Ranking Elliott Smith's Albums (Somehow)
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- Опубліковано 10 лют 2025
- Choosing between Elliott's albums is like choosing between family. In this video I force myself to rank Elliott Smith's studio albums from 1-6. I dissect, compare, and examine each album in order to do so.
I know some people consider New Moon a studio album, but I did not include it. It is technically a compilation album. It wasn't an album Elliott decided to put together, therefore I didn't feel like it should be included.
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Your right, ever album is a masterpiece. I always get excited when I meet people who likes Elliott Smith, become instant friends. I don't live to far from his apartment in Brooklyn where the cover art was taken from a basement on the hill.
Nice, what building is he sitting out front of anyway? I've surprisingly never looked into that haha.
@@JunkBondTrader 440 Bergen St Brooklyn NY.
@@JunkBondTrader they later remodeled the whole apartment complex and changed the front door but the original stoop remains.
My favourite is probably From a basement on a hill just because I find it to be the most emotionally impactful. Great video btw!
It is a very difficult exercise to rank Elliot´s albums! Since i rediscovered his work about 5 years ago i have been blown away by the sensitivity he puts in his song...very rare.and distinctive... and it´s amazing how he does not have one bad song! Well done for the excellent review!
He really doesn't! :) Sensitivity, yes that's a good word for the way he writes music for sure. Thanks for the comment.
also the lyric you picked from clementine is perfect my favorite album of his currently is the self titled and ive become obsessed with the song clementine. The fact that he used an old country tune (oh my darling clementine) and repurposed it for his hellish vision makes the song so much more interesting. The portastudio tape sound of that album too is truly one of the most perfectly aesthetically realized lo fi sounds ever released
Yeah I've always loved Clementine, but more so in the past year or two. The guitar bass note is tuned down to C, and the rest in in some weird tuning. The chords come out half dissonant, gives it a sort of woozy feeling lol maybe that's why I think the song sounds drunk, on top of the bar imagery. Then the backing vocals are in and out of harmony too, to add to that effect even more. That one lyric is great though, I can easily hear that sound in my head, of a cars rubber tires slicking across the wet street in the rain. Incredible song. And I'm gonna have to agree again, that album is right in the lo-fi sweetzone.
Junk Bond Trader ua-cam.com/video/so4j7B7hsHU/v-deo.html
Check out his live performance if this link doesn’t work type “Elliott smith live howlin wolf” it should be the first video. He does more peppy power pop type versions of songs like needle in the hay and clementine. Make sure you listen to clementine he turns it into a pop rock/grunge anthem. It has more energy and is better than half of the music from that genre. He really could do it all.
i was pretty worried wen i saw this headline but youre obviously a huge fan of elliott
all super valid points
nice job man
Ah yes I can see how that might be interpreted differently than intended haha maybe I'll reword that. Thanks a lot, I'm glad you enjoyed. And ty for the comment. Cheers!
Hard to pick...
6. Roman Candle
5. From a basement an the hill
4. Elliott Smith
3. Figure 8
2. XO
1. Either/Or
But yeah, i love them all😂
New Moon is amazing too, it's crazy how many great songs he made.
I discovered him a couple of years ago, listening to Either/Or, which blew my mind, every Song actually but Ballad of big nothing in particular, it's short catchy but pretty complex and absolutely beutiful (such as everything means nothing to me, which is another favourite of mine.)
He's my favourite songwriter now, even slightly above Neil Young, who i love but who made plenty of Records i have no feelings about.
New Moon is freaking amazing... I think, if I had to slip it in somewhere, maybe 5th out of 7th. Either/Or is a solid introductory album haha... For me, I listened to Can't Make a Sound on Figure 8, and from there I went to self titled and Roman Candle. Ballad of Big Nothing is cool, I love the line "watching the parade with pinpoint eyes, full of smouldering anger".
And yes, I know what that's like, to see Elliott eclipse your favourite songwriters. At one point I realized, "ok wait, he's better than Lennon" lol. I honestly do feel he is a far more well rounded songwriter than Lennon, Young, Dylan, etc.And you made a really great point - Elliott was so consistent. Every song, every album had tons of feeling and emotion, and felt like a well crafted song. Most of my other favourite artists have a ton of material I don't like, or I felt just wasn't that deep.
@@JunkBondTrader John lennon and Neil Young are great but ES is on a different level, a level that is hard to describe because I'm not musically on that level but I can still hear it when listening to ES...it would be easier to describe what is happening with Lennon, young ect, but ya can't do the same for ES!
@@itsoneofthem8826 Very, very true. In fact, it doesn't seem like anyone has ever been able to put their finger on it. Which would account for the complete lack of similar artists. People will say Buckley, Bright Eyes, Sparklehorse, etc. The same old list... But none of those artists are anything like Elliott, to me... He's just inexplicably good.
Yes! These are some rankings I can get behind!!
Great countdown! You should do a top 10 song list, which might be an impossible task! Here is my album rankings:
1. Self-Titled - it's his most haunting album. When I think of his "signature" style, I think of this album. Dressed down with just simple instrumentation and double tracked vocals. Perfect.
2. -Either/Or - When I think of Elliott's sound evolving over time from the low-fi folky style (self-titled/Roman Candle) to a more lush produced or harder sound (From a basement on a hill/Figure 8), I think Either/Or was a nice middle ground. It's more on the gentler side for sure but more produced and a little more diverse than his earlier work. I consider this his most accessible album personally.
3. XO - More uplifting sound/ more variety in sound than most of his albums. Waltz #2 was the Elliott song that got me hooked on him so it's a little sentimental for me. Also Pitseleh is one of his most poignant songs.
4. Roman Candle - I consider this Self-Titled lite. Some great songs on it for sure though.
5. From a Basement on a Hill - This along with Figure 8 is more hit or miss for me. I haven't connected with a few of the songs on it.
6. Figure 8 - Some feeling as FABOAH. Difference is , this didn't have A Fond Farewell on it.
And I will say that New Moon is maybe his greatest collection of songs. I know it's not technically an album but there isn't a song on there that I don't love. I believe most of those songs came from his 94-98 era, which is before he started getting into the real heavy and lush stuff, which is the era I like best.
Ah thanks so much! Great list. Again, I agree with this one as well haha. Literally every list, I'm like - VERY WELL DONE! :p
Can't argue with self titled as number one. Discovering that album was maybe my most blissful, pure musical experience. Haunting is definitely the word.
Sure. I will do a top ten. In time though, I got a lineup of videos I wanna do first. Ooo damn, top ten songs will be so much harder haha. Should be interesting. Thanks for the suggestion, and comment. Cheers.
Before this video I did not consider XO to be at the bottom of my list but this video actually made a brilliant point about it not sounding like him, despite independence day and pitseleh being perfection. But...Figure 8 below from a basement, I just cannot understand, like what you were saying about XO, I think songs like Don't go Down and Shooting Star don't sound too much like Elliott Smith songs. If he was in charge of production I would put a lot of money on him replacing them with songs like how to take a fall, or Stick Man etc. Again with songs like Twilight, Pretty Ugly before, a fond farewell, all brilliant singles but as an album bar perhaps ostrich and chirping going into Twilight I just don't think it flows so well. Then you have figure 8 which is just absolutely musically perfect. But ya your opinion is completely valid and this video was a beautiful tribute thanks for that, support from Ireland
I thought I was the only person in the world who even knew about Basement, much less that it’s a masterpiece. Great video man.
Really appreciate that you don’t have Roman candle last. It’s in my top 3
It rarely gets proper respect in rankings 😔 lol
I love this video so much i could listen to you talk about anything
1) S/T. (2) Either/Or. (3) XO. (4) Figure 8. (5) Basement. (6) Roman Candle. Although New Moon could be whittled down to a top 3er (another discussion in itself).
Hm, interesting picks. I liked the video and his explanations, so I wanted to do my own takes. I think if I had to choose from worst to best (though calling the album 'worst' doesn't feel right, as it's still an awesome album), I would do something like (and this is just my personal opinion):
6- Roman Candle- To start off, this is still a great album. However, I feel like Elliott hadn't quite discovered himself, making something of a rough starting album that didn't flow so perfectly. I also feel like it, compared to some of his other albums, doesn't have that many of his best songs on it (still, it has some great tunes, just not as many, I suppose).
5- From a Basement on the Hill- While this has some absolutely amazing songs on it, I feel like it just wasn't ready by the time of his death (RIP), so while some, like King's Crossing, Twilight, Fond Farewell, Shooting Star, and a couple others, are some of my favorite songs ever, others just feel like they were put there to fill the album, and really weren't his best work, especially after seeing some of the content on things like New Moon and Grand Mal that could have been on the album.
4- Elliott Smith- A great album, just not (in my opinion) his best. I think it shows a lot about how much he grew as an artist between RC and ES, as I think the tunes here are, while still mostly guitar and vocals, a big improvement on the RC songs. I think things like Needle in the Hay, Christian Brothers, Southern Belle, Biggest Lie, Satellite, and so many more, really showed how great a songwriter and lyricist he was, and might have given a sort of sneak peak into his future as he became (what I consider to be) one of the greatest musicians/songwriters/lyricists of all time.
3- Figure 8- I think, as an album, Figure 8 may flow better than any of his others. I think the way the songs are ordered, how it starts, how it ends, and everything in the middle makes a lot of sense. However, while some songs, like Junk Bond Trader, Happiness, Can't Make a Sound, etc, are absolutely amazing, a few others are (by standards of Elliott) somewhat lackluster (again, just my opinion), making it drop a bit on the list.
2- Either/Or- I might just be biased because this is the album that introduced me to Elliott (who is now my favorite musician), but I think it really shows where he took a turn and began to explore and expand his musical career. With better production, some more instruments than just guitar, I think it works really well as an album. As well as that, it has my favorite song he ever made (Ballad of Big Nothing), as well as other great ones, like Angeles and Say Yes.
1- XO- there's just so many songs in here that I really love, like Independence Day, both Waltzes, Bottle up and Explode!, I Didn't Understand, etc, that it's just become my favorite of his, honestly. While I can see how things like the suddenness of Amity (especially after Waltz #1) might bother some people, I just think the whole thing is filled with amazingly written music, and I, personally, think it has the most songs that I would consider my favorite Elliott songs.
As he said in the video, the bottom few are still amazing albums, I just don't love them as much as the others. It's kind of interesting that I placed them in almost the exact opposite order to him. Still, great video!
Hey thanks for the detailed response. I loved reading this. I really like the suddenness of Amity. That song actually has one of my favourite solos of his. Haha yes quite interesting though how our favourites are nearly opposite. Like I said though, it's so close for me, that pretty much any ordering sounds good to me in a way. Anyway, I loved reading this, cheers!
Damn, people always ranking FABOTH and Roman Candle so low. I would call these albums the hardest first listens. Roman Candle is so bare, and Elliott doesn’t have the charisma to get everyone invested in such a bare sound. From a Basement on the Hill is the opposite-chaotic, crowded sound, overwhelming. But I think I come to those two albums most frequently now.
I would say...
1-3. Roman Candle, Elliott Smith, Figure 8 are my top 3, not sure on the order.
4. From a Basement on the Hill
5. XO
6. Either Or
Some of this might just because XO and Either Or have the songs I first listened to on them, and I think it was quite a long time before I expanded to the rest, but once I did, I did it quickly. So some of the best songs from those album are most stale. I still know they’re very good, but my rankings reflect which albums have the songs I’m most enthusiastic about listening to at this moment. Hard to be objective, so I’m going completely subjective.
EDIT: No, I take that back. I played the first 5 seconds of each song from FABOTH... it’s definitely part of the top 4 in no particular order. Could be #1. Ostrich Chirping I could do with out. Twilight doesn’t hit me like it does some people. Shooting Star has a great song in it but it’s so chaotic it’s hard to listen to. Beyond that, the album is completely killer.
So I have two of the low-fi, quiet albums, one of the poppy albums, and the psychedelic album.
Either Or and XO are my least favorite, at least at the moment. But they are still amazing albums, and their high points are very high. Just, compared to the other albums, there are more songs I don’t care about.
It’s also interesting to notice the discrepancy in number of songs between different albums. Figure 8 has 16, Roman Candle has 9. And Roman Candle has short songs. Pretty much each album has about the same or more songs than the last.
Good ranking. Mine is 2-3-1-5-4-6
Thanks for watching. Hmm yes that works too haha.
Fav song is little one
Nice pick!! Such an underrated song. I never really was into it until I really listened to it one day. Another song about giving up, giving in, losing the battle.. At least in my mind it is. "If it's good shit you won't know", and "If I seem to be reck-less with myself, it's the fault of no one" **awesome bass fill**. I love those lines.
Amazing song.
Either/Or #1. It’s the best album of the 90s, barely nudging out Dog Star Man by Suede.
They're waking you up to close the barrrr
THE STREETS WET YOU CAN TELL BY THE SOUND OF THE CARS
Ugh so true so perfect ahh
I agree with a lot of what you said, but this is an impossible task. All the albums are great for a multitude of reasons, and as you said my favorite album also changes depending on why I'm listening to ES. Every one of them fills some need at different moments. I did enjoy your reasons for your rankings, but I personally couldn't do it. Peace.
i just couldn't rank them! don't know how you did it :0
haha, I just pretended I had a gun to my head xD
You made him proud bro!!
Thank you for this!!
1. Either or
2. Roman candle
3. From a basement on the hill
4. Figure 8
5. Xo
6. Elliott Smith
Switch Either Or and Elliott Smith and you have my approximate rankings, only I don’t distinguish between the top 4 or the bottom 2.
Lmao it’s funny how much you struggle with this. I’m just glad you didn’t put Roman Candle as last. Not for everyone, but there’s only one song I don’t care for...No Name #3. Ironically I always see people saying it’s their favorite on that album
XO is my favorite. I even went and got an XO tattoo on my wrist ( I know cliché lol) but I love it. Faboth is 2nd favorite.
Haha nice! I have a junk bond trader lyric on my forearm, so I'm right there with ya with the cliché's lol
XO is my favourite easily. Its the one that got me into him and imo the most consistent. I suppose the poppier style made songs stick more with me
It is very consistent. Good album to start off with probably for that reason. Can't Make a Sound was the first song I ever heard of his, and it is relatively accessible IMO
Where’s new moon