I didn’t know anything about lo-fi music-everything else I’d ever truly loved was glossy and studio perfect: Madonna’s Immaculate Collection and Mary J. I was a freshman at Oberlin, making myself depressing mixtapes to match my mood, and there was nothing that matched my mood better than Either/Or.

Here, Emma Straub revisits Elliott Smith ’s album Either/Or.įor a little while, starting around 1998, Elliott Smith and I were the best of friends.

As for those fans of the original album sound, the regular version of the album will stay completely available and unchanged.Īs the release day draws near, Kill Rock Stars has been slowly teasing out material from the expanded edition including this live version of ‘Pictures of Me’ from the YoYo A GoGo festival.Revisited is a series in which writers look back on a work of art they first encountered long ago. In addition to these rare recordings, the double LP will also include an insert of the original liner notes, a postcard of the original master tapes, and several never-before seen photos. Treading upon the familiar themes of failure, pain and addiction, no one could have anticipated much of the album would end up on the hit movie, Good Will Hunting.Īfter catching the attention of director Gus Van Sant, Smith was also asked to write an original song, resulting in ‘Miss Misery’ and an Oscar nom for Best Original Song. He put the time in, writing and recording so many songs that didn’t make the cut”.Įither/Or marks an important commercial turning point in Smith’s career. While a commemorative project was in the works to celebrate the album’s 10th anniversary, Crane – a friend and recording engineer who worked with Smith – unearthed so much good material the estate ended up releasing many of the bonus tracks on the posthumous collection New Moon in 2007.Īs Crane told the New York Times, “The bonus tracks would have swamped the album.

In addition to the remastered tracks, it will also include three previously unreleased studio recordings and the unreleased demo ‘I Figured You Out’, a cut Smith originally wrote and recorded as a demo for singer Mary Lou Lord in 1995. The double-album features the original tracks carefully remastered from original tapes under the supervision of Larry Crane while the second disc features five live multi-track recordings from the Yo Yo A Go Go Festival in Olympia, WA in 1997.

Elliott smith either or photoshoot