"You're always coming over with all of your friends and all their opinions I don't want to know," he sings, a slight anger in his voice, while "All Cleaned Out" reveals a kind of pity for his subject.
"Looking Over My Shoulder" has a great hook, catchy in that monotonously melodic kind of way Smith knew how to do best. This means that New Moon embodies an unadulterated Smith, singing and playing songs how he wanted to, carefully layering his voice and adding the occasional harmony, the second guitar, the subtle drum tap - and with little of the full-band sound he moved into after he left KRS and went to a major label - but it doesn't mean that the pieces sound incomplete or unprofessional almost all them could've been included on one of Smith's albums, and in fact many of them were near to making the cut. In fact, much was done by the album's producers to maintain the integrity of Smith's original tracks, remixing them only when absolutely necessary (the only song that took vocal and instrumental elements from two different sessions is "New Disaster," and is clearly marked as such). Though some of the songs here, especially the earlier ones, can be quite simple, even raw at times, there's a sad, clean sweetness that comes through despite the occasional bit of tape hiss, of tinny chords. Written and recorded between 19, the 24 tracks on New Moon showcase Smith at his most instinctive and natural, when he uses hardly more than his (double-tracked) voice and his guitar. Kill Rock Stars - the label for which he made arguably two of his best records, 1995's Elliott Smith and 1997's Either/Or - with help from the late singer's archivist, Larry Crane, collected a handful of these pieces, added extensive and often personal liner notes, and made them available to the public under the title New Moon. When you consider this, it’s hardly surprising that some refer to Elliott Smith as the "voice of a generation".Before he died in 2003, Elliott Smith released five albums (plus the posthumous From a Basement on the Hill), but he had dozens and dozens of songs recorded, either alone on a four track or with friends in various studio settings, that had never seen the light of day. Impressed by the musician's calibre, the filmmaker Gus Van Sant integrated the songs Between the Bars, Angeles and Say Yes into the soundtrack of his film Good Will Hunting. Following Roman Candle (1994) and Elliott Smith (1995), he further amplified his vocal harmonies and showed that he was fully in control of his art despite the demons (of addiction and depression) that were eating away at him. But Elliott Smith also remained sensitive to pop melodies, the kind produced by The Beatles, The Kinks, The Zombies and Big Star, a sound that he stripped back to reach complete purity. Either/Or was his third album, released in February 1997, on which Nick Drake's ghost from Pink Moon is almost audible. Only a few albums were needed for the Nebraska songwriter to reveal his sensitive voice, his exquisitely refined melodies and his intense lyrics, which offered up an elegant alternative to the dominating grunge of the ‘90s. In this dark no man's land, Kurt Cobain and Jeff Buckley were joined by Elliott Smith. The history of rock loves fallen angels and geniuses with tragic stories. See More Your browser does not support the audio element. When you consider this, it’s hardly surprising that some refer to Elliott Smith as the "voice of a generation".
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