Elliott Smith
Encyclopedia
Steven Paul "Elliott" Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter
and musician. Smith was born in Omaha
, Nebraska
, raised primarily in Texas
, and resided for a significant portion of his life in Portland
, Oregon
, where he first gained popularity. His primary instrument was the guitar, but he was also proficient at piano, clarinet
, bass guitar, drums, and harmonica
. Smith had a distinctive vocal style characterized by his "whispery, spiderweb-thin delivery" and use of digital multi-tracking
to create vocal layers, textures, and harmonies
.
After playing in the rock
band Heatmiser
for several years, Smith began his solo career in 1994 with releases on the independent record labels Cavity Search
and Kill Rock Stars
. In 1997 he signed a contract with DreamWorks Records
, for which he recorded two albums. Smith rose to mainstream prominence when his song "Miss Misery
"—included in the soundtrack for the film Good Will Hunting
—was nominated for an Oscar
in the Best Original Song
category in 1998.
Smith suffered from depression
, alcoholism
, and drug addiction, and these topics often appear in his lyrics. At age 34, he died in Los Angeles, California
from two stab wounds to the chest. The autopsy evidence was inconclusive as to whether the wounds were self-inflicted
. At the time of his death, Smith was working on his sixth studio album, From a Basement on the Hill
, which was posthumously released.
, the only child to Gary Smith, a student at the University of Nebraska Medical Center
, and Bunny Kay Berryman, an elementary school music teacher. His parents divorced when he was six months old, and Smith moved with his mother to Duncanville, Texas
. Much later in his life, Smith got a tattoo of a map of Texas on his upper arm and said, "I didn't get it because I like Texas, kind of the opposite. But I won't forget about it, although I'm tempted to because I don't like it there."
Smith endured a difficult childhood and a troubled relationship with his stepfather Charlie Welch. Later in life, Smith would come to believe that he had been sexually abused
by Welch at a young age. He reflected the impact of this part of his life in the lyrics of "Some Song": "Charlie beat you up week after week, and when you grow up you're going to be a freak." The name "Charlie" also appeared in the lyrics for "Flowers for Charlie" and "No Confidence Man". The family was a part of the Community of Christ
through much of Smith's childhood, but eventually began attending services at a local Methodist
Church. Smith felt that going to church did little for him, except make him "really scared of Hell
". In a 2001 interview, he stated, "I don't necessarily buy into any officially structured version of spirituality. But I have my own version of it".
At the age of nine, Smith began playing the piano, and at 10 began learning guitar on a small acoustic guitar
bought for him by his father. At this age he also composed an original piano piece, "Fantasy", which won him a prize at an arts festival
. Many of the people on his mother's side of the family were non-professional musicians; his grandfather was a Dixieland
drummer and his grandmother sang in a glee club
.
At 14, Smith moved from Texas to Portland, Oregon
, to live with his father, who was then working as a psychiatrist, along with his step-mother and two half sisters. It was around this time that Smith first began using drugs, including alcohol, with friends as well as experimenting with recording for the first time, borrowing a four-track recorder
. During high school, Smith played clarinet in the school band and also played guitar, piano and sang in the bands Stranger Than Fiction and A Murder of Crows, billed as either Steven Smith or "Johnny Panic". He graduated from Lincoln High School as a National Merit Scholar
.
After graduation, Smith began calling himself "Elliott", saying that he thought "Steve" sounded too much like a "jock
" name, and that "Steven" sounded "too bookish". According to friends, he had also used the pseudonym "Elliott Stillwater-Rotter" during his time in the band Murder of Crows. Biographer S. R. Shutt speculates that it was either inspired by Elliott Avenue, a street that Smith had lived on in Portland, or that it was suggested by his then-girlfriend. A junior high acquaintance of Smith speculates that it was so as not to be confused with Steve Smith
, the drummer of Journey
.
in Amherst, Massachusetts
, in 1991 with a degree
in philosophy and political science. "Went straight through in four years," he explained to Under the Radar in 2003. "I guess it proved to myself that I could do something I really didn't want to for four years. Except I did like what I was studying. At the time it seemed like, 'This is your one and only chance to go to college and you had just better do it because some day you might wish that you did.' Plus, the whole reason I applied in the first place was because of my girlfriend, and I had gotten accepted already even though we had broken up before the first day." After he graduated he "worked in a bakery back in Portland with a bachelor’s degree
in philosophy and legal theory."
While at Hampshire, Smith formed the band Heatmiser
with classmate Neil Gust
. After graduating from Hampshire, the band added drummer Tony Lash
and bassist Brandt Peterson
and began performing around Portland in 1992. The group released the albums Dead Air
(1993) and Cop and Speeder
(1994) as well as the Yellow No. 5
EP (1994) on Frontier Records
, and were then signed to Virgin Records
to release what became their final album, Mic City Sons
(1996).
Around this time, Smith and Gust worked a number of odd jobs around Portland, including installing drywall
, spreading gravel, transplanting bamboo trees and painting the roof of a warehouse with heat reflective paint. The pair were also on unemployment, which they considered an "artist grant".
Smith had begun his solo career while still in Heatmiser, and the success of his first two releases created distance and tension with his band. Heatmiser disbanded prior to Mic City Sons release, prompting Virgin to put the album out inauspiciously through its independent arm, Caroline Records
. A clause in Heatmiser's record contract with Virgin meant that Smith was still bound to it as an individual. The contract was later bought-out by DreamWorks prior to the release of his album, XO
.
(1994), came about when Smith's girlfriend at the time convinced him to send a tape of "the most recent eight songs that [he’d] recorded on borrowed four-tracks
and borrowed guitar" to Cavity Search Records
. Owner Christopher Cooper immediately requested to release the entire album of songs, which surprised Smith, as he was only expecting a deal for a seven-inch record. Regarding the record, Smith said "I thought my head would be chopped off immediately when it came out because at the time it was so opposite to the grunge
thing that was popular... The thing is that album was really well-received, which was a total shock, and it immediately eclipsed [Heatmiser] unfortunately."
Smith felt his solo songs were not representative of the music Heatmiser was making: "The idea of playing [my music] for people didn't occur to me... because at the time it was the Northwest—Mudhoney
and Nirvana
—and going out to play an acoustic show was like crawling out on a limb and begging for it to be sawed off."
The instrumentation of the recordings was primarily acoustic guitar
, occasionally accompanied by brief electric guitar riff
s or a small drum set played with brushes. Only the final track, an instrumental titled "Kiwi Maddog 20/20" (a reference to the low-end fortified wine
), had full band instrumentation.
One of Smith's first solo performances was at the now-defunct Umbra Penumbra on September 17, 1994. Only three songs from Roman Candle were performed, with the majority of the ten-song set being B-sides, Heatmiser tunes, and unreleased tracks. Soon after this performance, he was asked to open for Mary Lou Lord
on a week-long U.S. tour. Several more short tours followed, and Smith helped her record one of his songs "I Figured You Out", which he once called "a stupid pop song [written] in about a minute" that he discarded for sounding "like the fucking Eagles."
was released on Kill Rock Stars
; the record featured a similar style of recording to Roman Candle, but with hints of growth and experimentation. Though the majority of the album was recorded by Smith alone, friend and The Spinanes
vocalist Rebecca Gates sang harmony vocals on "St. Ides Heaven", and Heatmiser guitarist Neil Gust
played guitar on "Single File". Several songs made reference to drugs, but Smith explained that he used the theme of drugs as a vehicle for conveying dependence rather than the songs being about drugs specifically. Looking back, Smith felt that the album's pervasive mood gave him "a reputation for being a really dark, depressed
person," and said that he later made a conscious move toward more diverse moods in his music.
In 1996, filmmaker Jem Cohen
recorded Smith playing acoustic songs for the short film Lucky Three: An Elliott Smith Portrait
. Two of these songs would appear on his next album, Either/Or
, which was another Kill Rock Stars release. Either/Or came out in 1997 to favorable reviews. The album found Smith venturing further into full instrumentation, with several songs containing bass guitar
, drums
, keyboards
, and electric guitars, all played by Smith. The album title was derived from the two-volume book of the same name
by Danish
philosopher Søren Kierkegaard
, whose works generally deal with themes such as existential despair, angst
, death, and God
.
By this time, Smith's already-heavy drinking was now being compounded with use of anti-depressants. At the end of the Either/Or tour, some of his close friends staged an intervention
in Chicago
, but it proved ineffective. Shortly after, he relocated from Portland to Brooklyn
.
to be a part of the soundtrack to his film, Good Will Hunting
. Smith recorded an orchestral version of "Between the Bars" with composer Danny Elfman
for the movie. Smith also contributed a new song, "Miss Misery," and three previously-released tracks ("No Name #3", from Roman Candle
, and "Angeles" and "Say Yes", from Either/Or
). The film was a commercial and critical success, and Smith was nominated for an Academy Award for "Miss Misery". Not eager to step into the limelight, he only agreed to perform the song at the ceremony after the producers informed him that his song would be played live that night—either by him or another musician of their choosing.
On March 5, 1998, Smith made his network television debut on Late Night With Conan O'Brien
performing "Miss Misery" solo on acoustic guitar. A few days later, wearing a white suit, he played an abridged version of the song at the Oscars, accompanied by the house orchestra
. James Horner
and Will Jennings
won the award that night for best song with "My Heart Will Go On
" (sung by Celine Dion
) from the film Titanic
. Smith did not voice disappointment about not winning the award.
Smith commented on the surrealism
of the Oscars experience: "That's exactly what it was, surreal... I enjoy performing almost as much as I enjoy making up songs in the first place. But the Oscars was a very strange show, where the set was only one song cut down to less than two minutes, and the audience was a lot of people who didn't come to hear me play. I wouldn't want to live in that world, but it was fun to walk around on the moon for a day."
and "Miss Misery", Smith signed to a bigger record label, DreamWorks Records
. Around the same time, Smith fell into depression
, speaking openly of considering suicide, and on at least one occasion made a serious attempt at ending his own life. While in North Carolina
, he became severely intoxicated and ran off a cliff. He landed on a tree, which badly impaled him but broke his fall. When questioned about his suicide attempt, he told an interviewer, "Yeah, I jumped off a cliff, but let's talk about something else."
Christopher Cooper, head of Cavity Search Records (which released Roman Candle), said about this time in Smith's life: "I talked him out of thinking that he wanted to kill himself numerous times when he was in Portland
. I kept telling him that he was a brilliant man, and that life was worth living, and that people loved him." Pete Krebs also agreed: "In Portland we got the brunt of Elliott's initial depression... Lots of people have stories of their own experiences of staying up with Elliott 'til five in the morning, holding his hand, telling him not to kill himself."
Smith's first release for DreamWorks was later that year. Titled XO
, it was conceived and developed while Smith wrote it out over the winter of 1998, night after night seated at the bar in Luna Lounge, it was produced by the team of Rob Schnapf
and Tom Rothrock
. XO also contained some instrumentation from Los Angeles musicians Joey Waronker
and Jon Brion
. It contained a more full-sounding, baroque pop
sound than any of his previous efforts, with songs featuring a horn section, Chamberlins, elaborate string
arrangement
s, and even a drum loop
on the song "Independence Day". His familiar double-tracked vocal and acoustic guitar style were still apparent while his somewhat personal lyrical style survived. The song "Waltz #2" even touches upon the abusive tendencies of his stepfather toward himself and his mother with lines like "XO, mom, it's ok, it's alright, nothing's wrong."The album went on to peak at number 104 on the Billboard 200
and number 123 on the UK Album Charts, while selling 400,000 copies (more than double that of each of his two Kill Rock Stars releases), becoming the best-selling release of his career. Smith's backing band during most of this period was the Portland-based group Quasi
, consisting of former bandmate Sam Coomes on bass guitar and Coomes's ex-wife Janet Weiss
on drums. Quasi also performed as the opening act at many shows on the tour, with Smith sometimes contributing bass guitar, guitar, or backing vocals. On October 17, 1998, Smith appeared on Saturday Night Live
and performed "Waltz #2." His backing band for this appearance was John Moen
, Jon Brion
, Rob Schnapf
, and Sam Coomes.
In response to whether the change to a bigger record label would influence his creative control, Smith said, "[S]ometimes people look at major labels as simply money-making machines, they're actually composed of individuals who are real people, and there's a part of them that needs to feel that part of their job is to put out good music." Smith also claimed in another interview that he never read his reviews for fear that they would interfere with his songwriting.
Smith relocated from Brooklyn to Los Angeles in 1999, taking up residence at a cabin in the Silver Lake
section of town. That fall, his cover of The Beatles
' "Because" was featured in the end credits of DreamWorks' Oscar-winning drama American Beauty
, and also appeared on the film's soundtrack album.
The final album Smith completed in his lifetime, Figure 8
, was released on April 18, 2000. It featured the return of Rothrock, Schnapf, Brion, and Waronker, and was partially recorded at Abbey Road Studios
in England, with an obvious Beatles influence in the songwriting and production. The album garnered very favorable reviews, peaking at number 99 on the Billboard 200 and 37 on the UK Album Charts. The album garnered praise for its power pop
style and complex arrangements, described as creating a "sweeping kaleidoscope of layered instruments and sonic textures." However, some reviewers felt that Smith's trademark dark and melancholy songwriting had lost some of its subtlety, with one reviewer likening some of the lyrics to "the self-pitying complaints of an adolescent venting in his diary."
Album art and promotional pictures from the period showed Smith looking cleaned-up and put-together. An extensive tour in promotion of the record ensued, bookended by television appearances on Late Night with Conan O'Brien
and The Late Show with David Letterman. However, Smith's condition began to deteriorate as he had become addicted to heroin either towards the end of or just after the Figure 8 tour.
Around the time he began recording his final album, Smith began to display signs of paranoia
, often believing that a white van followed him wherever he went. He would have friends drop him off for recording sessions almost a mile away from the studio, and to reach the location he would trudge through hundreds of yards of brush and cliffs. He started telling people that DreamWorks
was out to get him: "Not long ago my house was broken into, and songs were stolen off my computer which have wound up in the hands of certain people who work at a certain label. I've also been followed around for months at a time. I wouldn't even want to necessarily say it's the people from that label who are following me around, but it was probably them who broke into my house." During this period, Smith hardly ate, subsisting primarily on ice cream. He would go for several days without sleeping, and then sleep for an entire day.
A follow-up to Smith's 2000 album was originally planned to happen with Rob Schnapf
, but their sessions were abandoned. Smith also began distancing himself from manager Margaret Mittleman, who had handled him since the Roman Candle days. He finally began recording a new album with only himself and Jon Brion
as producers sometime during 2001. The pair had recorded a substantial amount of music for the album, when Brion confronted Smith about his drug
and alcohol abuse
. Their friendship promptly ended, and Smith scrapped all of their work up until that point. He later said: "There was even a little more than half of a record done before this new one that I just scrapped because of a blown friendship with someone that made me so depressed I didn't want to hear any of those songs. He was just helping me record the songs and stuff, and then the friendship kind of fell apart all of a sudden one day. It just made it kind of awkward being alone in the car listening to the songs."
When Brion sent a bill for the abandoned sessions to DreamWorks, executives Lenny Waronker
and Luke Wood scheduled a meeting with Smith to determine what went wrong with the sessions. The singer voiced what he believed to be intrusion upon his personal life from the label, as well as poor promotion for the Figure 8 album. The talks proved to be fruitless, and soon after, Smith sent a message to the executives, stating that if they did not release him from his contract, he would take his own life. In May 2001, Smith set out to re-record the album, mostly on his own, but with some help from David McConnell
of Goldenboy
. McConnell told Spin that, during this time, Smith would smoke over $1,500 worth of heroin and crack
per day, would often talk about suicide, and on numerous occasions tried to give himself an overdose. Steven Drozd
of The Flaming Lips
and Scott McPherson played a few drum tracks, Sam Coomes contributed some bass guitar and backing vocals, but almost every other instrument was recorded by Smith.
One of the few highlights for Smith in 2001 was inclusion of his song "Needle in the Hay
" in Wes Anderson
's dark comedy The Royal Tenenbaums
. The song plays during a suicide attempt. Smith was originally supposed to contribute a cover of The Beatles' "Hey Jude
" for the film, but when he failed to do so in time, Anderson had to use The Mutato Muzika Orchestra
's version of the track instead. Anderson would later say that Smith "was in a bad state" at the time.
Smith's live performances during 2001 and 2002 were infrequent, typically in the Pacific Northwest
or Los Angeles. A review of his December 20, 2001, show at Portland's Crystal Ballroom
stated concern over his appearance and performance: his hair was uncharacteristically greasy and long; his face was bearded and gaunt; and during his songs he exhibited alarming signs of "memory-loss and butterfingers". The crowd would often have to shout out the lyrics (and in some cases, guitar chord
s) when Smith could not think of them.
In the first of only three concerts performed in 2002, Smith co-headlined Northwestern University
's A&O Ball with Wilco
on May 2 in Chicago
. He was onstage for nearly an hour, but failed to complete a single song. He claimed that his poor performance was due to his left hand having fallen asleep
, and told the audience it felt "like having stuff on your hand and you can't get it off." Smith's performance was reviewed as "undoubtedly one of the worst performances ever by a musician" and an "excruciating...nightmare". A reporter for the online magazine Glorious Noise made the statement, "[I]t would not surprise me at all if Elliott Smith ends up dead within a year."
On November 25, 2002, Smith was involved in a brawl with the Los Angeles Police Department
at a Flaming Lips/Beck
concert. Smith later said he was defending a man he thought the police were harassing. Assuming that Smith was homeless, the officers allegedly beat and arrested him and his girlfriend, Jennifer Chiba. The two spent the night in jail. Smith's hand and back were injured in the incident, causing him to cancel a number of shows. Wayne Coyne
, lead singer of The Flaming Lips and a friend of Smith's, stated concern over Smith's appearance and actions, saying that he "saw a guy who had lost control of himself. He was needy, he was grumpy, he was everything you wouldn't want in a person. It's not like when you think of Keith Richards
being pleasantly blissed out in the corner."
several times, but found that he was unable to relate to the popular treatments for addicts that use a Twelve-Step Program
basis for treatment. "I couldn't do the first step
...I couldn't say what you were supposed to say and mean it." In 2002, Smith went to the Neurotransmitter Restoration Center in Beverly Hills to start a course of treatment for his drug addiction. In one of his final interviews, he spoke about the center, "What they do is an IV treatment where they put a needle
in your arm, and you're on a drip bag, but the only thing that's in the drip bag is amino acids and saline
solution. I was coming off of a lot of psych meds and other things. I was even on an antipsychotic
, although I'm not psychotic."
Two sold-out solo acoustic concerts at Hollywood's Henry Fonda Theater, on January 31 and February 1, 2003 saw Smith attempting to reestablish his credibility as a live performer, yielding mixed results. Before the show, Smith scrawled "Kali – The Destroyer
" (the Hindu
goddess associated with time and change) in large block letters with permanent ink
on his left arm, which was visible to the crowd during the performance. On several songs he was backed by a stripped-down drum kit played by Robin Peringer (of the band 764-HERO
), and on one track, members of opening band Rilo Kiley
contributed backing vocals. Smith would play only one more concert in his adopted hometown, three months later at The Derby.
After his 34th birthday on August 6, 2003, he gave up alcohol, caffeine, red meat, refined sugar, and his longtime (sometimes abused) regimen of psychiatric medication
. Director Mike Mills
had been working with Smith during his final years and described Smith's troubles and apparent recovery: "I gave the script to him, then he dropped off the face of the earth...he went through his whole crazy time, but by the time I was done with the film, he was making From a Basement on the Hill and I was shocked that he was actually making music."
With things improving for Smith after several troubled years, he began experimenting with noise music
and worked on his girlfriend Jennifer Chiba's iMac
with the intent of learning how to record with computers, noting that it was the only method with which he was still unfamiliar. Smith jokingly labeled his experimental way of recording "The California Frown" (a play on the Beach Boys' "California Sound"). He said of the songs, "They're kind of more noisy with the pitch
all distorted. Some are more acoustic
, but there aren't too many like that. Lately I've just been making up a lot of noise."
He was also in the process of recording songs for the Thumbsucker soundtrack
, including Big Star's "Thirteen
", and Cat Stevens
' "Trouble". In August 2003, Suicide Squeeze Records
put out a limited-edition vinyl
single for "Pretty (Ugly Before)", a song that Smith had been playing since the Figure 8 tour. Steve Hanft
described the last six months of Smith's life as being "like the light at the end of the tunnel" and was convinced that Smith was clean and recovered.
. Smith died in the hospital with the time of death listed as 1:36 p.m. A possible suicide note
, written on a Post-it
, read, "I'm so sorry—love, Elliott. God forgive me." The coroner's report had the name Elliott misspelled as "Elliot," however "a coroner's official told TSG that Smith's first name was misspelled in the report," not on the Post-it note.
While Smith's death was originally reported as a suicide
, the official autopsy
report released in December 2003 left open the question of possible homicide
.
According to Pitchfork Media
, record producer Larry Crane
reported on his Tape Op message board that he had planned to help Smith mix
his album in mid-November. Crane wrote, "I hadn't talked to Elliott in over a year. His girlfriend, Jennifer, called me [last week] and asked if I'd like to come to L.A. and help mix and finish [Smith's album]. I said yes, of course, and chatted with Elliott for the first time in ages. It seems surreal that he would call me to finish an album and then a week later kill himself. I talked to Jennifer this morning, who was obviously shattered and in tears, and she said, 'I don't understand, he was so healthy.'"
The coroner
's report revealed that no traces of illegal substances or alcohol were found in his system at the time of his death, but did find prescribed levels of antidepressant
, anxiolytic
and ADHD medications in his system, including Clonazepam
, Mirtazapine
, Atomoxetine and Amphetamine
. Also, no hesitation wounds were found on Smith, a trait typical of suicide by self infliction. With his death not being officially declared a suicide, journalist Alyson Camus noted numerous discrepancies and contradictions in the case that suggest foul play. However, the authorities do not seem to be investigating the case further.
Smith's body was cremated
. No public burial site or memorial was ever formally announced.
, Los Angeles, California
), the site at which the cover of the Figure 8
album was shot. Farewell messages to Smith were written on the wall, and flowers, photos, candles, and empty bottles of alcohol mentioned in Smith's songs were left. Since then, the wall has been repeatedly tagged by gang signs, and, despite having been repainted to its original state in February 2008 and promises from Solutions' owner to maintain the site, the wall became largely covered by unrelated graffiti. In August 2011, in honor of Smith's 42nd birthday, members of the music & arts collective FMLY restored the mural, adding a black and white stencil of Smith resembling the photo on the Figure 8 album cover.
Memorial concerts were held in several cities in the United States and the United Kingdom. A petition was soon put forth with intent to make part of the Silver Lake
area a memorial park in Smith's honor. It received over 10,000 signatures, but no plans to establish the park have been announced. A memorial plaque located inside Smith's former high school, Lincoln High, was hung in July 2006. The plaque has the line "I'm never gonna know you now, but I'm gonna love you anyhow," from Smith's song "Waltz #2".
Since Smith's death, many musical acts have paid him tribute. Songs in tribute to, or about Smith have been released by Bright Eyes ("Reinvent The Wheel"), Beck
("Broken Drum" on "Guero
"), Pearl Jam
("Can't Keep" on the Live at Benaroya Hall
concert album), Rilo Kiley
("Ripchord" and "It Just Is" on More Adventurous
), Sparta
("Bombs and Us"), Third Eye Blind
("There's No Hurry To Eternity," originally titled "Elliott Smith," on the Live from Nowhere, Volume 2
compilation), Ben Folds
("Late" on Songs for Silverman
), Brad Mehldau
("Sky Turning Grey (for Elliott Smith)" on Highway Rider
), Rhett Miller
("The Believer" on The Believer), Earlimart
("Heaven Adores You" on Treble and Tremble
), Joan As Police Woman ("We Don't Own It" on Real Life
), and Pete Yorn
("Bandstand in the Sky" on Nightcrawler
, a song jointly dedicated to Jeff Buckley
). Several tribute album
s have been released since his death, including Christopher O'Riley
's Home to Oblivion: An Elliott Smith Tribute
.
On July 30, 2004, Jennifer Chiba filed a lawsuit against the Smith family for 15% of his earnings (over $1 million), claiming that she and Smith lived as "husband and wife", that the singer pledged to take care of her financially for the rest of her life, and that she worked as his manager and agent from around 2000 until his death. A state labor commissioner ruled her claim as manager to be invalid, as she had worked as an "unlicensed talent agent" under California's Talent Agencies Act. The case made it to the California appellate court
in October 2007, but was defeated 2–1; Chiba could potentially appeal the case to the Supreme Court of California
.
, almost four years in production, was released on October 19, 2004, by ANTI- Records (a part of Epitaph Records
). With Smith's family in control of his estate, they chose to bring in Rob Schnapf
and Smith's ex-girlfriend Joanna Bolme
to sort through the recordings and mix the album. Although Smith had voiced his desire for it to be a double album or a regular album with a bonus disc, it was not clear if it would have been possible for him to release it that way had he completed it. As completed by Schnapf and Bolme, it was released as a 15-track single album. Many songs from the sessions (later leaked onto the Internet) were not included, such as "True Love", "Abused", "Stickman", and "Suicide Machine" (a reworking of the Figure 8-era unreleased instrumental, "Tiny Time Machine"). There has been unconfirmed speculation that Smith's family made the decision not to include some songs on the record.
Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing
, a biography by Benjamin Nugent
, was rushed to publication and hit stores shortly after From a Basement on the Hill, barely beyond the first anniversary of the musician's death. Smith's family, as well as Joanna Bolme, Jennifer Chiba, Neil Gust, Sam Coomes, and Janet Weiss, all declined to be interviewed. It contained interviews with Rob Schnapf, David McConnell, and Pete Krebs. The book received mixed reviews, with Publishers Weekly
remarking that while "Nugent manages to patch together the major beats of Smith's life, he can offer little meaningful insight" and that Smith's fans "will be disappointed by this short and shallow biography."
On May 8, 2007, a posthumous two-disc compilation album
entitled New Moon
was released by Kill Rock Stars. The album contained 24 songs recorded by Smith between 1994 and 1997 during his tenure with the label that were not included on albums, as well as a few early versions and previously released B-sides. In the United States, the album debuted at number 24 on the Billboard 200, selling about 24,000 copies in its first week. The record received favorable reviews and was Metacritic
's 15th best-reviewed album of 2007. A significant portion of the proceeds from album sales are to go to Outside In
, a social service agency for low-income adults and homeless youth in Portland, Oregon.
On October 25, 2007, a book titled Elliott Smith
was released by Autumn de Wilde
, which consists of photographs, handwritten lyrics and "revealing talks with Smith's inner circle." De Wilde was responsible for the Figure 8 sleeve art, making a landmark and de facto Smith memorial of the Solutions Audio mural. A five-song CD featuring previously unreleased live recordings of Smith performing acoustically at Club Largo in Los Angeles was included in the release.
Following the singer's death, the Smith estate licensed his songs for use in a number of film and television projects, such as One Tree Hill, The Girl Next Door, Georgia Rule
, and Paranoid Park
.
In a March 2009 interview, Larry Crane said that the estate of Elliott Smith was now "defunct" and all rights previously held by the singer are now in the control of "his parents." Crane went on to say that his parents own the rights to Smith's high school recordings, some of the Heatmiser material, all solo songs recorded up until his 1998 record deal with DreamWorks Records
and From a Basement on the Hill. DreamWorks Records was acquired by Universal Music Group
in 2003, and Interscope Records
currently "owns all studio and live recording from Jan 1998 to his passing, except for the songs on From a Basement on the Hill."
In December 2009, Kill Rock Stars announced that it had obtained the rights to re-release Roman Candle and From a Basement on the Hill, originally released by Cavity Search and Anti-, respectively. Roman Candle will be remastered by Larry Crane. Along with the press release, Kill Rock Stars posted a previously unreleased track of Smith's, titled "Cecilia/Amanda", as a free download. Roman Candle and From a Basement on the Hill were re-released on April 6, 2010 in the US.
A compilation titled An Introduction to... Elliott Smith
was released by Domino Records on November 1, 2010 in the UK and Kill Rock Stars on November 2 in the US.
There remain over a hundred unreleased tracks. Many have leaked and appear on bootleg releases such as Elliott Smith Rarities and Grand Mal: Studio Rarities.
, The Clash
, The Who
, Led Zeppelin
,The Kinks
, Pink Floyd
, Rush
, Elvis Costello
, Television
, Motown
and flamenco
records, AC/DC
, Hank Williams, Scorpions
, and Modest Mouse
. Smith claimed to listen exclusively to selected albums (such as The Marble Index
by Nico
) for months. Sean Croghan, a former roommate of Smith's, said that the singer "listened almost exclusively to slow jam
s" in his senior year at college. Smith was also known to gain inspiration from novels, religion and philosophy. He liked classic literature, especially Samuel Beckett
, T. S. Eliot
, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky (and other Russian novelists).
Smith mentioned his admiration for Bob Dylan
in several interviews, citing him as an early musical influence. He once commented: "My father taught me how to play "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
". I love Dylan's words, but even more than that, I love the fact that he loves words." Smith covered Dylan's "When I Paint My Masterpiece
" several times in concert. Smith has also been compared to folk legend Nick Drake
, due to his fingerpicking style and vocals. Darryl Cater of Allmusic called references to "the definitive folk loner" Drake, "inevitable", and Smith's lyrics have been compared to those in Drake's minimalist and haunting final album
.
Smith was a dedicated fan of The Beatles
(as well as their solo projects), once noting that he had been listening to them frequently since he was about "four years old" and also claimed that hearing The White Album
was his original inspiration to become a musician. In 1998, Smith contributed a cover
of the Beatles song "Because
" to the closing credits and soundtrack
of the film American Beauty. Although this was the only Beatles song that Smith ever officially released, he is known to have recorded at least two others ("Revolution
" and "I'll Be Back
"), and played many songs by both the band and the members' solo projects at live concerts.
Regarding his songwriting, Smith said:
Smith said that transitions were his favorite part of songs and that he preferred to write broader, more impressionistic
music closer to pop
rather than folk music
. Smith compared his songs to stories or dreams, not purely confessional pieces that people could relate to. When asked about the dark nature of his songwriting and the cult following
he was gaining, Smith said he felt it was merely a product of him writing songs that were strongly meaningful to him rather than anything contrived. Larry Crane, Smith's posthumous archivist, has said that he was surprised at the amount of "recycling of musical ideas" that he has encountered while cataloging the singer's private tapes: "I found songs recorded in high school reworked 15 years on. Lyrics became more important to him as he became older, and more time was spent working on them."
Others
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
and musician. Smith was born in Omaha
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
, Nebraska
Nebraska
Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
, raised primarily in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, and resided for a significant portion of his life in Portland
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, where he first gained popularity. His primary instrument was the guitar, but he was also proficient at piano, clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
, bass guitar, drums, and harmonica
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
. Smith had a distinctive vocal style characterized by his "whispery, spiderweb-thin delivery" and use of digital multi-tracking
Multitrack recording
Multitrack recording is a method of sound recording that allows for the separate recording of multiple sound sources to create a cohesive whole...
to create vocal layers, textures, and harmonies
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
.
After playing in the rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band Heatmiser
Heatmiser
The Music of Heatmiser is a six-song demo cassette, recorded on April 29 and 30, 1992, at Sound Impressions in Milwaukie, Oregon. It was made available only at shows or by mail order....
for several years, Smith began his solo career in 1994 with releases on the independent record labels Cavity Search
Cavity Search Records
Cavity Search Records is a record label based in Portland, Oregon formed in 1992 by Christopher Cooper and Denny Swofford. Its roster includes such artists as The Helio Sequence and Pete Krebs, but is most notable for releasing Elliott Smith's debut album, Roman Candle.-Artists:*Atomic 61*Danny...
and Kill Rock Stars
Kill Rock Stars
Kill Rock Stars is an independent record label founded in 1991 by Slim Moon and based in both Olympia, Washington and Portland, Oregon. The label has released a variety of work in different genres, making it difficult to pigeonhole as having any one artistic mission...
. In 1997 he signed a contract with DreamWorks Records
DreamWorks Records
DreamWorks Records was an American record label. Founded in 1996 by David Geffen, Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg as a subsidiary of DreamWorks SKG, the label operated until 2005 when it was shut down...
, for which he recorded two albums. Smith rose to mainstream prominence when his song "Miss Misery
Miss Misery (song)
"Miss Misery" is a song by singer-songwriter Elliott Smith who wrote both the music and lyrics. Featured in the closing credits and the soundtrack of the 1997 film Good Will Hunting, the song was nominated for Best Original Song in the 1998 Academy Awards...
"—included in the soundtrack for the film Good Will Hunting
Good Will Hunting
Good Will Hunting is a 1997 drama film directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Matt Damon, Robin Williams, Ben Affleck, Minnie Driver, and Stellan Skarsgård...
—was nominated for an Oscar
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
in the Best Original Song
Academy Award for Best Original Song
The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . It is presented to the songwriters who have composed the best original song written specifically for a film...
category in 1998.
Smith suffered from depression
Clinical depression
Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...
, alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
, and drug addiction, and these topics often appear in his lyrics. At age 34, he died in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
from two stab wounds to the chest. The autopsy evidence was inconclusive as to whether the wounds were self-inflicted
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
. At the time of his death, Smith was working on his sixth studio album, From a Basement on the Hill
From a Basement on the Hill
From a Basement on the Hill is the sixth and final studio album by the late singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. Released posthumously on October 19, 2004 by ANTI- Records in CD, double LP, and digital download, it peaked at #19 in the US and #41 in the UK....
, which was posthumously released.
Early life
Steven Paul Smith was born at the Clarkson Hospital in Omaha, NebraskaOmaha, Nebraska
Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
, the only child to Gary Smith, a student at the University of Nebraska Medical Center
University of Nebraska Medical Center
The University of Nebraska Medical Center is a public academic health sciences center located on 42nd and Emile Streets in Midtown Omaha, Nebraska. UNMC is the only public academic health science center in Nebraska.-Academics and rankings:...
, and Bunny Kay Berryman, an elementary school music teacher. His parents divorced when he was six months old, and Smith moved with his mother to Duncanville, Texas
Duncanville, Texas
Duncanville is a city in Dallas County, Texas . Duncanville's population was 36,081 at the 2000 census, and estimated at 42,500 in 2008. Duncanville is a suburb of Dallas and is part of the Best Southwest area, which includes Duncanville, Cedar Hill, DeSoto, and Lancaster.-Geography:Duncanville is...
. Much later in his life, Smith got a tattoo of a map of Texas on his upper arm and said, "I didn't get it because I like Texas, kind of the opposite. But I won't forget about it, although I'm tempted to because I don't like it there."
Smith endured a difficult childhood and a troubled relationship with his stepfather Charlie Welch. Later in life, Smith would come to believe that he had been sexually abused
Child sexual abuse
Child sexual abuse is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include asking or pressuring a child to engage in sexual activities , indecent exposure with intent to gratify their own sexual desires or to...
by Welch at a young age. He reflected the impact of this part of his life in the lyrics of "Some Song": "Charlie beat you up week after week, and when you grow up you're going to be a freak." The name "Charlie" also appeared in the lyrics for "Flowers for Charlie" and "No Confidence Man". The family was a part of the Community of Christ
Community of Christ
The Community of Christ, known from 1872 to 2001 as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints , is an American-based international Christian church established in April 1830 that claims as its mission "to proclaim Jesus Christ and promote communities of joy, hope, love, and peace"...
through much of Smith's childhood, but eventually began attending services at a local Methodist
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
Church. Smith felt that going to church did little for him, except make him "really scared of Hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
". In a 2001 interview, he stated, "I don't necessarily buy into any officially structured version of spirituality. But I have my own version of it".
At the age of nine, Smith began playing the piano, and at 10 began learning guitar on a small acoustic guitar
Steel-string acoustic guitar
A steel-string acoustic guitar is a modern form of guitar descended from the classical guitar, but strung with steel strings for a brighter, louder sound...
bought for him by his father. At this age he also composed an original piano piece, "Fantasy", which won him a prize at an arts festival
Arts festival
An arts festival is a festival that focuses on the visual arts in all its forms, but which may also focus on or include other arts.Arts festivals in the visual arts are exhibitions and are not to be confused with the commercial art fair. Artists participate in the most important of such festival...
. Many of the people on his mother's side of the family were non-professional musicians; his grandfather was a Dixieland
Dixieland
Dixieland music, sometimes referred to as Hot jazz, Early Jazz or New Orleans jazz, is a style of jazz music which developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century, and was spread to Chicago and New York City by New Orleans bands in the 1910s.Well-known jazz standard songs from the...
drummer and his grandmother sang in a glee club
Glee club
A glee club is a musical group or choir group, historically of male voices but also of female or mixed voices, which traditionally specializes in the singing of short songs—glees—by trios or quartets. In the late 19th Century it was very popular in most schools and was made a tradition...
.
At 14, Smith moved from Texas to Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, to live with his father, who was then working as a psychiatrist, along with his step-mother and two half sisters. It was around this time that Smith first began using drugs, including alcohol, with friends as well as experimenting with recording for the first time, borrowing a four-track recorder
Multitrack recording
Multitrack recording is a method of sound recording that allows for the separate recording of multiple sound sources to create a cohesive whole...
. During high school, Smith played clarinet in the school band and also played guitar, piano and sang in the bands Stranger Than Fiction and A Murder of Crows, billed as either Steven Smith or "Johnny Panic". He graduated from Lincoln High School as a National Merit Scholar
National Merit Scholarship Program
The National Merit Scholarship Program is a United States academic scholarship competition for recognition and college scholarships administered by National Merit Scholarship Corporation , a privately funded, not-for-profit organization. The program began in 1955...
.
After graduation, Smith began calling himself "Elliott", saying that he thought "Steve" sounded too much like a "jock
Jock (subculture)
The term jock, when used primarily in the United States, refers to the classic stereotype of a male athlete. It is generally a negative stereotype, and is attributed mostly to high school and college athletics participants who form a distinct youth subculture. In sociology, the jock is thought to...
" name, and that "Steven" sounded "too bookish". According to friends, he had also used the pseudonym "Elliott Stillwater-Rotter" during his time in the band Murder of Crows. Biographer S. R. Shutt speculates that it was either inspired by Elliott Avenue, a street that Smith had lived on in Portland, or that it was suggested by his then-girlfriend. A junior high acquaintance of Smith speculates that it was so as not to be confused with Steve Smith
Steve Smith (musician)
Steve Elliott Smith is an American drummer who has worked with hundreds of artists in his career, but is mostly known for being the drummer of the rock band Journey during their peak years of success. Modern Drummer magazine readers voted him the #1 All-Around Drummer five years in a row...
, the drummer of Journey
Journey (band)
Journey is an American rock band formed in 1973 in San Francisco by former members of Santana. The band has gone through several phases; its strongest commercial success occurred between the 1978 and 1987, after which it temporarily disbanded...
.
1991–1993: Heatmiser
Smith graduated from Hampshire CollegeHampshire College
Hampshire College is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1965 as an experiment in alternative education, in association with four other colleges in the Pioneer Valley: Amherst College, Smith College, Mount Holyoke College, and the University of Massachusetts...
in Amherst, Massachusetts
Amherst, Massachusetts
Amherst is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States in the Connecticut River valley. As of the 2010 census, the population was 37,819, making it the largest community in Hampshire County . The town is home to Amherst College, Hampshire College, and the University of Massachusetts...
, in 1991 with a degree
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
in philosophy and political science. "Went straight through in four years," he explained to Under the Radar in 2003. "I guess it proved to myself that I could do something I really didn't want to for four years. Except I did like what I was studying. At the time it seemed like, 'This is your one and only chance to go to college and you had just better do it because some day you might wish that you did.' Plus, the whole reason I applied in the first place was because of my girlfriend, and I had gotten accepted already even though we had broken up before the first day." After he graduated he "worked in a bakery back in Portland with a bachelor’s degree
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in philosophy and legal theory."
While at Hampshire, Smith formed the band Heatmiser
Heatmiser
The Music of Heatmiser is a six-song demo cassette, recorded on April 29 and 30, 1992, at Sound Impressions in Milwaukie, Oregon. It was made available only at shows or by mail order....
with classmate Neil Gust
Neil Gust
Neil Jacob Gust is an American musician. He is best known for co-founding Heatmiser with Elliott Smith in 1992.-Music career:Gust and Smith first met in 1987 while the pair were attending Hampshire College, in Amherst, Massachusetts. Gust wrote songs for as well as played guitar and sang in the band...
. After graduating from Hampshire, the band added drummer Tony Lash
Tony Lash
Anthony Carr "Tony" Lash is an American musician and music producer, most notable as a founding member of Heatmiser as the band's drummer. He played with Elliott Smith, in the high school band. Lash played the flute; Smith, the clarinet....
and bassist Brandt Peterson
Brandt Peterson
Brandt Gustav Peterson is an American musician, best known as the original bass player with Heatmiser upon its formation in 1992. He was replaced on the band's final album, 1996's Mic City Sons, by Sam Coomes, after Peterson left the band...
and began performing around Portland in 1992. The group released the albums Dead Air
Dead Air (Heatmiser album)
Dead Air is the debut album by Heatmiser, released in 1993 on Frontier Records.-Track listing:#"Still" #"Candyland" #"Mock-Up" #"Dirt" #"Bottle Rocket" #"Blackout" #"Stray"...
(1993) and Cop and Speeder
Cop and Speeder
Cop and Speeder is the second album by Heatmiser, released in 1994 on Frontier Records. Different versions of "Temper" and "Sleeping Pill" originally appeared on Cavity Search CSR7.-Track listing:#"Disappearing Ink" - 2:25...
(1994) as well as the Yellow No. 5
Yellow No. 5 (Heatmiser E.P.)
Yellow No. 5 is an EP by Heatmiser, released in 1994 on Frontier Records.-Track listing:#"Wake" #"Fortune 500" #"The Corner Seat" #"Idler" #"Junior Mint"...
EP (1994) on Frontier Records
Frontier Records
Frontier Records is an independent record label, started in 1980 in Los Angeles by Lisa Fancher, a former employee of Bomp! Records and writer of the liner notes for the first album by The Runaways....
, and were then signed to Virgin Records
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...
to release what became their final album, Mic City Sons
Mic City Sons
Mic City Sons is the third and final album by Heatmiser, released in 1996 on Caroline Records. Pitchfork.com ranked the album at #48 on their "Top Albums of the 90s" list...
(1996).
Around this time, Smith and Gust worked a number of odd jobs around Portland, including installing drywall
Drywall
Drywall, also known as plasterboard, wallboard or gypsum board is a panel made of gypsum plaster pressed between two thick sheets of paper...
, spreading gravel, transplanting bamboo trees and painting the roof of a warehouse with heat reflective paint. The pair were also on unemployment, which they considered an "artist grant".
Smith had begun his solo career while still in Heatmiser, and the success of his first two releases created distance and tension with his band. Heatmiser disbanded prior to Mic City Sons release, prompting Virgin to put the album out inauspiciously through its independent arm, Caroline Records
Caroline Records
Caroline Records started out as a subsidiary of Richard Branson's Virgin Records label during the early to mid 1970s. The label originally specialized in putting out budget price LPs by mainly progressive rock and jazz artists generally not considered to have a great deal of 'mainstream' or...
. A clause in Heatmiser's record contract with Virgin meant that Smith was still bound to it as an individual. The contract was later bought-out by DreamWorks prior to the release of his album, XO
XO (album)
XO is the name of the fourth album recorded by American singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. Smith's first work on a major label, it was released by DreamWorks Records on August 25, 1998. Bong Load Custom Records released it on vinyl LP, which has since gone out of print. Vinyl copies of XO remained...
.
1994: Roman Candle
His first release, Roman CandleRoman Candle (album)
Roman Candle was Elliott Smith's debut album as a solo artist, even though he was still a singer and guitarist for the band Heatmiser. The album has a raw, homemade sound , with Smith playing each instrument and recording it on his four-track recorder. Kid Tulsa played snare and cymbal on tracks...
(1994), came about when Smith's girlfriend at the time convinced him to send a tape of "the most recent eight songs that [he’d] recorded on borrowed four-tracks
Multitrack recording
Multitrack recording is a method of sound recording that allows for the separate recording of multiple sound sources to create a cohesive whole...
and borrowed guitar" to Cavity Search Records
Cavity Search Records
Cavity Search Records is a record label based in Portland, Oregon formed in 1992 by Christopher Cooper and Denny Swofford. Its roster includes such artists as The Helio Sequence and Pete Krebs, but is most notable for releasing Elliott Smith's debut album, Roman Candle.-Artists:*Atomic 61*Danny...
. Owner Christopher Cooper immediately requested to release the entire album of songs, which surprised Smith, as he was only expecting a deal for a seven-inch record. Regarding the record, Smith said "I thought my head would be chopped off immediately when it came out because at the time it was so opposite to the grunge
Grunge
Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...
thing that was popular... The thing is that album was really well-received, which was a total shock, and it immediately eclipsed [Heatmiser] unfortunately."
Smith felt his solo songs were not representative of the music Heatmiser was making: "The idea of playing [my music] for people didn't occur to me... because at the time it was the Northwest—Mudhoney
Mudhoney
Mudhoney is an American alternative rock band. Formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1988 following the demise of Green River, Mudhoney's members are vocalist and rhythm guitarist Mark Arm, lead guitarist Steve Turner, bassist Guy Maddison, and drummer Dan Peters. Original bassist Matt Lukin left the...
and Nirvana
Nirvana (band)
Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...
—and going out to play an acoustic show was like crawling out on a limb and begging for it to be sawed off."
The instrumentation of the recordings was primarily acoustic guitar
Steel-string acoustic guitar
A steel-string acoustic guitar is a modern form of guitar descended from the classical guitar, but strung with steel strings for a brighter, louder sound...
, occasionally accompanied by brief electric guitar riff
RIFF
The Resource Interchange File Format is a generic file container format for storing data in tagged chunks. It is primarily used to store multimedia such as sound and video, though it may also be used to store any arbitrary data....
s or a small drum set played with brushes. Only the final track, an instrumental titled "Kiwi Maddog 20/20" (a reference to the low-end fortified wine
Low-end fortified wine
Low-end fortified wine is an inexpensive fortified wine that typically has an alcohol content between 13% and 20% ABV. These inexpensive wines usually contain added sugar, artificial color, and artificial flavor.- Brands :...
), had full band instrumentation.
One of Smith's first solo performances was at the now-defunct Umbra Penumbra on September 17, 1994. Only three songs from Roman Candle were performed, with the majority of the ten-song set being B-sides, Heatmiser tunes, and unreleased tracks. Soon after this performance, he was asked to open for Mary Lou Lord
Mary Lou Lord
Mary Lou Lord is an indie folk musician, busker and recording artist.-Biography:Mary Lou Lord first gained notice playing acoustic guitar and singing in and around Boston's subway stations Lord became friends with...
on a week-long U.S. tour. Several more short tours followed, and Smith helped her record one of his songs "I Figured You Out", which he once called "a stupid pop song [written] in about a minute" that he discarded for sounding "like the fucking Eagles."
1995–1996: Elliott Smith and Either/Or
In 1995, Smith's self-titled albumElliott Smith (album)
Elliott Smith is the second album recorded by American singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. It was released by Kill Rock Stars on 21 July 1995 in CD and vinyl LP. It was Smith's first full-length release on the label....
was released on Kill Rock Stars
Kill Rock Stars
Kill Rock Stars is an independent record label founded in 1991 by Slim Moon and based in both Olympia, Washington and Portland, Oregon. The label has released a variety of work in different genres, making it difficult to pigeonhole as having any one artistic mission...
; the record featured a similar style of recording to Roman Candle, but with hints of growth and experimentation. Though the majority of the album was recorded by Smith alone, friend and The Spinanes
The Spinanes
The Spinanes was an indie band from Olympia, Portland and Chicago, in the 1990s. The founding members were Rebecca Gates and Scott Plouf ....
vocalist Rebecca Gates sang harmony vocals on "St. Ides Heaven", and Heatmiser guitarist Neil Gust
Neil Gust
Neil Jacob Gust is an American musician. He is best known for co-founding Heatmiser with Elliott Smith in 1992.-Music career:Gust and Smith first met in 1987 while the pair were attending Hampshire College, in Amherst, Massachusetts. Gust wrote songs for as well as played guitar and sang in the band...
played guitar on "Single File". Several songs made reference to drugs, but Smith explained that he used the theme of drugs as a vehicle for conveying dependence rather than the songs being about drugs specifically. Looking back, Smith felt that the album's pervasive mood gave him "a reputation for being a really dark, depressed
Depression (mood)
Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behaviour, feelings and physical well-being. Depressed people may feel sad, anxious, empty, hopeless, helpless, worthless, guilty, irritable, or restless...
person," and said that he later made a conscious move toward more diverse moods in his music.
Jem Cohen
Jem Alan Cohen is an award-winning New York City-based filmmaker known for his observational portraits of urban landscapes, blending of media formats and collaborations with music artists. He is the recipient of the Independent Spirit Award and many first place awards for feature filmmaking...
recorded Smith playing acoustic songs for the short film Lucky Three: An Elliott Smith Portrait
Lucky Three
Lucky Three or Lucky Three: an Elliott Smith Portrait is an 11-minute short film featuring Elliott Smith playing acoustic songs. Directed by Jem Cohen, the film was recorded October 17-20, 1996 in Portland, Oregon, and released in 1997. It is available on Kill Rock Stars' Video Fanzine #1 release...
. Two of these songs would appear on his next album, Either/Or
Either/Or (album)
Either/Or is the name of the third album recorded by American singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. The album was released on Kill Rock Stars on February 25, 1997 on compact disc and vinyl LP....
, which was another Kill Rock Stars release. Either/Or came out in 1997 to favorable reviews. The album found Smith venturing further into full instrumentation, with several songs containing bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, keyboards
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, and electric guitars, all played by Smith. The album title was derived from the two-volume book of the same name
Either/Or
Published in two volumes in 1843, Either/Or is an influential book written by the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, exploring the aesthetic and ethical "phases" or "stages" of existence....
by Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
philosopher Søren Kierkegaard
Søren Kierkegaard
Søren Aabye Kierkegaard was a Danish Christian philosopher, theologian and religious author. He was a critic of idealist intellectuals and philosophers of his time, such as Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling and Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel...
, whose works generally deal with themes such as existential despair, angst
Angst
Angst is an English, German, Danish, Norwegian and Dutch word for fear or anxiety . It is used in English to describe an intense feeling of apprehension, anxiety or inner turmoil...
, death, and God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
.
By this time, Smith's already-heavy drinking was now being compounded with use of anti-depressants. At the end of the Either/Or tour, some of his close friends staged an intervention
Intervention (counseling)
An intervention is an orchestrated attempt by one, or often many, people to get someone to seek professional help with an addiction or some kind of traumatic event or crisis, or other serious problem. The term intervention is most often used when the traumatic event involves addiction to drugs...
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, but it proved ineffective. Shortly after, he relocated from Portland to Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
.
1997–1998: "Miss Misery" and the Oscars
In 1996, Smith was tapped by director and fellow Portland resident Gus Van SantGus Van Sant
Gus Green Van Sant, Jr. is an American director, screenwriter, painter, photographer, musician, and author. He is a two time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director for his 1997 film Good Will Hunting and his 2008 film Milk, both of which were also nominated for Best Picture, and won the...
to be a part of the soundtrack to his film, Good Will Hunting
Good Will Hunting
Good Will Hunting is a 1997 drama film directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Matt Damon, Robin Williams, Ben Affleck, Minnie Driver, and Stellan Skarsgård...
. Smith recorded an orchestral version of "Between the Bars" with composer Danny Elfman
Danny Elfman
Daniel Robert "Danny" Elfman is an American composer, best known for scoring music for television and film. Up until 1995, he was the lead singer and songwriter in the rock band Oingo Boingo, a group he formed in 1976...
for the movie. Smith also contributed a new song, "Miss Misery," and three previously-released tracks ("No Name #3", from Roman Candle
Roman Candle (album)
Roman Candle was Elliott Smith's debut album as a solo artist, even though he was still a singer and guitarist for the band Heatmiser. The album has a raw, homemade sound , with Smith playing each instrument and recording it on his four-track recorder. Kid Tulsa played snare and cymbal on tracks...
, and "Angeles" and "Say Yes", from Either/Or
Either/Or (album)
Either/Or is the name of the third album recorded by American singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. The album was released on Kill Rock Stars on February 25, 1997 on compact disc and vinyl LP....
). The film was a commercial and critical success, and Smith was nominated for an Academy Award for "Miss Misery". Not eager to step into the limelight, he only agreed to perform the song at the ceremony after the producers informed him that his song would be played live that night—either by him or another musician of their choosing.
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien that aired 2,725 episodes on NBC between 1993 and 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and musical and comedy performances. Late Night aired weeknights at 12:37 am...
performing "Miss Misery" solo on acoustic guitar. A few days later, wearing a white suit, he played an abridged version of the song at the Oscars, accompanied by the house orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
. James Horner
James Horner
James Roy Horner is an American composer, orchestrator and conductor of orchestral and film music. He is noted for the integration of choral and electronic elements in many of his film scores, and for frequent use of Celtic musical elements...
and Will Jennings
Will Jennings
Wilbur H. "Will" Jennings is an American songwriter who is popularly known for writing the lyrics for "My Heart Will Go On", the theme for the film Titanic .-Life and education:...
won the award that night for best song with "My Heart Will Go On
My Heart Will Go On
"My Heart Will Go On" is the theme song/love theme of the 1997 blockbuster film Titanic. With music by James Horner, lyrics by Will Jennings, and production by Simon Franglen, James Horner and Walter Afanasieff ,, it was recorded by Céline Dion...
" (sung by Celine Dion
Celine Dion
Céline Marie Claudette Dion, , , is a Canadian singer. Born to a large family from Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record...
) from the film Titanic
Titanic (1997 film)
Titanic is a 1997 American epic romance and disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Billy Zane as Rose's fiancé, Cal...
. Smith did not voice disappointment about not winning the award.
Smith commented on the surrealism
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
of the Oscars experience: "That's exactly what it was, surreal... I enjoy performing almost as much as I enjoy making up songs in the first place. But the Oscars was a very strange show, where the set was only one song cut down to less than two minutes, and the audience was a lot of people who didn't come to hear me play. I wouldn't want to live in that world, but it was fun to walk around on the moon for a day."
1998–2000: XO and Figure 8
In 1998, after the success of Either/OrEither/Or (album)
Either/Or is the name of the third album recorded by American singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. The album was released on Kill Rock Stars on February 25, 1997 on compact disc and vinyl LP....
and "Miss Misery", Smith signed to a bigger record label, DreamWorks Records
DreamWorks Records
DreamWorks Records was an American record label. Founded in 1996 by David Geffen, Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg as a subsidiary of DreamWorks SKG, the label operated until 2005 when it was shut down...
. Around the same time, Smith fell into depression
Clinical depression
Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...
, speaking openly of considering suicide, and on at least one occasion made a serious attempt at ending his own life. While in North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, he became severely intoxicated and ran off a cliff. He landed on a tree, which badly impaled him but broke his fall. When questioned about his suicide attempt, he told an interviewer, "Yeah, I jumped off a cliff, but let's talk about something else."
Christopher Cooper, head of Cavity Search Records (which released Roman Candle), said about this time in Smith's life: "I talked him out of thinking that he wanted to kill himself numerous times when he was in Portland
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
. I kept telling him that he was a brilliant man, and that life was worth living, and that people loved him." Pete Krebs also agreed: "In Portland we got the brunt of Elliott's initial depression... Lots of people have stories of their own experiences of staying up with Elliott 'til five in the morning, holding his hand, telling him not to kill himself."
Smith's first release for DreamWorks was later that year. Titled XO
XO (album)
XO is the name of the fourth album recorded by American singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. Smith's first work on a major label, it was released by DreamWorks Records on August 25, 1998. Bong Load Custom Records released it on vinyl LP, which has since gone out of print. Vinyl copies of XO remained...
, it was conceived and developed while Smith wrote it out over the winter of 1998, night after night seated at the bar in Luna Lounge, it was produced by the team of Rob Schnapf
Rob Schnapf
Rob Schnapf is an American record producer and musician. He was the co-producer of Elliott Smith's albums Either/Or, XO , Figure 8 and From a Basement on the Hill, for which he was recruited by Smith's family to complete after Smith's death.Schnapf, along with Rothrock and partner...
and Tom Rothrock
Tom Rothrock
Tom Rothrock is an international record producer, composer and musician. Tom Rothrock has produced albums with James Blunt, Badly Drawn Boy, R. L. Burnside, Yonder Mountain String Band, Athlete, Sloan and Roman Carter....
. XO also contained some instrumentation from Los Angeles musicians Joey Waronker
Joey Waronker
Joseph "Joey" Waronker is an American drummer and music producer. He is the son of record producer Lenny Waronker and singer/actress Donna Loren; his younger sister is musician Anna Waronker; and his grandfather is record executive and professional violinist Simon Waronker. He has three other...
and Jon Brion
Jon Brion
Jon Brion is an American rock and pop multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, composer and record producer.-Early life:...
. It contained a more full-sounding, baroque pop
Baroque pop
Baroque pop, Baroque rock, or English baroque, often used interchangeably with chamber pop/rock, is a pop and rock music subgenre which originated in the mid-1960s in the United Kingdom and United States...
sound than any of his previous efforts, with songs featuring a horn section, Chamberlins, elaborate string
String instrument
A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
arrangement
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
s, and even a drum loop
Music loop
In electroacoustic music, a loop is a repeating section of sound material. Short sections of material can be repeated to create ostinato patterns...
on the song "Independence Day". His familiar double-tracked vocal and acoustic guitar style were still apparent while his somewhat personal lyrical style survived. The song "Waltz #2" even touches upon the abusive tendencies of his stepfather toward himself and his mother with lines like "XO, mom, it's ok, it's alright, nothing's wrong."The album went on to peak at number 104 on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
and number 123 on the UK Album Charts, while selling 400,000 copies (more than double that of each of his two Kill Rock Stars releases), becoming the best-selling release of his career. Smith's backing band during most of this period was the Portland-based group Quasi
Quasi
Quasi is an American indie rock band formed in Portland, Oregon in 1993 by ex-husband and wife Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss . Since 2007 the group has been a trio, following the addition of bassist Joanna Bolme.-History:In 1990 , Coomes, Weiss, and Brad Pedinov formed the band Motorgoat...
, consisting of former bandmate Sam Coomes on bass guitar and Coomes's ex-wife Janet Weiss
Janet Weiss
Janet Lee Weiss was the drummer of now defunct Sleater-Kinney and is currently a member of Quasi and Wild Flag. She was the drummer for Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, leaving after the album Mirror Traffic.-Early life:...
on drums. Quasi also performed as the opening act at many shows on the tour, with Smith sometimes contributing bass guitar, guitar, or backing vocals. On October 17, 1998, Smith appeared on Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
and performed "Waltz #2." His backing band for this appearance was John Moen
John Moen
John Moen is a musician and member of The Decemberists, Boston Spaceships, and Perhapst. He sings, plays the drums, five banjos, the melodica, occasionally the keyboard, and dances around with a floor tom...
, Jon Brion
Jon Brion
Jon Brion is an American rock and pop multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, composer and record producer.-Early life:...
, Rob Schnapf
Rob Schnapf
Rob Schnapf is an American record producer and musician. He was the co-producer of Elliott Smith's albums Either/Or, XO , Figure 8 and From a Basement on the Hill, for which he was recruited by Smith's family to complete after Smith's death.Schnapf, along with Rothrock and partner...
, and Sam Coomes.
Smith relocated from Brooklyn to Los Angeles in 1999, taking up residence at a cabin in the Silver Lake
Silver Lake, Los Angeles, California
Silver Lake is a hilly neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California east of Hollywood and northwest of Downtown Los Angeles. Silver Lake is inhabited by a wide variety of ethnic and socioeconomic groups, but it is best known as an eclectic gathering of hipsters and the creative class.The...
section of town. That fall, his cover of The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' "Because" was featured in the end credits of DreamWorks' Oscar-winning drama American Beauty
American Beauty (film)
American Beauty is a 1999 American drama film directed by Sam Mendes and written by Alan Ball. Kevin Spacey stars as Lester Burnham, a middle-aged magazine writer who has a midlife crisis when he becomes infatuated with his teenage daughter's best friend, Angela...
, and also appeared on the film's soundtrack album.
The final album Smith completed in his lifetime, Figure 8
Figure 8 (album)
Figure 8 is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. Released by DreamWorks Records on April 18, 2000, it became Smith's second release on a major label and the last album he would complete before his death...
, was released on April 18, 2000. It featured the return of Rothrock, Schnapf, Brion, and Waronker, and was partially recorded at Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios is a recording studio located at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, its present owner...
in England, with an obvious Beatles influence in the songwriting and production. The album garnered very favorable reviews, peaking at number 99 on the Billboard 200 and 37 on the UK Album Charts. The album garnered praise for its power pop
Power pop
Power pop is a popular musical genre that draws its inspiration from 1960s British and American pop and rock music. It typically incorporates a combination of musical devices such as strong melodies, crisp vocal harmonies, economical arrangements, and prominent guitar riffs. Instrumental solos are...
style and complex arrangements, described as creating a "sweeping kaleidoscope of layered instruments and sonic textures." However, some reviewers felt that Smith's trademark dark and melancholy songwriting had lost some of its subtlety, with one reviewer likening some of the lyrics to "the self-pitying complaints of an adolescent venting in his diary."
Album art and promotional pictures from the period showed Smith looking cleaned-up and put-together. An extensive tour in promotion of the record ensued, bookended by television appearances on Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien that aired 2,725 episodes on NBC between 1993 and 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and musical and comedy performances. Late Night aired weeknights at 12:37 am...
and The Late Show with David Letterman. However, Smith's condition began to deteriorate as he had become addicted to heroin either towards the end of or just after the Figure 8 tour.
2001–2002: Addiction and scrapped recordings
Paranoia
Paranoia [] is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself...
, often believing that a white van followed him wherever he went. He would have friends drop him off for recording sessions almost a mile away from the studio, and to reach the location he would trudge through hundreds of yards of brush and cliffs. He started telling people that DreamWorks
DreamWorks
DreamWorks Pictures, also known as DreamWorks, LLC, DreamWorks SKG, DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC, DreamWorks Studios or DW Studios, LLC, is an American film studio which develops, produces, and distributes films, video games and television programming...
was out to get him: "Not long ago my house was broken into, and songs were stolen off my computer which have wound up in the hands of certain people who work at a certain label. I've also been followed around for months at a time. I wouldn't even want to necessarily say it's the people from that label who are following me around, but it was probably them who broke into my house." During this period, Smith hardly ate, subsisting primarily on ice cream. He would go for several days without sleeping, and then sleep for an entire day.
A follow-up to Smith's 2000 album was originally planned to happen with Rob Schnapf
Rob Schnapf
Rob Schnapf is an American record producer and musician. He was the co-producer of Elliott Smith's albums Either/Or, XO , Figure 8 and From a Basement on the Hill, for which he was recruited by Smith's family to complete after Smith's death.Schnapf, along with Rothrock and partner...
, but their sessions were abandoned. Smith also began distancing himself from manager Margaret Mittleman, who had handled him since the Roman Candle days. He finally began recording a new album with only himself and Jon Brion
Jon Brion
Jon Brion is an American rock and pop multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, composer and record producer.-Early life:...
as producers sometime during 2001. The pair had recorded a substantial amount of music for the album, when Brion confronted Smith about his drug
Drug abuse
Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, refers to a maladaptive pattern of use of a substance that is not considered dependent. The term "drug abuse" does not exclude dependency, but is otherwise used in a similar manner in nonmedical contexts...
and alcohol abuse
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
. Their friendship promptly ended, and Smith scrapped all of their work up until that point. He later said: "There was even a little more than half of a record done before this new one that I just scrapped because of a blown friendship with someone that made me so depressed I didn't want to hear any of those songs. He was just helping me record the songs and stuff, and then the friendship kind of fell apart all of a sudden one day. It just made it kind of awkward being alone in the car listening to the songs."
When Brion sent a bill for the abandoned sessions to DreamWorks, executives Lenny Waronker
Lenny Waronker
Lenny Waronker is a record producer for Warner Bros. Records.-Career:He produced recording sessions for Nancy Sinatra, The Everly Brothers, Van Dyke Parks, The Beau Brummels, Harpers Bizarre, Randy Newman, Ry Cooder, Arlo Guthrie, Maria Muldaur, Gordon Lightfoot, Rickie Lee Jones, James Taylor, ...
and Luke Wood scheduled a meeting with Smith to determine what went wrong with the sessions. The singer voiced what he believed to be intrusion upon his personal life from the label, as well as poor promotion for the Figure 8 album. The talks proved to be fruitless, and soon after, Smith sent a message to the executives, stating that if they did not release him from his contract, he would take his own life. In May 2001, Smith set out to re-record the album, mostly on his own, but with some help from David McConnell
David McConnell
David McConnell is a southern Californian musician, most notable for his involvement as collaborator, producer and engineer for Elliott Smith's final album, From a Basement on the Hill as well as his involvement with the Summer Hymns and Folk Implosion/ Lou Barlow. He also plays solo under his own...
of Goldenboy
Goldenboy
Goldenboy is an indie rock band from Diamond Bar, California that has collaborated with Weezer's former bassist, Matt Sharp. Their second album "Underneath the Radio" was released in October of 2006...
. McConnell told Spin that, during this time, Smith would smoke over $1,500 worth of heroin and crack
Crack cocaine
Crack cocaine is the freebase form of cocaine that can be smoked. It may also be termed rock, hard, iron, cavvy, base, or just crack; it is the most addictive form of cocaine. Crack rocks offer a short but intense high to smokers...
per day, would often talk about suicide, and on numerous occasions tried to give himself an overdose. Steven Drozd
Steven Drozd
Steven Gregory Drozd is an American musician. He is a multi-instrumentalist and lead guitarist for The Flaming Lips.-Early life:...
of The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips are an American alternative rock band, formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1983.Melodically, their sound contains lush, multi-layered, psychedelic rock arrangements, but lyrically their compositions show elements of space rock, including unusual song and album titles—such as "What...
and Scott McPherson played a few drum tracks, Sam Coomes contributed some bass guitar and backing vocals, but almost every other instrument was recorded by Smith.
One of the few highlights for Smith in 2001 was inclusion of his song "Needle in the Hay
Needle in the Hay
"Needle in the Hay" is a song written by Elliott Smith first released as the opening track on his self-titled second release, Elliott Smith, then released on 7" vinyl. It later appeared in Wes Anderson's 2001 film, The Royal Tenenbaums, and can be found on the movie's soundtrack.Trumpet and...
" in Wes Anderson
Wes Anderson
Wesley Wales Anderson is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer of features, short films and commercials....
's dark comedy The Royal Tenenbaums
The Royal Tenenbaums
The Royal Tenenbaums is a 2001 American comedy-drama film directed by Wes Anderson and co-written with Owen Wilson. The film stars Gene Hackman and Anjelica Huston, with Danny Glover, Bill Murray, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson, and Owen Wilson....
. The song plays during a suicide attempt. Smith was originally supposed to contribute a cover of The Beatles' "Hey Jude
Hey Jude
"Hey Jude" is a song by the English rock band The Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The ballad evolved from "Hey Jules", a song widely accepted as being written to comfort John Lennon's son, Julian, during his parents' divorce—although this explanation is not...
" for the film, but when he failed to do so in time, Anderson had to use The Mutato Muzika Orchestra
Mutato Muzika
Mutato Muzika is a music production company established in 1989 by Devo co-founder Mark Mothersbaugh. While Devo members Mark Mothersbaugh, Gerald V...
's version of the track instead. Anderson would later say that Smith "was in a bad state" at the time.
Smith's live performances during 2001 and 2002 were infrequent, typically in the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
or Los Angeles. A review of his December 20, 2001, show at Portland's Crystal Ballroom
Crystal Ballroom (Portland, Oregon)
Crystal Ballroom, originally built as Cotillion Hall, is a historic building in Portland, Oregon, United States. Cotillion Hall was built in 1914 as a ballroom, and dance revivals were held there through the Great Depression...
stated concern over his appearance and performance: his hair was uncharacteristically greasy and long; his face was bearded and gaunt; and during his songs he exhibited alarming signs of "memory-loss and butterfingers". The crowd would often have to shout out the lyrics (and in some cases, guitar chord
Guitar chord
In music, a guitar chord is a chord, or collection of tones usually sounded together at once, played on a guitar. It can be composed of notes played on adjacent or separate strings or all the strings together...
s) when Smith could not think of them.
In the first of only three concerts performed in 2002, Smith co-headlined Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
's A&O Ball with Wilco
Wilco
Wilco is an American alternative rock band based in Chicago, Illinois. The band was formed in 1994 by the remaining members of alternative country group Uncle Tupelo following singer Jay Farrar's departure. Wilco's lineup has changed frequently, with only singer Jeff Tweedy and bassist John...
on May 2 in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. He was onstage for nearly an hour, but failed to complete a single song. He claimed that his poor performance was due to his left hand having fallen asleep
Paresthesia
Paresthesia , spelled "paraesthesia" in British English, is a sensation of tingling, burning, pricking, or numbness of a person's skin with no apparent long-term physical effect. It is more generally known as the feeling of "pins and needles" or of a limb "falling asleep"...
, and told the audience it felt "like having stuff on your hand and you can't get it off." Smith's performance was reviewed as "undoubtedly one of the worst performances ever by a musician" and an "excruciating...nightmare". A reporter for the online magazine Glorious Noise made the statement, "[I]t would not surprise me at all if Elliott Smith ends up dead within a year."
On November 25, 2002, Smith was involved in a brawl with the Los Angeles Police Department
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
at a Flaming Lips/Beck
Beck
Beck Hansen is an American musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known by the stage name Beck...
concert. Smith later said he was defending a man he thought the police were harassing. Assuming that Smith was homeless, the officers allegedly beat and arrested him and his girlfriend, Jennifer Chiba. The two spent the night in jail. Smith's hand and back were injured in the incident, causing him to cancel a number of shows. Wayne Coyne
Wayne Coyne
Wayne Michael Coyne is the lead singer, guitarist, and principal songwriter for the band The Flaming Lips.-Early life:...
, lead singer of The Flaming Lips and a friend of Smith's, stated concern over Smith's appearance and actions, saying that he "saw a guy who had lost control of himself. He was needy, he was grumpy, he was everything you wouldn't want in a person. It's not like when you think of Keith Richards
Keith Richards
Keith Richards is an English musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine said Richards had created "rock's greatest single body of riffs", and placed him as the "10th greatest guitarist of all time." Fourteen songs written by Richards and songwriting...
being pleasantly blissed out in the corner."
2003: Reemergence and From a Basement on the Hill
Smith had attempted to go to rehabDrug rehabilitation
Drug rehabilitation is a term for the processes of medical or psychotherapeutic treatment, for dependency on psychoactive substances such as alcohol, prescription drugs, and so-called street drugs such as cocaine, heroin or amphetamines...
several times, but found that he was unable to relate to the popular treatments for addicts that use a Twelve-Step Program
Twelve-step program
A Twelve-Step Program is a set of guiding principles outlining a course of action for recovery from addiction, compulsion, or other behavioral problems...
basis for treatment. "I couldn't do the first step
Twelve-step program
A Twelve-Step Program is a set of guiding principles outlining a course of action for recovery from addiction, compulsion, or other behavioral problems...
...I couldn't say what you were supposed to say and mean it." In 2002, Smith went to the Neurotransmitter Restoration Center in Beverly Hills to start a course of treatment for his drug addiction. In one of his final interviews, he spoke about the center, "What they do is an IV treatment where they put a needle
Hypodermic needle
A hypodermic needle is a hollow needle commonly used with a syringe to inject substances into the body or extract fluids from it...
in your arm, and you're on a drip bag, but the only thing that's in the drip bag is amino acids and saline
Saline (medicine)
In medicine, saline is a general term referring to a sterile solution of sodium chloride in water but is only sterile when it is to be placed intravenously, otherwise, a saline solution is a salt water solution...
solution. I was coming off of a lot of psych meds and other things. I was even on an antipsychotic
Antipsychotic
An antipsychotic is a tranquilizing psychiatric medication primarily used to manage psychosis , particularly in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. A first generation of antipsychotics, known as typical antipsychotics, was discovered in the 1950s...
, although I'm not psychotic."
Two sold-out solo acoustic concerts at Hollywood's Henry Fonda Theater, on January 31 and February 1, 2003 saw Smith attempting to reestablish his credibility as a live performer, yielding mixed results. Before the show, Smith scrawled "Kali – The Destroyer
Kali
' , also known as ' , is the Hindu goddess associated with power, shakti. The name Kali comes from kāla, which means black, time, death, lord of death, Shiva. Kali means "the black one". Since Shiva is called Kāla - the eternal time, Kālī, his consort, also means "Time" or "Death" . Hence, Kāli is...
" (the Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
goddess associated with time and change) in large block letters with permanent ink
Permanent marker
A permanent marker is a type of marker pen that is used to create permanent writing on an object. Generally the liquid is water resistant, contains a solvent such as xylene, toluene, or alcohol and is capable of writing on a variety of surfaces from paper to metal to stone...
on his left arm, which was visible to the crowd during the performance. On several songs he was backed by a stripped-down drum kit played by Robin Peringer (of the band 764-HERO
764-HERO
764-HERO was an American Indie rock band from Seattle, Washington, signed to Up Records. The band's name, suggested by a friend, is taken from the Washington State Department of Transportation phone number for reporting HOV lane violators ....
), and on one track, members of opening band Rilo Kiley
Rilo Kiley
Rilo Kiley was an American indie rock band based in Los Angeles. Formed in 1998, the band consisted of Jenny Lewis, Blake Sennett, Pierre de Reeder, and Jason Boesel....
contributed backing vocals. Smith would play only one more concert in his adopted hometown, three months later at The Derby.
After his 34th birthday on August 6, 2003, he gave up alcohol, caffeine, red meat, refined sugar, and his longtime (sometimes abused) regimen of psychiatric medication
Psychiatric medication
A psychiatric medication is a licensed psychoactive drug taken to exert an effect on the mental state and used to treat mental disorders. Usually prescribed in psychiatric settings, these medications are typically made of synthetic chemical compounds, although some are naturally occurring, or at...
. Director Mike Mills
Mike Mills (director)
Michael C. "Mike" Mills is an American film and music video director and graphic designer. He is perhaps best known for his independent films Thumbsucker and Beginners.-Early life:...
had been working with Smith during his final years and described Smith's troubles and apparent recovery: "I gave the script to him, then he dropped off the face of the earth...he went through his whole crazy time, but by the time I was done with the film, he was making From a Basement on the Hill and I was shocked that he was actually making music."
With things improving for Smith after several troubled years, he began experimenting with noise music
Noise music
Noise music is a term used to describe varieties of avant-garde music and sound art that may use elements such as cacophony, dissonance, atonality, noise, indeterminacy, and repetition in their realization. Noise music can feature distortion, various types of acoustically or electronically...
and worked on his girlfriend Jennifer Chiba's iMac
IMac
The iMac is a range of all-in-one Macintosh desktop computers built by Apple. It has been the primary part of Apple's consumer desktop offerings since its introduction in 1998, and has evolved through five distinct forms....
with the intent of learning how to record with computers, noting that it was the only method with which he was still unfamiliar. Smith jokingly labeled his experimental way of recording "The California Frown" (a play on the Beach Boys' "California Sound"). He said of the songs, "They're kind of more noisy with the pitch
Pitch (music)
Pitch is an auditory perceptual property that allows the ordering of sounds on a frequency-related scale.Pitches are compared as "higher" and "lower" in the sense associated with musical melodies,...
all distorted. Some are more acoustic
Acoustic music
Acoustic music comprises music that solely or primarily uses instruments which produce sound through entirely acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means...
, but there aren't too many like that. Lately I've just been making up a lot of noise."
He was also in the process of recording songs for the Thumbsucker soundtrack
Thumbsucker (soundtrack)
Thumbsucker is the soundtrack to the film of the same name, which is based on the novel of the same name by Walter Kirn. It was released on September 13, 2005 under the Hollywood Records label...
, including Big Star's "Thirteen
Thirteen (song)
"Thirteen" is a song by the American rock band Big Star. Rolling Stone describes it "one of rock's most beautiful celebrations of adolescence", and rated it #396 in a list of the 500 greatest songs of all time...
", and Cat Stevens
Cat Stevens
Yusuf Islam , commonly known by his former stage name Cat Stevens, is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, philanthropist, and prominent convert to Islam....
' "Trouble". In August 2003, Suicide Squeeze Records
Suicide Squeeze Records
Suicide Squeeze Records is a Seattle, WA - based independent record label that presses a significant number of 7" vinyl singles in addition to the more prevalent compact discs. The label was started in August 1996 with the release of a 7" single from 764-Hero. The label quickly grew from owner...
put out a limited-edition vinyl
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
single for "Pretty (Ugly Before)", a song that Smith had been playing since the Figure 8 tour. Steve Hanft
Steve Hanft
Steven P. Hanft , more commonly known as Steve Hanft, is an American independent film director.-Early life:Hanft was born in Ventura, California. He started making films at the age of 11 growing up in California. His first works consisted of surf films and nature films followed later by...
described the last six months of Smith's life as being "like the light at the end of the tunnel" and was convinced that Smith was clean and recovered.
Death
Smith died on October 21, 2003, at age 34 from two stab wounds to the chest. At the time of the stabbing, he was at his Lemoyne Street home in Echo Park, California, where he lived with his girlfriend, Jennifer Chiba. According to Chiba, the two were arguing, and she locked herself in the bathroom to take a shower. Chiba heard him scream, and upon opening the door, saw Smith standing with a knife in his chest. She pulled the knife out, after which he collapsed and she called 9-1-19-1-1
9-1-1 is the emergency telephone number for the North American Numbering Plan .It is one of eight N11 codes.The use of this number is for emergency circumstances only, and to use it for any other purpose can be a crime.-History:In the earliest days of telephone technology, prior to the...
. Smith died in the hospital with the time of death listed as 1:36 p.m. A possible suicide note
Suicide note
A suicide note or death note is a message that states the author has died by suicide, and left to be discovered and read in anticipation of suicide....
, written on a Post-it
Post-it note
A Post-it note is a piece of stationery with a re-adherable strip of adhesive on the back, designed for temporarily attaching notes to documents and other surfaces. Although now available in a wide range of colours, shapes, and sizes, Post-it notes are most commonly a square, canary yellow in colour...
, read, "I'm so sorry—love, Elliott. God forgive me." The coroner's report had the name Elliott misspelled as "Elliot," however "a coroner's official told TSG that Smith's first name was misspelled in the report," not on the Post-it note.
While Smith's death was originally reported as a suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
, the official autopsy
Autopsy
An autopsy—also known as a post-mortem examination, necropsy , autopsia cadaverum, or obduction—is a highly specialized surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse to determine the cause and manner of death and to evaluate any disease or injury that may be present...
report released in December 2003 left open the question of possible homicide
Homicide
Homicide refers to the act of a human killing another human. Murder, for example, is a type of homicide. It can also describe a person who has committed such an act, though this use is rare in modern English...
.
According to Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
, record producer Larry Crane
Larry Crane
Larry Crane is an American editor, recording engineer and archivist based in Portland, Oregon. Crane is the editor and founder of Tape Op Magazine, the owner of Portland's Jackpot! Recording Studio, a freelance engineer, and the archivist for musician Elliott Smith.-Career:Tape Op was started in...
reported on his Tape Op message board that he had planned to help Smith mix
Audio mixing (recorded music)
In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
his album in mid-November. Crane wrote, "I hadn't talked to Elliott in over a year. His girlfriend, Jennifer, called me [last week] and asked if I'd like to come to L.A. and help mix and finish [Smith's album]. I said yes, of course, and chatted with Elliott for the first time in ages. It seems surreal that he would call me to finish an album and then a week later kill himself. I talked to Jennifer this morning, who was obviously shattered and in tears, and she said, 'I don't understand, he was so healthy.'"
The coroner
Coroner
A coroner is a government official who* Investigates human deaths* Determines cause of death* Issues death certificates* Maintains death records* Responds to deaths in mass disasters* Identifies unknown dead* Other functions depending on local laws...
's report revealed that no traces of illegal substances or alcohol were found in his system at the time of his death, but did find prescribed levels of antidepressant
Antidepressant
An antidepressant is a psychiatric medication used to alleviate mood disorders, such as major depression and dysthymia and anxiety disorders such as social anxiety disorder. According to Gelder, Mayou &*Geddes people with a depressive illness will experience a therapeutic effect to their mood;...
, anxiolytic
Anxiolytic
An anxiolytic is a drug used for the treatment of anxiety, and its related psychological and physical symptoms...
and ADHD medications in his system, including Clonazepam
Clonazepam
Clonazepamis a benzodiazepine drug having anxiolytic, anticonvulsant, muscle relaxant, and hypnotic properties. It is marketed by Roche under the trade name Klonopin in the United States and Rivotril in Australia, Brazil, Canada and Europe...
, Mirtazapine
Mirtazapine
Mirtazapine is a tetracyclic antidepressant used primarily in the treatment of depression. It is also sometimes used as a hypnotic, antiemetic, and appetite stimulant, and for the treatment of anxiety, among other indications...
, Atomoxetine and Amphetamine
Amphetamine
Amphetamine or amfetamine is a psychostimulant drug of the phenethylamine class which produces increased wakefulness and focus in association with decreased fatigue and appetite.Brand names of medications that contain, or metabolize into, amphetamine include Adderall, Dexedrine, Dextrostat,...
. Also, no hesitation wounds were found on Smith, a trait typical of suicide by self infliction. With his death not being officially declared a suicide, journalist Alyson Camus noted numerous discrepancies and contradictions in the case that suggest foul play. However, the authorities do not seem to be investigating the case further.
Smith's body was cremated
Cremation
Cremation is the process of reducing bodies to basic chemical compounds such as gasses and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high-temperature burning, vaporization and oxidation....
. No public burial site or memorial was ever formally announced.
Reaction
Shortly after Smith's death, a fan memorial was initiated outside Solutions Audio (4334 Sunset BoulevardSunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard is a street in the western part of Los Angeles County, California, that stretches from Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Coast Highway at the Pacific Ocean in the Pacific Palisades...
, Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
), the site at which the cover of the Figure 8
Figure 8 (album)
Figure 8 is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. Released by DreamWorks Records on April 18, 2000, it became Smith's second release on a major label and the last album he would complete before his death...
album was shot. Farewell messages to Smith were written on the wall, and flowers, photos, candles, and empty bottles of alcohol mentioned in Smith's songs were left. Since then, the wall has been repeatedly tagged by gang signs, and, despite having been repainted to its original state in February 2008 and promises from Solutions' owner to maintain the site, the wall became largely covered by unrelated graffiti. In August 2011, in honor of Smith's 42nd birthday, members of the music & arts collective FMLY restored the mural, adding a black and white stencil of Smith resembling the photo on the Figure 8 album cover.
Memorial concerts were held in several cities in the United States and the United Kingdom. A petition was soon put forth with intent to make part of the Silver Lake
Silver Lake, Los Angeles, California
Silver Lake is a hilly neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California east of Hollywood and northwest of Downtown Los Angeles. Silver Lake is inhabited by a wide variety of ethnic and socioeconomic groups, but it is best known as an eclectic gathering of hipsters and the creative class.The...
area a memorial park in Smith's honor. It received over 10,000 signatures, but no plans to establish the park have been announced. A memorial plaque located inside Smith's former high school, Lincoln High, was hung in July 2006. The plaque has the line "I'm never gonna know you now, but I'm gonna love you anyhow," from Smith's song "Waltz #2".
Since Smith's death, many musical acts have paid him tribute. Songs in tribute to, or about Smith have been released by Bright Eyes ("Reinvent The Wheel"), Beck
Beck
Beck Hansen is an American musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known by the stage name Beck...
("Broken Drum" on "Guero
Guero
Guero is the ninth studio album by American alternative rock artist Beck, first released in March 2005 on Interscope Records. It debuted on Billboard's Top 200 Album chart at #2 , and in the UK at #15 . To date, this is Beck's highest charting CD...
"), Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam is an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. Since its inception, the band's line-up has included Eddie Vedder , Jeff Ament , Stone Gossard , and Mike McCready...
("Can't Keep" on the Live at Benaroya Hall
Live at Benaroya Hall
Live at Benaroya Hall is a two-disc live album by the American alternative rock band Pearl Jam, recorded on October 22, 2003 at Benaroya Hall, Seattle, Washington and released on July 27, 2004 through BMG.-Overview:...
concert album), Rilo Kiley
Rilo Kiley
Rilo Kiley was an American indie rock band based in Los Angeles. Formed in 1998, the band consisted of Jenny Lewis, Blake Sennett, Pierre de Reeder, and Jason Boesel....
("Ripchord" and "It Just Is" on More Adventurous
More Adventurous
More Adventurous is the third full length album released by Los Angeles based band Rilo Kiley. The album, released on August 17, 2004, marks a significant change in the band's sound with the goal of being "more adventurous" than their previous music...
), Sparta
Sparta (band)
Sparta is an American band from El Paso, Texas, formed in 2001. Founding members Jim Ward and Tony Hajjar are former members of post-hardcore group At the Drive-In...
("Bombs and Us"), Third Eye Blind
Third Eye Blind
Third Eye Blind is an American alternative rock band formed in the early 1990s in San Francisco. The songwriting duo of Kevin Cadogan and Stephan Jenkins signed the band's first major label recording contract with Elektra records in 1996 resulting in two multi platinum albums. The band's lineup...
("There's No Hurry To Eternity," originally titled "Elliott Smith," on the Live from Nowhere, Volume 2
Live from Nowhere, Volume 2
Live From Nowhere, Volume 2 is a live album by Over the Rhine, released in 2007, containing highlights from the band's 2006 shows. The CD was limited to 5,000 copies and comes in a fold-out digipak.-Track listing:#I Want You To Be My Love#Fever...
compilation), Ben Folds
Ben Folds
Benjamin Scott "Ben" Folds is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and television personality. From 1995-2000, Folds was the frontman and pianist of the alternative rock band Ben Folds Five. Since the group disbanded, Folds has performed as a solo artist and has toured all over the world...
("Late" on Songs for Silverman
Songs for Silverman
Songs for Silverman is an album by Ben Folds, first released on April 26, 2005, by Epic Records in the United States. The album reached #13 on the Billboard 200, making it Folds' highest-charting album until the release of Way to Normal in September 2008.The album is named after Ben Goldman, Folds'...
), Brad Mehldau
Brad Mehldau
Brad Mehldau is an American jazz pianist. Besides leading his own group, the Brad Mehldau Trio, he has performed with many renowned artists, including Pat Metheny, Wayne Shorter, Larry Grenadier, Peter Bernstein, Jeff Ballard, Joshua Redman, Christian McBride, Michael Brecker, Chris Potter, Kurt...
("Sky Turning Grey (for Elliott Smith)" on Highway Rider
Highway Rider
Highway Rider is a contemporary jazz album by American pianist Brad Mehldau. It was Mehldau's second collaboration with producer Jon Brion , and it features saxophonist Joshua Redman, drummer Matt Chamberlain, and Chamber orchestra led by Dan Coleman, as well as Mehldau's regular trio partners,...
), Rhett Miller
Rhett Miller
Stewart Ransom Miller II , better-known as Rhett Miller is the lead singer of the alternative country band Old 97's and a successful solo musician. He graduated from St. Mark's School of Texas, a private boys' school in Dallas in 1989 and briefly attended Sarah Lawrence College on a creative...
("The Believer" on The Believer), Earlimart
Earlimart (band)
Earlimart is an Indie rock band based in Los Angeles, California. They are named for the town of Earlimart, California. Their sound bears resemblance to Elliott Smith and Grandaddy, as well as to contemporaries like Pedro the Lion, with whom they performed in a 2004 tour. The band's sixth...
("Heaven Adores You" on Treble and Tremble
Treble and Tremble
Treble and Tremble is the fourth album by Earlimart. The first single was "Heaven Adores You," and a music video was produced to accompany the song.Despite the album's obvious Elliott Smith influences, it is not a tribute album...
), Joan As Police Woman ("We Don't Own It" on Real Life
Real Life (Joan As Police Woman album)
Real Life is the debut album by Joan as Police Woman, released on Reveal Records in the UK on June 12 2006, and a year later in the United States....
), and Pete Yorn
Pete Yorn
Peter Joseph Yorn is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist who first gained international recognition after his debut record, Musicforthemorningafter, was released to critical acclaim in 2001.-Early history:Yorn's father is a dentist and his mother is a former concert pianist who worked as a...
("Bandstand in the Sky" on Nightcrawler
Nightcrawler (album)
Nightcrawler is the third full-length studio album released by singer Pete Yorn.-Track listing:All songs written by Pete Yorn unless otherwise indicated# Vampyre# For Us# Undercover# Policies# The Man...
, a song jointly dedicated to Jeff Buckley
Jeff Buckley
Jeffrey Scott "Jeff" Buckley , raised as Scotty Moorhead, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He was the son of Tim Buckley, also a musician...
). Several tribute album
Tribute album
A tribute album is a recorded collection of cover versions of songs or instrumental compositions. Its concept may be either various artists making a tribute to a single artist, a single artist making a tribute to various artists, or a single artist making a tribute to another single artist.There...
s have been released since his death, including Christopher O'Riley
Christopher O'Riley
Christopher O'Riley is an American classical pianist and public radio show host. He is the host of the weekly National Public Radio program From the Top. O'Riley is also known for his piano arrangements of songs by alternative artists....
's Home to Oblivion: An Elliott Smith Tribute
Home to Oblivion: An Elliott Smith Tribute
Home to Oblivion: An Elliott Smith Tribute is a 2006 tribute album to Elliott Smith recorded by Christopher O'Riley.- Track listing :...
.
On July 30, 2004, Jennifer Chiba filed a lawsuit against the Smith family for 15% of his earnings (over $1 million), claiming that she and Smith lived as "husband and wife", that the singer pledged to take care of her financially for the rest of her life, and that she worked as his manager and agent from around 2000 until his death. A state labor commissioner ruled her claim as manager to be invalid, as she had worked as an "unlicensed talent agent" under California's Talent Agencies Act. The case made it to the California appellate court
Appellate court
An appellate court, commonly called an appeals court or court of appeals or appeal court , is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal...
in October 2007, but was defeated 2–1; Chiba could potentially appeal the case to the Supreme Court of California
Supreme Court of California
The Supreme Court of California is the highest state court in California. It is headquartered in San Francisco and regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sacramento. Its decisions are binding on all other California state courts.-Composition:...
.
Posthumous releases
From a Basement on the HillFrom a Basement on the Hill
From a Basement on the Hill is the sixth and final studio album by the late singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. Released posthumously on October 19, 2004 by ANTI- Records in CD, double LP, and digital download, it peaked at #19 in the US and #41 in the UK....
, almost four years in production, was released on October 19, 2004, by ANTI- Records (a part of Epitaph Records
Epitaph Records
Epitaph Records is a Hollywood, California based independent record label owned by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz. The label was originally "just a logo and a P.O. box" created in the 1980s for the purpose of selling Bad Religion records, but has evolved into a large independent record...
). With Smith's family in control of his estate, they chose to bring in Rob Schnapf
Rob Schnapf
Rob Schnapf is an American record producer and musician. He was the co-producer of Elliott Smith's albums Either/Or, XO , Figure 8 and From a Basement on the Hill, for which he was recruited by Smith's family to complete after Smith's death.Schnapf, along with Rothrock and partner...
and Smith's ex-girlfriend Joanna Bolme
Joanna Bolme
Joanna Bolme is a multi-instrumentalist and recording engineer who works with several indie rock bands and artists, mainly in the Pacific Northwest...
to sort through the recordings and mix the album. Although Smith had voiced his desire for it to be a double album or a regular album with a bonus disc, it was not clear if it would have been possible for him to release it that way had he completed it. As completed by Schnapf and Bolme, it was released as a 15-track single album. Many songs from the sessions (later leaked onto the Internet) were not included, such as "True Love", "Abused", "Stickman", and "Suicide Machine" (a reworking of the Figure 8-era unreleased instrumental, "Tiny Time Machine"). There has been unconfirmed speculation that Smith's family made the decision not to include some songs on the record.
Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing
Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing
Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing is a biography of musician Elliott Smith by Benjamin Nugent. It was published by Da Capo Press on October 30, 2004, just past the one year anniversary of Smith's death...
, a biography by Benjamin Nugent
Benjamin Nugent
Benjamin Nugent is an American writer, best known for the book American Nerd: The Story of My People.-Biography:Nugent grew up in Amherst, Massachusetts. He was the original keyboardist for The Cloud Room, an indie rock band based in Brooklyn, New York...
, was rushed to publication and hit stores shortly after From a Basement on the Hill, barely beyond the first anniversary of the musician's death. Smith's family, as well as Joanna Bolme, Jennifer Chiba, Neil Gust, Sam Coomes, and Janet Weiss, all declined to be interviewed. It contained interviews with Rob Schnapf, David McConnell, and Pete Krebs. The book received mixed reviews, with Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
remarking that while "Nugent manages to patch together the major beats of Smith's life, he can offer little meaningful insight" and that Smith's fans "will be disappointed by this short and shallow biography."
On May 8, 2007, a posthumous two-disc compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
entitled New Moon
New Moon (Elliott Smith album)
New Moon is a 2-CD/2-LP posthumous compilation album by Elliott Smith, released on May 8, 2007 by Kill Rock Stars.It contains 24 previously unreleased songs recorded between 1994 and 1997, when Smith recorded his albums Elliott Smith and Either/Or, both also released by Kill Rock Stars. It peaked...
was released by Kill Rock Stars. The album contained 24 songs recorded by Smith between 1994 and 1997 during his tenure with the label that were not included on albums, as well as a few early versions and previously released B-sides. In the United States, the album debuted at number 24 on the Billboard 200, selling about 24,000 copies in its first week. The record received favorable reviews and was Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
's 15th best-reviewed album of 2007. A significant portion of the proceeds from album sales are to go to Outside In
Outside In
Outside In is a nonprofit organization in Portland, Oregon that helps homeless youth and other marginalized people move towards improved health and self-sufficiency by providing social and medical services. Founded in 1968 in Downtown Portland, Outside In has continually revised their services to...
, a social service agency for low-income adults and homeless youth in Portland, Oregon.
On October 25, 2007, a book titled Elliott Smith
Elliott Smith (book)
Elliott Smith is a book about the musician Elliott Smith that was compiled by photographer Autumn de Wilde. According to Amazon, it features photographs she took of Smith as well as his own handwritten lyrics, and it includes "revealing talks with Smith's inner circle, many speaking here for the...
was released by Autumn de Wilde
Autumn de Wilde
Autumn de Wilde is an American photographer best known for her portraiture and commercial work photography of musicians.-Early life:...
, which consists of photographs, handwritten lyrics and "revealing talks with Smith's inner circle." De Wilde was responsible for the Figure 8 sleeve art, making a landmark and de facto Smith memorial of the Solutions Audio mural. A five-song CD featuring previously unreleased live recordings of Smith performing acoustically at Club Largo in Los Angeles was included in the release.
Following the singer's death, the Smith estate licensed his songs for use in a number of film and television projects, such as One Tree Hill, The Girl Next Door, Georgia Rule
Georgia Rule
Georgia Rule is a 2007 American comedy-drama film directed by Garry Marshall and starring Jane Fonda, Lindsay Lohan, Felicity Huffman, Dermot Mulroney, Garrett Hedlund, and Cary Elwes. The original music score was composed by John Debney.-Plot:...
, and Paranoid Park
Paranoid Park (film)
Paranoid Park is a 2007 American drama film written and directed by Gus Van Sant. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Blake Nelson and takes place in Portland, Oregon. It stars Gabe Nevins as a teenage skateboarder who accidentally kills a security guard.Van Sant wrote the draft...
.
In a March 2009 interview, Larry Crane said that the estate of Elliott Smith was now "defunct" and all rights previously held by the singer are now in the control of "his parents." Crane went on to say that his parents own the rights to Smith's high school recordings, some of the Heatmiser material, all solo songs recorded up until his 1998 record deal with DreamWorks Records
DreamWorks Records
DreamWorks Records was an American record label. Founded in 1996 by David Geffen, Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg as a subsidiary of DreamWorks SKG, the label operated until 2005 when it was shut down...
and From a Basement on the Hill. DreamWorks Records was acquired by Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations...
in 2003, and Interscope Records
Interscope Records
Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that currently operates as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-History:...
currently "owns all studio and live recording from Jan 1998 to his passing, except for the songs on From a Basement on the Hill."
In December 2009, Kill Rock Stars announced that it had obtained the rights to re-release Roman Candle and From a Basement on the Hill, originally released by Cavity Search and Anti-, respectively. Roman Candle will be remastered by Larry Crane. Along with the press release, Kill Rock Stars posted a previously unreleased track of Smith's, titled "Cecilia/Amanda", as a free download. Roman Candle and From a Basement on the Hill were re-released on April 6, 2010 in the US.
A compilation titled An Introduction to... Elliott Smith
An Introduction to... Elliott Smith
An Introduction to... Elliott Smith is a posthumous compilation album by Elliott Smith, released on CD and 180-gram vinyl LP on November 2, 2010 by Kill Rock Stars in the United States, and on November 1, 2010 by Domino Records in Europe....
was released by Domino Records on November 1, 2010 in the UK and Kill Rock Stars on November 2 in the US.
There remain over a hundred unreleased tracks. Many have leaked and appear on bootleg releases such as Elliott Smith Rarities and Grand Mal: Studio Rarities.
Musical style and influences
Smith respected and was inspired by many artists and styles, including Big StarBig Star
Big Star was an American rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1971 by Alex Chilton, Chris Bell, Jody Stephens and Andy Hummel. The group broke up in 1974, but reorganized with a new line-up nearly 20 years later...
, The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
, The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
, Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
,The Kinks
The Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorised in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks are recognised as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a...
, Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
, Rush
Rush (band)
Rush is a Canadian rock band formed in August 1968, in the Willowdale neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario. The band is composed of bassist, keyboardist, and lead vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart...
, Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
, Television
Television (band)
Television was an American rock band, formed in New York City in 1973. They are best known for the album Marquee Moon and widely regarded as one of the founders of "punk" and New Wave music. Television was part of the early 1970s New York underground rock scene, along with bands like the Patti...
, Motown
Motown Records
Motown is a record label originally founded by Berry Gordy, Jr. and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation in Detroit, Michigan, United States, on April 14, 1960. The name, a portmanteau of motor and town, is also a nickname for Detroit...
and flamenco
Flamenco
Flamenco is a genre of music and dance which has its foundation in Andalusian music and dance and in whose evolution Andalusian Gypsies played an important part....
records, AC/DC
AC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...
, Hank Williams, Scorpions
Scorpions (band)
Scorpions are a heavy metal/hard rock band from Hannover, Germany, formed in 1965 by guitarist Rudolf Schenker, who is the band's only constant member. They are known for their 1980s rock anthem "Rock You Like a Hurricane" and many singles, such as "No One Like You", "Send Me an Angel", "Still...
, and Modest Mouse
Modest Mouse
Modest Mouse is an American indie rock band formed in 1993 in Issaquah, Washington, by singer/lyricist/guitarist Isaac Brock, drummer Jeremiah Green, and bassist Eric Judy. They are based in Portland, Oregon. Since their 1996 debut album, This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think...
. Smith claimed to listen exclusively to selected albums (such as The Marble Index
The Marble Index (album)
The Marble Index is the second solo album by Nico, recorded in 1968 and released in 1969. The album featured long-term associate John Cale, who had worked briefly with Nico during her stint with The Velvet Underground...
by Nico
Nico
Nico was a German singer, lyricist, composer, musician, fashion model, and actress, who initially rose to fame as a Warhol Superstar in the 1960s...
) for months. Sean Croghan, a former roommate of Smith's, said that the singer "listened almost exclusively to slow jam
Slow jam
A slow jam an umbrella term for music with R&B and Soul influences. Slow jams are commonly R&B ballads or down tempo songs. The term is most commonly reserved for soft-sounding songs with heavily emotional or romantic lyrical content. This definition has led to intense debate over whether...
s" in his senior year at college. Smith was also known to gain inspiration from novels, religion and philosophy. He liked classic literature, especially Samuel Beckett
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
, T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky (and other Russian novelists).
Smith mentioned his admiration for Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
in several interviews, citing him as an early musical influence. He once commented: "My father taught me how to play "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
"Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1962, and released on the 1963 album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.-Context:...
". I love Dylan's words, but even more than that, I love the fact that he loves words." Smith covered Dylan's "When I Paint My Masterpiece
When I Paint My Masterpiece
"When I Paint My Masterpiece" is a song written by Bob Dylan and first featured on the Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II compilation in 1971. The song is segued back-to-back with "Tomorrow is a Long Time" . Even though there is applause at the beginning of the song, it is in fact a studio recording...
" several times in concert. Smith has also been compared to folk legend Nick Drake
Nick Drake
Nicholas Rodney "Nick" Drake was an English singer-songwriter and musician. Though he is best known for his sombre guitar based songs, Drake was also proficient at piano, clarinet and saxophone...
, due to his fingerpicking style and vocals. Darryl Cater of Allmusic called references to "the definitive folk loner" Drake, "inevitable", and Smith's lyrics have been compared to those in Drake's minimalist and haunting final album
Pink Moon
Pink Moon is the third and final album by English musician Nick Drake. It was recorded at midnight in two separate two-hour sessions, over two days in October 1971, featuring only Nick Drake's vocals and guitar, as well as some piano later overdubbed by Drake on the title track.-Album...
.
Smith was a dedicated fan of The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
(as well as their solo projects), once noting that he had been listening to them frequently since he was about "four years old" and also claimed that hearing The White Album
The Beatles (album)
The Beatles is the ninth official album by the English rock group The Beatles, a double album released in 1968. It is also commonly known as "The White Album" as it has no graphics or text other than the band's name embossed on its plain white sleeve.The album was written and recorded during a...
was his original inspiration to become a musician. In 1998, Smith contributed a cover
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of the Beatles song "Because
Because (The Beatles song)
"Because" is a song written by John Lennon and recorded by The Beatles in 1969. It features a prominent three-part vocal harmony by Lennon, McCartney and George Harrison, overdubbed three times to make nine voices in all...
" to the closing credits and soundtrack
American Beauty (soundtrack)
American Beauty is a 1999 soundtrack album to the film of the same name starring Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening. The soundtrack features two excerpts from the film's score, composed by Thomas Newman, which won several awards...
of the film American Beauty. Although this was the only Beatles song that Smith ever officially released, he is known to have recorded at least two others ("Revolution
Revolution (song)
"Revolution" is a song by The Beatles written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The Beatles released two distinct arrangements of the song in 1968: a hard rock version as the B-side of the single "Hey Jude", and a slower version titled "Revolution 1" on the eponymous album The Beatles...
" and "I'll Be Back
I'll Be Back (song)
"I'll Be Back" is a John Lennon composition credited to Lennon–McCartney, and recorded by The Beatles for the soundtrack LP to their film "A Hard Day's Night"...
"), and played many songs by both the band and the members' solo projects at live concerts.
Regarding his songwriting, Smith said:
Smith said that transitions were his favorite part of songs and that he preferred to write broader, more impressionistic
Impressionist music
Impressionism in music was a tendency in European classical music, mainly in France, which appeared in the late nineteenth century and continued into the middle of the twentieth century. Similarly to its precursor in the visual arts, musical impressionism focuses on a suggestion and an atmosphere...
music closer to pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
rather than folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
. Smith compared his songs to stories or dreams, not purely confessional pieces that people could relate to. When asked about the dark nature of his songwriting and the cult following
Cult following
A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of pop culture. A film, book, band, or video game, among other things, will be said to have a cult following when it has a small but very passionate fan base...
he was gaining, Smith said he felt it was merely a product of him writing songs that were strongly meaningful to him rather than anything contrived. Larry Crane, Smith's posthumous archivist, has said that he was surprised at the amount of "recycling of musical ideas" that he has encountered while cataloging the singer's private tapes: "I found songs recorded in high school reworked 15 years on. Lyrics became more important to him as he became older, and more time was spent working on them."
Selected discography
| Release date | Album | Label |
|---|---|---|
| July 14, 1994 | Roman Candle Roman Candle (album) Roman Candle was Elliott Smith's debut album as a solo artist, even though he was still a singer and guitarist for the band Heatmiser. The album has a raw, homemade sound , with Smith playing each instrument and recording it on his four-track recorder. Kid Tulsa played snare and cymbal on tracks... |
Cavity Search Records Cavity Search Records Cavity Search Records is a record label based in Portland, Oregon formed in 1992 by Christopher Cooper and Denny Swofford. Its roster includes such artists as The Helio Sequence and Pete Krebs, but is most notable for releasing Elliott Smith's debut album, Roman Candle.-Artists:*Atomic 61*Danny... Domino Records |
| July 21, 1995 | Elliott Smith Elliott Smith (album) Elliott Smith is the second album recorded by American singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. It was released by Kill Rock Stars on 21 July 1995 in CD and vinyl LP. It was Smith's first full-length release on the label.... |
Kill Rock Stars Kill Rock Stars Kill Rock Stars is an independent record label founded in 1991 by Slim Moon and based in both Olympia, Washington and Portland, Oregon. The label has released a variety of work in different genres, making it difficult to pigeonhole as having any one artistic mission... Domino Records |
| February 25, 1997 | Either/Or Either/Or (album) Either/Or is the name of the third album recorded by American singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. The album was released on Kill Rock Stars on February 25, 1997 on compact disc and vinyl LP.... |
Kill Rock Stars Domino Records |
| August 25, 1998 | XO XO (album) XO is the name of the fourth album recorded by American singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. Smith's first work on a major label, it was released by DreamWorks Records on August 25, 1998. Bong Load Custom Records released it on vinyl LP, which has since gone out of print. Vinyl copies of XO remained... |
DreamWorks Records |
| April 18, 2000 | Figure 8 Figure 8 (album) Figure 8 is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. Released by DreamWorks Records on April 18, 2000, it became Smith's second release on a major label and the last album he would complete before his death... |
DreamWorks Records |
| October 19, 2004 | From a Basement on the Hill From a Basement on the Hill From a Basement on the Hill is the sixth and final studio album by the late singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. Released posthumously on October 19, 2004 by ANTI- Records in CD, double LP, and digital download, it peaked at #19 in the US and #41 in the UK.... |
ANTI- ANTI- ANTI- is an American record label founded in 1999 as a sister label of Epitaph Records.While Epitaph's focus has shifted over the last decade from mostly punk rock, nowadays ANTI- has a more diverse roster, ranging from country , hip hop , reggae , Soul , folk , rap-rock , indie rock... Records Domino Records |
| May 8, 2007 | New Moon New Moon (Elliott Smith album) New Moon is a 2-CD/2-LP posthumous compilation album by Elliott Smith, released on May 8, 2007 by Kill Rock Stars.It contains 24 previously unreleased songs recorded between 1994 and 1997, when Smith recorded his albums Elliott Smith and Either/Or, both also released by Kill Rock Stars. It peaked... |
Kill Rock Stars Domino Records |
| November 2, 2010 | An Introduction to... Elliott Smith An Introduction to... Elliott Smith An Introduction to... Elliott Smith is a posthumous compilation album by Elliott Smith, released on CD and 180-gram vinyl LP on November 2, 2010 by Kill Rock Stars in the United States, and on November 1, 2010 by Domino Records in Europe.... |
Kill Rock Stars Domino Records |
External links
Official sites- SweetAdeline.net – Official Elliott Smith website
- Cavity Search Records
- Kill Rock Stars
Others
- BBC obituary
- Elliott Smith collection at the Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
's live music archive