Elliott Smith - An Introduction To Elliott Smith
- Written by Jiten Karia
Whilst listening to An Introduction to Elliott Smith, the thought occurred to me that there would be no point in ever releasing a best-of collection for Elliott Smith as every one of his track has its own particular brilliance and intricate beauty. Looking at the tracklisting, some of the obvious choices for an Elliott Smith compilation are omitted. Tracks like ‘Say Yes’, ‘Baby Britain’ and any of the No Name tracks would seem like shoe-ins for anyone looking to get into his music, and that is perhaps the reason they are left out.
Any fan may be quick to name their favourite track or album, but the truth is that there is no supreme culmination of the breadth of his work, or indeed of any artist’s work. Though XO and Either/Or are often thought of as the best group of tracks, it would be amiss to deny the raw brooding emotion of Roman Candle, as clearly demonstrated by ‘Last Call’, the debut album’s only inclusion on the compilation.
Similarly, ‘The Biggest Lie’ (a song that often brings a tear to my eye) appears on An Introduction as a representative of Smith’s self-titled album, an underplayed treasure that he himself remarked was his darkest work, though whether or not that is a good thing depends on the listener.
It would be possible to pore over these tracks all day and analyse why they should or shouldn’t be in an Elliott Smith compilation, but it would be futile. This album is not meant for people who know his music in the slightest - that aim is obvious from the title. The only scrap for old listeners would be the early stripped-down version of ‘Miss Misery’ (which is actually very, very good).
What it is then, is something that will reveal one of the greatest and most tragic singer-songwriters of recent history to a larger audience. There is no ‘bad’ Elliott Smith track, and as every previous album is somehow contained, it’s the perfect taster that will allow people to grow into fans - fans that will inevitably fall in love with the voice and lyrics of a man who had words for when there were none.