[Here we'll look at some things you probably passed up when you were a kid because you were too busy playing Star Wars with your friend who was actually a jerk… and who threw a tantrum when you schooled him in NHL ’96. What a little bitch. There are roots in the ground that still nurture.]

Roman Candle
Elliott Smith
Cavity Search, 1994 (Released by Kill Rock Stars in 2010)
Produced by Elliott Smith

Words by Christopher Carosi

The first solo long-play by the great Elliott Smith almost never happened. These were recorded in a basement on Smith’s 4-track, intended as a 7-inch release. The entire session was picked up by Cavity Search big-wigs (er, small-wigs) and thusly the world was introduced to these small, whisper-delivered, vulnerable narratives. Most of the record rides along like a smacked-up cartoon car in the dark, with Smith’s guitar and layered vocal slightly off the tracks at every moment. The characters and events seem to pass through in a pleasant-yet-dangerous dream, wry humor or depression just under the jangly surface. That being said, for a 4-track low-fidelity recording, the sound is still fantastic, and small textures like a cymbal-and-snare really intensify these songs. Smith’s signature vocal is here in all its over-toked glory, his voice is full of hurt, at times low and brooding, and others high and on the edge of wearing out, but still really pretty, perhaps because of these reasons. The “No Name” series begins here, with songs #1 through #4 all seemingly based completely on real events, and all led by that wear in the voice that is a vessel of trust for the listener. This series is picked up 3 years and 2 LPs later on the ridiculously amazing Either / Or as a chilling yet beautiful tale of a beaten nervous wreck junkie on “No Name No. 5”. With Smith, I always felt he was writing his life as he experienced it, and did so with a songwriting sensibility seemingly tapped from the heavens. On this record, “Last Call” feels like a play in three acts, and by far the most “written” of the songs here, with a delicious guitar lead that provides an angry spine, unlike the other tracks. It’s a kiss-off for sure, and Smith bites each lyric off as he sings them, and his performance is as ruthless as it is laid-back, “While I’m lying here waiting for sleep to overtake me.” There’s a piece of this song that is completely dreadful, but deft songwriting just pulls you in, and then you blink your eyes and you own his entire discography. For my money, “Last Call” is my favorite Elliott Smith song. The final track, a Hawaiian-themed guitar instrumental, “Kiwi Maddog 20/20”, plays our mortal hero into the brief Portland sunset.

Elliot Smith / No Name #3
Elliot Smith / No Name #4
Elliot Smith / Last Call
Elliot Smith / Kiwi Maddog 20/20

[Contributing writer Christopher Carosi takes a step back from all the current indie goodness and keeps us honest by taking a quick glance at some 90's albums that are a bit too old to be New Classics but still worth their weight in gold. This is part twenty-four in a never-ending series]

Filed under: 90's Time, Not Blake, Jim, or Brendan