Sinister: Re: Elliot Smith + some B&S

[Tim Kelly]

Gareth Sayeth:
> can anyone tell me anything about Elliot Smith as featured on the Good Will
> Hunting sound track i've never hear of him and neither has my local indie
> record shop. what has he done before? any albums recomended? all information
> greatly appreciated.

Well, this has probably been covered by now, but Elliot Smith used to be
in the Portland-based band Heatmeiser.  From what I understand, he was not
a primary songwriter in said band, which was more punk than Smith's solo
stuff.  Anyway, as Smith began to write more, he released several solo LPs
(_Roman Candle_, _Elliot Smith_, and _Either/Or_, in order).  The last 2
are on the Kill Rock Stars label.  The first is somewhat harder to find,
forget the name of the label just now.  Mounting tension regarding Smith's
growing prominence as a songwriter supposedly contributed to the break up
of Heatmeiser in, I think, 1996.  At first, Smith was thought to be a Lou
Barlow clone, at least by fans of Barlow.  Certainly, there are similaries
between early Sebadoh/Sentridoh and Smith's work.  Anyway, I don't hear
people complaining much about that anymore.  Smith's last two LPs are
pretty highly regarded in American indie circles.  The _Good Will Hunting_
sndtk contains 4-5 songs from _Either/Or_ and one new one, "Miss Misery",
which has been nominated for an Academy Award.  I heard Smith will be
performing at the Awards, but don't quote me on that.

Some B&S (as promised!)- Recently, a group of y'all (led by Clem, whose
contributions I also enjoy on the GBV list) have been contending that the
_Tigermilk_ version of "The State I Am In" in vastly superior to the _DOW_
version.  I feel just the opposite.  The subdued T-milk version slips
under my radar, but every time I play the DOW version I yell "Goddamn!
That's a great song."  Then I go back to the T-milk version, thinking I
must've missed something, but no.  I just like the more fleshed out
version better.

So there.

TimK  

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