Elliott Smith - New Moon

Potent odds’n’sods from Elliott’s early days

‘The estate of Elliott Smith’’s announcement that there was to be another posthumous collection of unreleased material was exciting news for Smith’s growing army of fans. These 24 tracks from 1995- 97 (the same period as his first three albums) are, as you’d expect, sketchy.

Production-wise, they sound as well developed as anything he did then. The intimacy of his doubletracked voice lends itself well to the nature of this somewhat ragbag collection. But the songs rarely match those that ‘made it’. Precious glimmers of talent slip through: Either/Or’s charming chorus; the gritted teeth behind Riot Coming’s build; a wonderful cover of Big Star’s Thirteen (from the Thumbsucker soundtrack, annoyingly listed here as ‘unreleased’). Such moments are many, but only one or two songs feel anything like complete.

Of course, Smith discarded these tracks in favour of stronger ones (save a radically reworded Miss Misery, which earned him an Oscar nomination). But you feel the powers that be are doing everything they can to make him the next Nick Drake. For his albums proper, which blossomed into orchestrated masterworks as Smith spiralled into addiction, he may well deserve such comparisons. For his outtakes he does not, and he would have been the first to bashfully admit it.

Domino | WIGCD 198 (2-CD)

Reviewed by Jake Kennedy
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