First off, I’m an Elliott Smith freak.
That said, there’s an amazing site called elliottsmithbsides.com. I’m sure a lot of you have already heard of it, but for those who haven’t, it lives up to its name- it’s a bunch of Elliott’s b-sides, demos, and outtakes- and it’s a veritable gold mine for fans. The most recent leak is perhaps the best one yet, giving us four great songs recorded at the same time as the tracks that made From a Basement on the Hill. These four show Smith at the top of his game, from the gorgeously arranged “True Love” to the acoustic rock of “Let’s Turn the Record Over.” I know it’s cliche to say so- but I miss this guy, and anything we can get from the vaults, I welcome it. As always, enjoy!
Elliott Smith “True Love”
Elliott Smith “Talking to Mary”
Elliott Smith “Let’s Turn the Record Over”
Elliott Smith “From a Poison Well”
And, since elliottsmithbsides.com is only providing the Basement-era demos for now (due to bandwidth issues), I’ll add a couple of personal favorites from earlier albums’ demos. I particularly recommend “Cecilia / Amanda.” It’s honestly one of my favorite Elliott Smith songs ever…
Elliott Smith “Cecilia / Amanda”
Elliott Smith “No Life”
Super Mega Bonus: Since it’s pretty sweet but not necessarily worthy of its own post, here’s an mp3 courtesy of Noise for Toaster of Ben Folds doing a cover of the Postal Service’s “Such Great Heights.” It’s one of those live in the studio deals, and I guess Folds put towels in his piano to get that pseudo-electronic sound. See, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was right, towels are the most useful thing known to man.
Ben Folds “Such Great Heights”
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Wow, I just now noticed this post. Did you save this as draft before posting? Not a good idea cos it can get lost under a recent post if it was saved before then.
Anywho, great stuff. I have a deep appreciation for Elliott Smith and it’s great that we’re continuing to hear more from even though he was taken away from all of us.
Yeah, I saved it as a draft, and learned the hard way about how a post can get buried that way…