8 should be cherished. With no obvious singles, no clear fashion statement and nothing but a handful of melodies, a paper-thin voice and a piano or guitar for protection, it's clear that Elliott Smith is living on borrowed time. This is a shame, because--like Bernard Butler--Dallas, Texas born Elliott, after four solo albums, is only just finding his feet. Mixing peace loving folk ("Everything Reminds Me Of Her"), drugged up ramblings ("Everything Means Nothing To Me") and honky-tonk tales of serial killers ("Son Of Sam"), this makes for some pretty special listening. Figure 8, like his much acclaimed album XO before it, is a mess of beauty, ingenuity and slight insanity. If the days of the singer/songwriter are drawing to a close, this album is one hell of a way to remember them. --Dan Gennoe

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Smith's Masterpiece 24 Oct 2003
Format:Audio CD
Elliott Smith's death this week hit me really hard; I've not experienced the loss of any of my heroes before. I had been checking his official site for months, awaiting news of the follow up to Figure 8, one of my favourite albums of all time (and certainly my favourite of Smith's, just edging out XO and Either/Or). So to be greeted with news of his demise was a massive shock.

For me, Figure 8 edges out his other full-production piece, XO, by virtue of not having a bad song amongst its 16 (even the quick instrumental that brings the CD to a close is strangely haunting, and aptly titled "Bye"). Either/Or - the last of his *acoustic* records, lacks the interest of Figure 8, although the songs are, as ever, fragile and poignant.

Figure 8 is one of those albums that when you first hear it, you like the sound, but nothing stands out; however, it grows with repeated listens, and where albums that instantly gratify tend to become irritating, works like this sound eternally fresh. The album is replete with sumptuous melodies, but they are not obvious ones. The pace is mostly gentle, but the songs don't blend monotonously into one and other; however, they do sit wonderfully side-by-side, and it sounds like an album from a man with one vision, rather than a collection of ill-suited sketches.

If I had to pick out one song, it would be Can't Make A Sound, which starts with a whisper but builds to the album's climax proper (before the addition of Bye). It seems apt that a man who took his own life in dramatic circumstances should have ended his final album (work in progress on his sixth album pending) with I'd better Be Quiet Now, Can't Make A Sound, and Bye...

I am incredibly saddened at Smith's demise, and, from a selfish point of view, angry that I will deprived of further releases by a genius of a songwriter (unless, of course, the work in progress was at a sufficient stage for us to hear). But if his death brings him to the attention to the world, and his work gets heard by a larger audience, then that is one crumb of comfort.

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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Following his recent suicide, there is bound to be an upsurge of interest in Elliot Smith's music. Some might see this as hyporcritical; I myself simply see it as the simple fact that sometimes it takes news like this to raise awareness that somebody even existed.

That taken into consideration...I have been a fan of Elliot Smith since around 1998 and, although I've not listened to him so much recently (due to it being three years since he had released an album and the fact I had recently bought several other albums) he has remained one of my favourite songwriters and I had been eagerly looking forward to his sixth album.

When I heard he had died, the first thing I did was stick this (his last and my favourite CD) on and was reminded how wonderful it is.

Despite his reputatation as a sad acoustic troubadour, this album displays a range of talents from the piano-led "In the Lost and Found" to the snarling rocker "Junk Bond Trader" while final song (bar a closing instrumental) "Can't Make A Sound" has shades of Mercury Rev or Flaming Lips in use of effects and production.

Obviously Nick Drake and the Beatles remain reference points but it must be pointed out that Smith was no copyist and I truly feel his best moments could not have been written by anyone else. "Everything means nothing to me" and "Happiness" in particular shine here although, perhaps even more so due to what has happened, it is the quiet melanchony "I'd Better Be Quiet Now" that sticks in the mind and may be used as an urgent comforter on lonely winter nights. The line "If I didn't know the difference, living alone would probably be ok, it wouldn't be lonely..." is to my mind one of the most heartbreaking lyrics ever committed to disc.

For a newcomer to Smith (and whilst some fans feel understandbly differently, I hope Elliot Smith gains a lot of new fans - he always deserved to) this album, along with XO, probably provide the most valuable introductions to his brilliant music.

To return my starting point, I don't agree with buying albums of people just because they've died. Especially when there are lots of reasons to try this superb album.

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
"You're a little bit like God!" I remember someone shouting as Mr Smith took to the stage at last year's Glastonbury Festival. You won't find any "bigger than Jesus" claims from the modest American but in a current music that makes Bono look distinctly saviour-like Figure 8 is certainly an album that deserves to be listened to religiously. In a world of mundane, manufactured puppets Elliott Smith is a man you can trust. Figure 8 is one of those perfect hazy summer soundtracks that you could easily let wash over you, but to do this would be to miss the beauty of the record. Listening to Figure 8 you can't help but feel buoyed by the shimmering eloquence of the tunes and yet the lyrics are of such a crushing, heart-breaking nature that you almost feel guilty for enjoying listening to this out pouring of anguish. It is the way in which Smith conveys his torment that makes him undoubtedly one of the finest lyricists around. As he harmonises, Simon and Garfunkel style, through 16 tracks of social commentary, anecdote and emotion Smith sings with such humanity and feeling that his songs have the power to really touch you. Easily Elliott Smith's best work to date, Figure 8 adopts a more rock 'n' roll feel musically on songs like the outstanding 'LA' and Stupidity Tries' but still contains plenty of Smith's signature ballads ('Everything Reminds Me Of Her' and 'Somebody I Used To Know' being the pick of these). Sounding more gloriously fragile than his previous efforts the most powerful moments of the album come during these ballads when Smith's vocals are at their most delicate. Around a year on from its initial release Figure 8 still fails to be recognised by the majority of the record buying public and this album of astonishing beauty looks confined to being one of the lost jewels of 2000.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
I've had two copies of this from Amazon and they both skip in the same...
I love this album, it's one of my favourites of all time but for whatever reason, perhaps a missprint of the vinyl or whatever, the album skips a bar of "Junk Bond Trader" right... Read more
Published 6 months ago by T. E. Klar
Under-exposed!
I regard this album as up there with my favourite Beatles albums so I came on Amazon to see what others thought of it. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Jon Stewart
A creative genius...
It is rare to find an artist with such talent as Elliott Smith. ‘Figure 8’ is a masterpiece in everyway. Read more
Published on 13 Dec 2005 by "monachetti"
Heartbreaking
This is one of my favourite albums of all time and it is almost unbearably sad to think of how deprived we have been of all the great music he would have made in the future. Read more
Published on 25 Oct 2003
I don't usually do this kind of thing...
I've got to admit I've never felt inclined to write a review before, I guess I got too annoyed reading the NME to ever want to be a music hack. Read more
Published on 10 Oct 2003
Beautiful Agony
"Figure 8" sounds like what would have happened if Nick Drake had been asked to join The Beatles. Elliott Smith's voice falls into the haunted, ethereal category currently helmed... Read more
Published on 4 Aug 2003 by Patrick Burnett
Tripped Out
Second major label record. 50+ minutes of piano and organ led pop, with his trademark acoustic offerings will compare him ever more to The Beatles, but he is an original. Read more
Published on 6 Mar 2002
Smith goes pop
The fear that Elliott Smith might follow the traditional modern pattern by following his best record with his worst (see: REM, Blur, Oasis, Suede etc) proves to be unfounded though... Read more
Published on 17 Mar 2001
This is Smiths best yet.
This is Smith's best yet. 'Son of Sam' gets it off to a storming beginning, a great celebration of shoddy life, "I'm not uncomfortable feeling weird" he sings; and the raunch and... Read more
Published on 7 Oct 2000 by J. Davies
A bit of a disappointment
I found most of this record samey and unmemorable - Elliot Smith by numbers. It's pleasant enough; you'll like this as much as any of his other albums, but probably not much more. Read more
Published on 28 Sep 2000
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