I feel like it's the right time of year to bring out this one. Elliott Smith was a remarkably talented singer-songwriter who sadly stabbed himself in the gut with a knife in 2002. In his field he was surely one of the greatest artists of the last 20 years, but the at times too-sad nature of his songs and the fact that he was really ugly made sure that he never made it big commercially. However, the sheer beauty of his best songs makes it easy to call him an underappreciated artist. When this album came out, he had just won an Oscar for his contribution to the Good Will Hunting soundtrack, a lush, cinematic song with a really big sound. Whereas his previous records were sonically sparse and underproduced, XO brings more instruments into the mix and is more optimistic and less introverted. The crisp production makes it more accessible and brighter than his other albums (save perhaps Figure 8), but this is really sad pop music. The only real clunker here and a track I always skip is Amity, which is completely SHIT and sticks out like a sore thumb from an otherwise very moving record.
Although this is my favourite Elliott Smith album, many fans prefer its predecessor Either/Or, so I'll post both today.
XO - GET - BUY - KJØP
Either/Or - GET - BUY - KJØP
4 kommentarer:
ugly? come on, I think he was cute! also, boys can be ugly and succeed, just take a look at dead boys! or sting! or phil collins!
ugly yes, but not underappreciated, at least not posthoumouristically underappreciated.
o rly, that's what they said about van gogh! LOL
Legg inn en kommentar