Elliott Smith Album: “From a Basement on the Hill”

I'm really not prone to entertaining myself with 2nd guessing what Elliott Smith's eventual intentions were for these songs. I'm also not interested in analyzing the production. What I can tell you is that BASEMENT has exceeded my expectations. Like all his best work, I'm finding it a real chore getting it out of my cd player.

"Coast To Coast" starts off with this distorted orchestra & then bursts into a wall of sound. Starting things off on an uncharacteristically, aggressive note. I think the heart of this album can best be summed up in what I find to be it's most addictive track, "King's Crossing". "This is the place where time reverses/and where dead men talk to all the pretty nurses". Or more simply, "cos' I took my own insides out". For a night on the town, presumably? Good one, Elliott.

There's not much for real fans to be upset about here. Let alone disgusted (as I've read in some other reviews). The aching fragility of "Twilight". The perverse jauntiness of "Memory Lane". "Let's Get Lost" is an aptly beautiful place to do so. & "Last Hour" sounds like it quietly tip-toed off one of his early albums.

BASEMENT is by no means perfect. No posthumous album is going to be. But to these ears, it doesn't excactly sound all dressed up for an open casket funeral. All I can say is, the end results are a lot darker & somewhat more diverse than FIGURE 8. I've been listening to this guy ever since ROMAN CANDLE came out. EITHER/OR is one of my favorite albums of the 90's. Those catchy Beatle-sque hooks. Lonesome fingerpicking. Scathing lyrical insights. That uncanny knack for stumbling upon a universal truth & then shrugging it off. I'm sure most fans can agree on where his real strengths lie. Well, inbetween all the gushing odes of blind devotion & self-righteous outcries of disappointment, it's here waiting for you. When you get around to it. Excuse me, gotta go hit the PLAY button again.

I remember going to see Good Will Hunting and hearing something I liked but never really looking into who it might be. Fast forward a couple of years to around 2000 when I was at my tattoo artists studio(Thanks Adam!!). He was playing something that sounded great and I asked who it was. He told me his name was Elliott Smith. Well as they say the rest is history. I picked up Either/Or, XO and Figure 8 and then eventually got his indie releases along with his earlier work with Heatmiser.

To say that Mr.Smith was a brilliant songwriter and musician would be an understatement. On every album there is something that touches a different emotion inside me as it does with many other fans and this last album is no different. From start to finish it shows just how much he still had left to offer. I'm glad to see that the powers that be saw fit to release this final chapter from someone who gave us music that would take most others ten lifetimes to create.

It's hard to give a song by song review because I love them all. Some that really stand out for me are pretty(ugly before), don't go down, strung out again, a fond farewell, memory lane, twilight, etc... I did prefer the 7" version of a distorted reality but that isn't that big of a deal in the big picture. Elliott you will always be remembered by those who love you as someone who brought beauty into the world by your music. You have touched more people then you could ever imagine.

XO

Elliott Smith has left an indelible mark on the music world with some of his finest work yet. From a Basement on a Hill, with every song...with every note, captures the very essence of what true art should be. He poured his broken heart and the longing of his soul into this masterpiece. I heard a man that was so racked with the torments of "fakeness" (as J.D. Salinger would put it) that he was inevitably overcome with cynicism and depression. This album is absolutely THE must buy album of the year and will undoubtedly go down as one of the best albums of the decade. Every track is a highlight, however, one in particular climbed this Everest of an album and sparkled above the rest. "King's Crossing" is perhaps the most heartfelt, truth bearing, haunting song I have ever heard im all my life. I couldn't help but put it on repeat and listen over and over and over again. If you are thinking about buying this album...I can guarantee that you will not be sorry. Elliott Smith has always come through in fine fashion giving such delights XO and Figure 8, but this album eclipses even the brilliance displayed in those fine works of musical genius. BUY THIS ALBUM NOW

In Elliot Smith's music that is. I just heard this album last night and I must have spun it 6 times in a row. The songs are amazing. Before I took the plunge to buy this record I have heard comparisons to Nick Drake and Jeff Buckley. I was skeptical at first. But that all changed not even half way in the album. Elliot Smith is most definatley in the same league as the above mentioned musicians. Wheres my proof? Okey how is this..alot of the songs on FABOTH sound like they would have felt right at home on albums like oh...revolver, the white album, rubber soul and abbey road. Yea we are talking the immortal Beatles here. Can you get a higher compliment than that? Seeing how the Beatles are without a doubt the most important band in rock history, I would say not. This album lives up to all the hype and glowing reviews. Believe it. Sigh..now I have some catching up to do...Elliot Smiths back catalogue that is. However It will be quite a pleasure.

thank you elliott, for this last beautiful, timeless record. you are missed.