Elliott Smith

From A Basement On The Hill

a sad but glowing memorial

Review Score:

(8/10)
this is an incredible album that draws more than a few comparisons to elliott' beloved beatles' White Album. it has a perfect balance of folkish, quiet songs like from his first three albums ("Last Hour", "let's get lost") as well as a number of stunning orchestral pieces with gorgeous layered vocals, very similar to figure 8 or xo. "little one", "king's crosing", "coast to coast" are all essential elliott tunes. the only bad things that i could say about the album are a) one can't help but read into EVERY LITTLE MENTION of death or suicide as prophetic (which may be fair or not, who knows), and b)this is the only elliott smith album that i had to listen to more than once to love it(which i guess could be seen as positive, too). One thing that makes me kind of sad is that i'm afraid that some people will buy from a basement because of the tragic circumstances surrounding it, this i would not recommend. Instead, go pick up a copy of either/or, and figure 8. Try and understand the music he made before he died before you try and understand what he's saying with from a basement on the hill.

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