It really would be a shame if Elliott Smith became Jeff Buckley; his songs propping up the emotional moments on every below-par American drama series, embellishing utter banality with a twinge of true intensity. It’s a good job then that Smith’s songs are characterised with possibly a little too much sadness to ever fulfil this role.
Herein lies the crux of it: Smith’s songs really are extremely miserable. Fortunately, they also happen to be largely excellent. Any collection of his work would be a set of fantastic songs, but the trouble with any compilation of a great artist’s music is that songs can often lose their poignancy when considered outside of the context of their original albums. Happily, this retrospective of Smith’s work avoids that pitfall by drawing material largely from his time with Kill Rock Stars, when his songs ware consistently intimate, rarely featuring more than Elliott’s breathy voice and a couple of acoustic guitar tracks. This and some exemplary sequencing makes for a compilation that flows remarkably well, and whilst it does mean that some of Smith’s great songs (particularly those from the Dreamworks era) are missing, the title gives away that this record was never intended for completists.
Whilst every song is a highlight, the beautifully yearning Waltz #2 and uncharacteristically simple Needle in the Hay stand out particularly as evidence of Smith’s singular talent. This compilation adds little to his story, leaving fans longing for the discovery of some untapped vaults of gems, but what it does is provide an excellent first port of call for those uninitiated to the gorgeous melodies of Mr Elliott Smith.
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