I Don't Think I'm Ever Gonna Figure It Out (Remixed / Remastered)Ģ1. This gorgeous collection is an essential listen for longtime fans and newcomers alike.ġ9. The double LP is packaged in a gatefold jacket that includes an insert of the original liner notes, a postcard of the original master tapes, and several never-before seen photos. The second disc features five live multi-track recordings from the Yo Yo A Go Go Festival in Olympia, WA in 1997, as well as three previously unreleased studio recordings and one b-side gem. This album features the original tracks carefully remastered from the original source material under the supervision of Larry Crane, owner of Jackpot! Studios and archivist of the Estate of Elliott Smith. The expanded album also includes a haunting unreleased track, “I Figured You Out,” one-part early Beatles, one-part Gothic moors.To commemorate the 20th Anniversary of Elliott Smith’s best-selling and greatly beloved album, Either/Or, Kill Rock Stars proudly presents Either/Or: Expanded Edition. The live versions include a warmer guitar sound and more of Smith’s vocal character: guttural fall-offs and the uneven vibrato at the end of phrases. Their juxtaposition reveals Smith’s varying interpretations of his own music. Either/Or includes live recordings of many of his most-loved songs, as well as a alternate versions and interludes. Where this expanded edition offers a more rounded portrait of the artist is through the bonus material. Mastering engineer and executor of Smith’s musical estate Larry Crane finds the artful subtlety and underscores the magic of what is perhaps the most well-known song on this album, “Between the Bars.” Though cleaned up some, the overcast blur of Smith’s voice is maintained in a way that brings the audience closer to his cage. The most alluring numbers, however, are still his quietly melancholy acoustic. Several of the songs mimic the melody mastery of pop bands from 1960s. While he still plays all the instruments himself, he plays more of them. Some retouches do improve upon the original tracks. + Elliott Smith's third album sees his one-man show getting a little more ambitious. The irony is thick here too, as “Pictures of Me” is about how stilted and foreign misrepresentations of self can seem. As well, “Pictures of Me” pushes Smith’s vocals just a little too forward-which feels like someone separating mud into water and dirt, when the mixture was the point in the first place. On “Alameda,”-the sad, wandering track that Beck chose to play for Smith at his funeral-the volume of the floor tom is cranked way up, transformed into a maddening metronome. As if Smith’s shaggy hair’s been gelled and kempt, many of the retouches add only the smoothness of modern technology and take away from the subtle dynamics of his guitar and iconic lo-fi mumble.Ĭertain tracks are like an overcorrected pair of glasses-clearer, but too clear. Elliott Smiths third album sees his one-man show getting a little more ambitious. Unfortunately, much of the remastering feels frivolous, reframing or hyper-clarifying an album that is supposed to remain in the grainy, muted past. The Mastering Engineer has the unenviable job of being bound both by the risk of vandalizing something sacred and the obligation to give the listener a fresh experience. Overall, it’s wise to be skeptical, especially when a remaster is done posthumously.
#ELLIOTT SMITH EITHER OR EXPANDED ALLMUSIC CRACK#
Who will narrate our restless lives now? When the only option available is to learn every crack and whine on his recordings, die-hard Elliott Smith fans will find it hard to part with the original Either/Or upon first listen to Either/Or: Expanded Edition. Like with John Lennon, Smith’s death left us all in a vacuum. Mitchell jamming on an instrumental Hey Jude with Feiten, Elliott.
#ELLIOTT SMITH EITHER OR EXPANDED ALLMUSIC FREE#
That was true when he was alive, when listeners sat possessed by his effortless melancholy. Joe Viglione from has stated that Music from Free Creek is a super. As is true of all great songwriters who write from a personal place, to love Elliott Smith’s music is to relate to him.