Or at least as close to it as he'd come: he sews profanity mines into 'Say Yes,' a song that's adorable and rueful at once. If he gets a bit shrill in his upper register, it's bulldozed with a half-dozen lithe turns of phrase and rhyme so compressed it's practically internal.Įither/Or is also where Smith got unabashedly pretty. 'Pictures of Me' pairs white-cloud organ with another remarkable build and breakdown the brittle bridge is straight out of Three Dog Night's cover of 'One', and acoustic and electric wind around each other in another glaring signpost for XO. The solo is essentially a bar-band figure played three times, but its tossed-off mastery is startling in its own way. 'Cupid's Trick' rides a couple of seething crests to mantra-like lyrical repetition ('should've lit me up/it's my life') and madmaking guitar stasis. The night's still crushing everything, but Smith, finally, is ready to resist. Even the untitled tune is noteworthy: if George Harrison had been laid up in hospital with a demon, he's have written the harrowing, draggy 'No Name No. A case has (and will) be made that this is his greatest collection of tunes it's hard to argue with 37 minutes of taut, wounded tracks. After two albums in the basement, he moved his possessions closer to Heatmiser's floor, and the songs do not suffer for it. It's a red herring Smith played every instrument. But for the assuring tape click, a cymbal is the first sound you hear.

Elliott smith either or album