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Either / Or

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To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. It's no secret that Smith dealt with alcoholism and addiction, but through his music you can see that he was able to experience love as well. Either/Or' ultimately provides a very enjoyable, and laid-back listening experience, but when you start to listen closely to the lyrics, you'll soon see how dark and disturbing the majority of these songs were.

The highly acclaimed Either/Or, the third album from Elliott Smith and his last written and recorded in Portland, OR, broke through to a larger international audience. It summed up Smith perfectly, as his biographer states "the music kept rising but the person kept falling". Recorded in several locations mostly in Portland, Oregon while Smith was still in Heatmiser and produced by Smith, Tom Roth rock and Rob Schnapf, Either/Or was released on February 25, 1997 through record label Kill Rock Stars following the demise of Heatmiser. Elliott Smith had ambitions to make records with a Beatlesque sound - but zero interest in Beatlesque fame - when he recorded Either/Or.We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others.

The result is this remaster of the original plus a bonus disc of unreleased live tracks, three unreleased songs and a number of curiosities. To commemorate the 20th Anniversary of this masterpiece, Kill Rock Stars proudly presents Either/Or: Expanded Edition.

The one "new" song present is the wonderful pop/rock of “I Figured You Out,” a track that Smith gave to his friend Mary Lou Lord to record because it “sounds like the f*****n’ Eagles. In terms of the remastering comparing with older versions, it doesn't really sound that revolutionary.

His third studio album, released in 1997 is a very strong contender for the title his greatest, and certainly in my own top 40 releases of all-time. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. His songs of loss and loneliness have the broken-poet aura of Smog or Mark Eitzel, but he offsets the gloom with a hatful of damnably catchy melodies and progressions, turning suffering into pop and making it signify.I try to keep this disto’s choice of titles within the realms of volume eleven, but this is one of those folky, lo-fi albums that everybody needs to own and cherish, regardless of your religion. Gathering it up into one source, however, confirms Smith's genius and once again proves that the "torment saint" was utterly unique and indispensable.

Ranking as one of the best albums of the 1990s, and always (if you care for such things) mentioned within lists of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time by the likes of Rolling Stone, NME etc.The double LP is packaged in a gatefold jacket that includes an insert of the original liner notes, a postcard of the original master tapes, and several never-before seen photos. If I was pushed to single out just four of them personal highlights on this album, then I guess I would have to opt for Sixties-tingled 'Alameda' with it's terrific rhythm, 'Angeles', a particularly catchy tune which I believe to be about the hypocrisy surrounding the music business, the stirring 'Between the Bars', made famous in the same year of this record when it was used in the closing credits of the hit film 'Good Will Hunting', and the heart-warming, frankly adorable 'Say Yes', which fades things out beautifully. The melodies and harmonies on here are achingly lovely, the vocals so hushed and fragile they're almost whispered, and the lyrics unrelentingly, heartbreakingly sad.

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