It Was Seven Years Ago Today....Elliott Smith--Roman Candle remastered

You Cast Your Shadow Everywhere

One morning I was at work, tapping away at a computer. My friend Paul sits down across from me and says, "too bad about Elliott Smith".

"What?" was my confused reply.

"Didn't you hear? He died yesterday."

I almost keeled over--what a terrible shame. It felt like a kick to the stomach. This was a musician who was only beginning to show his talents to the world. I knew that he had his share of demons, but this was just so premature, so wrong.

Let me get away from all of that though. It's better to remember the positive things, which is why so many people admire Elliott Smith as an artist. I am not a believer in that musical saw that depression and dependencies create great music. The two things can go hand in hand. In the song Baby Britain he talks about "fighting problems with bigger problems". When you think of all the talented people in the musical world who have become casualties of heroin, you realize how unglamorous and stupid heavy drug abuse can be. It's not funny at all, and it's even sadder when people imitate the vices of their musical idols rather than their great virtues. I suppose it's an easier road for some to follow. But I don't want to stereotype here--we are talking about a thoughtful, smart, funny,gifted person here who accomplished a lot, not a person who was always sad or a 24-7 casualty of the music business. So let's try to remember the artist who brought joy to a lot of peoples lives.

I was first introduced to Elliott Smith's work early on in his career, by another lucky stroke. I was in Portland Oregon, attending a friend's wedding. It was my first time there, and there were a lot of things I liked about the town. Good food, good beer, a lot of parks. The last day in Portland I was wandering around downtown by myself. I wandered into Bookman's massive book store, which was the largest bookstore (it may have been a whole block) I had ever seen in my life. I remember buying Sandro of Chegem, by the Abhazian author Fazil Iskander there that day. I also indulged my musical addictions--I picked up a few items in 2nd Street Records, and then wound up in some nearby music store (whose name escapes me) where they only sold music from the Pacific Northwest--punk,polka, classical, you name it. A very cool type of store that I had randomly walked into.

After some browsing, I went up to the cashier and asked him if there was any local music that he could recommend, and I emphasized that I was interested in finding music that I might not have heard of in New York. I caught him a little by surprise, but he soon recovered and said, "well, there's this new album by Elliot Smith, it's my favorite record right now". And he put their only copy on, and I knew I needed this. It was like a very dark Simon and Garfunkel recorded in somebodies basement. From that moment on, I was a huge proponent of his music. And my regard of his musical ability increased with each subsequent release. He expressed other facets of his muse and explored new ideas along the way, and created ultimately a substantive body of work.

Headlights Burning Bright Ahead Of You

Roman Candle is a lo-fi four track recording recorded in a basement, but that does not detract from the quality of the songs. There is an intimacy and quiet immediacy in these recordings--an obvious musical precedent would be Nick Drake's solo quiet masterpiece Pink Moon. I don't want to make to much of this--my comparison has to do with music, not their unhappy fates. Certainly Elliott had a lot of musical influences, like the Beatles, Kinks, Bob Dylan, Love, The Zombies, but many of them are not so evident to me at this point. Neil Young acoustic work is also a reference point here. But like any real artist, his took his influences and made them his own, just as he did when he performed covers in concert. He was no mere imitator. The music was a gateway for his own singular personality and ideas.

For what was supposedly a series of demos, this is a strong album. Roman Candle was recently remastered and rereleased on the Kill Rock Stars label. Larry Crane of Jackpot! Studios and the found of the amazing TapeOp Magazine (if you are interested in the art of recording music this is a necessary subscription) did the remastering work, which was cleaning up the background noise and sounds of Elliott's fingers sliding up and down the strings. Roman Candle is the opener and it is a brooding reflective song with angry frustration simmering just below the placid surface. It sound like a song he might have used in Heatmiser (the band Elliott was in at the time,) with the grungy guitar on low volume, bleeding out into the background.

By the time I had heard the second song for the first time in Portland, I was hooked. Condor Ave is the song that comes to mind first when this album is mentioned. It reminds me most of Simon and Garfunkel of his songs, but the lyrics are really what makes this song so wonderful. It has a flow like a short story and plenty of evocative imagery. I can see the song while I listen to it. "Someones burning out on Condor Avenue, trying to make a whisper out of you." If anybody thinks this was a formative phase in his songwriting, they really need to look at his lyrics, and take into account that this was not a studio recording. He may have branched into different directions, but his songwriting skills were strong from the start.

The only song on here that doesn't grab me is Drive All Over Town, it's okay but it falls a little flat. It reminds me of an old folk song where the guy with no conscience dupes the girl. The album has 4 of his "No Name" tunes, and they are all pretty memorable--if the songs had real names they would probably be someones pseudonym. They feel like character portraits of real people. #1 is an upbeat song with a sad undercurrent. The main character seems to be leaving a dead and moving on to a better place with new found hope. #2 is what are doing with your life song (or what aren't you doing), a recurrent theme in Smith's songbook. #3 is an ironic tune, with the quiet acoustic guitar and sweet crooning belying the grim circumstances. The song is quiet because there is secrecy, sweeping problems under the rug. "So, come on night", he sings. #4 sounds pretty autobiographical, thought I don't really know for sure. It's about a bad situation and trying to deal with by excising it from your life, but unfortunately you can never really forget.

The album's last track (the spaghetti western/twangy instrumental Kiwi Maddog 20/20 seems more like a coda), Last Call is an epic angry spiel, yet somehow sympathetic. I think in Elliott's view, people you care for (or don't care for) do stupid things, self-destructive irrational things, but ultimately there isn't anything you can do. They are going to follow their own path. You can only hope they can wise up, get a little clarity, and find a better place. His songs almost seem like watching a car accident in slow motion. Some great lyrics here, "all you aspired to do was endure, you can't ask for more (ask for more)", "I'll sing the praises of my maker's name, like I was as good as she made me."

It ends with great intensity with a mantra, "I wanted her to tell me that she would never wake me", which fades out. It reminds me of Elvis Costello's song I Want You, where the title phrase is chanted over and over to powerfully chilling affect. So, Elliott, I salute you on this sad day. I wish it was not under these circumstances. But ultimately I think that the rest of the world is going to catch on to your artistry. Because as far as modern songwriters go, you had few peers.

On November 2, the compilation An Introduction to Elliott Smith is being released on Kill Rock Stars, a single disc which covers his entire solo career. For people unfamiliar with his music it would probably be the best place to start. Just understand that you would only be scratching the surface.