His lyrics don’t interrupt the on-screen dialogue, but rather they serve as underscore. “Elliott Smith’s voice was an instrument created for scoring film,” says Reitman, who used Smith’s Angel in the Snow in his film. Smith has also been a longtime favorite to soundtrack television shows and film, like Anderson’s Royal Tenenbaums and Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air. While Smith died in 2003, his work has lived on in part thanks to Crane’s mining of the archives, which revealed new tracks and unreleased demos, as well as a seemingly endless string of cover songs, tribute albums and concerts, a 2009 documentary, the 2015 film Heaven Adores You, and even the Silverlake bar that has preserved a chunk of the red-and-blue mural used as a backdrop for the cover of Smith’s 2000 album, Figure 8. The album has made a lasting impression on musicians and music fans across all genres – even Frank Ocean mentioned Smith’s influence in the liner notes to Blonde – and his fanbase continues to grow.
When Either/Or originally came out at a time when grunge was still big, Sugar Ray and Smashmouth were hitting the charts alongside the Spice Girls and the Notorious BIG, but Smith created a subtly devastating album using nothing but pretty guitar chords, carefully crafted chamber-pop arrangements and intimate lyrics.
“But there are only a limited number of things left over and you want to pore through them and see what’s there and how ideas were formed.” Crane’s archive work has unearthed treasures that are included on the anniversary edition, including an alternative version of Bottle Up and Explode! and Smith’s take on I Figured You Out, a song he later gave to his friend Mary Lou Lord to perform.
“Elliott would not have glorified remnants of his own past the way we do now,” said Crane, whose view was echoed by fans who complained about the reissue. That “dark simplicity” is a hallmark of Smith’s work, particularly of his third studio album, Either/Or, which came out 20 years ago this week and to mark the anniversary, Smith’s record label Kill Rock Stars is releasing a remasteredversion of the album with added songs, Either/Or: Expanded Edition.įor the rerelease, tracks like Angeles and Rose Parade were remastered for the album by Larry Crane, a recording engineer who also serves as the archivist of Smith’s recordings, working with his family to catalogue the songs and demos that he left behind.
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