speed of dark

In my digital music collection, there are about six artists that represent a very large percentage of my entire catalog of songs, and Elliott Smith is one of them. Elliott was a hugely prolific singer/songwriter, who not only released five full-length studio albums during his lifetime (and now two released posthumously), but also toured constantly, allowing a variety of live recordings to become available, and reworked his songs frequently, playing them acoustically or otherwise varying them from the album version, not to mention his work with Heatmiser. As a result, there is so much music out there for fans to collect and enjoy.

Although I was late to discover Smith's music, and I never got to see him play live, I have since amassed a large collection of his covers, rarities, and live performances, not to mention his studio albums. It was obvious, then, that I would pick up the second of his posthumous releases, New Moon, which was released May 8. It is a collection of previously unavailable songs, different versions, and other rarities; all but three of the songs on the double album have never before been released. One of the songs, "New Disaster", was actually a combination of two separate takes. Most of these songs, the liner notes claim, "could easily have been included on [Smith's] albums of 1995 or 1997."

The music is undoubtedly lovely and over all, it's a nice collection of Smith's unreleased music. A couple of the songs seem like a rough first draft that still needed some tweaks and corrections. Some of the songs were later reworked, reworded, and re-recorded into new songs and released on an album and some were played live. Others, though, didn't see the light of day until they were taken from their original cassette tape recordings for this album. It is interesting to delve into the back of Smith's musical closet, pull out these items, and put them on display - and must have been quite a chore. There are some standout tracks; "High Times" on disc 1, originally recorded in 1995, is definitely one of them. "Georgia, Georgia", the lead off track on disc two, is another, and was considered as a track on Smith's Either/Or album.

If you are an Elliott Smith fan, this album is highly recommended and necessary to round out your collection. Although, if you are a fan, you probably already have it. If not, buy Smith's back catalogue and listen intensely until you want to own everything Smith released, and then buy this album. Enjoy a couple of my favorite tracks from New Moon, and a couple of other favorite tracks for good measure.

from New Moon (2007):
elliott smith: high times
elliott smith: georgia, georgia
elliott smith: seen how things are hard

from From a Basement on the Hill (2004):
elliott smith: twilight (possibly my all-time fave)

from Figure 8 (2000):
elliott smith: pretty mary k
(there is an alt version found on New Moon)

from XO (1998):
elliott smith: everybody cares, everybody understands

from Either/Or (1997):
elliott smith: between the bars (another possible all-time fave)

from Elliott Smith (1995):
elliott smith: coming up roses [live 1998]

buy elliott smith albums | buy New Moon
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