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Elliott Smith: Pretty (Ugly Before)
by Gareth Dobson
To hear the posthumous voice of Elliott Smith flatly croon out of your speakers is to render music journalism largely useless and irrelevant. To be trite would be to callously underplay a man who affected so many, yet to yodel on in Elliott-remorse would probably piss Smith off even more.
Still, there's a flippancy to be had when discussing dead men's singles. How's he going to promote that? And the video's really going to suck - probably montages of old clips. It's odd how a post-mortem LP is treated with such respect, yet the singles with contempt. There's no difference, and let's not forget that this is no dead man's recording. Elliott Smith was very much alive when recording 'Pretty (Ugly Before)'. It continues his love of writing (pretty) deformed Beatles songs and does more than enough to remind us that dead or alive, he was worth a lot more than Jeff Fucking Buckley. As long as there's nothing else in the vaults.
From the archive
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Elliott Smith - Pretty (Ugly Before)
he was a pretty cool guy, who made so pretty cool music. -
Elliott Smith - Pretty (Ugly Before)
Worth a lot more than Jeff Buckley? I don't agree.
But I'm sure anything resembling a tune that has Elliot Smith even farting on it will be released over the next few years, then re-released as a "legacy edition" etc etc
My dead singer/songwriter is better than your dead singer/songwriter! -
Elliott Smith - Pretty (Ugly Before)
If this wasn't limited edition, and there was some forethought, this could have been the charity xmas single of the year.
Rest in peace Mister Smith. -
Elliott Smith - Pretty (Ugly Before)
What a great song. It's overtly optimistic in a way that not much of his work is, and so, so poignant. -
Re: Elliott Smith - Pretty (Ugly Before)
i think that there are a good few tracks left in the vault!!!
i've heard that a few tracks were left off of "Bunker" that dealt with his family in a rather unflattering way -
Elliott Smith - Pretty (Ugly Before)
Eliott Smith was a truely exceptional singer songwriter and will be missed. Mos def by me.
It always felt like he was about to top himself which made his music all that more powerfull and i guess you could say real. Sorry if some poeple dont like that.
You cant compare Buckley and Smith.
Both left us at different stages of their artistic lives. -
Re: Elliott Smith - Pretty (Ugly Before)
Elliott did produce 6 albums, whereas Buckley only 1 and a half. I adore both, but I believe you can't compare them fairly, especially as a couple of Grace tunes where covers. I liked Elliott Smith before I'd heard of Jeff, rather shockingly, back in about 1997 when Ballad Of Big Nothing came out. Either/Or is still my favourite album. -
Elliott Smith - Pretty (Ugly Before)
Personally, I don't think there is/was a better one man band, writer, singer, than Elliott. He was a formidable, and very intelligent in his lyrical content.
I say this as a musician of multiple instruments, and a singer/songwriter, and a huge fan of the Beatles. Of course, none of this matters any more.
I miss you Elliott! -
Re: Elliott Smith - Pretty (Ugly Before)
i think elliot smith was a genius but this song is just dull and a real disapointment. the early very basic elliot smith stuff is the best. nothing beats stuff like 'needle in the hay' .... -
Elliott Smith - Pretty (Ugly Before)
The stab at Buckley was a bit gratuitous, meanie. -
Elliott Smith - Pretty (Ugly Before)
Yeah, I'm not quite seeing the point of slagging of Jeff Buckley in this review. -
Elliott Smith - Pretty (Ugly Before)
no need for a stab at jeff buckley ... dont attack him for the reissues etc... he can't help it can he !!
personally i love the stuff that both of them did, but at times its barely the same style ... so what if they were both singer/songwriters.
in my opinion ...neither was/is *better* than the other, too different
as for this single, its a good song, id prefer twlight, beautiful song
also...what kind of Bsides can we expect? -
Elliott Smith - Pretty (Ugly Before)
As long as there's nothing else in the vaults.
Indie cred be damned - to be honest, if there's good music in the vaults, I'd rather it get released to the world posthumously than rot in the vaults / hands of idiotic traders. I have absolutely no qualms with posthumous releases, as long as they're of a good quality.. -
Re: Elliott Smith - Pretty (Ugly Before)
I agree that this song isn't specifically the best from the album, or his collection. I also agree in his musical genius.
On earlier vs. later material - I find each album a gem unto itself. There was evolution in his work. He was constantly changing, and I really enjoyed his subtle use of various instruments and voices in the last 3 albums. It was as if he had more "toys" available, and he enjoyed learning to be a better musician on various instruments. I can relate to that as a fellow musician.
But the early stuff was equally incredible -
Re: Elliott Smith - Pretty (Ugly Before)
Well said - Elliott was constantly morphing his sounds. His talents - multi-instrumental, beautiful voice and harmonies, and song-writing prowess were growing. Tremendous loss.
I don't understand how someone this good could have existed without being a superstar. Are the public ears that deaf? Or is the industry too cluttered with garbage that mute the best?
Not that stardom was his goal, but a huge public audience missed out on him while he was alive. -
Re: Elliott Smith - Pretty (Ugly Before)
Can't wait for the remaining "bunker" material. Hope they have the balls to allow it out, without overconcern for the unflattering lyrical content. -
Re: Elliott Smith - Pretty (Ugly Before)
Absolutely - let us hear it! -
Elliott Smith - Pretty (Ugly Before)
i think the reason for the difference in status of posthumous albums and singles is this:
singles are, by and large, promotional items to help shift album units.
this is quite excusable during an artists life, as they need record sales to continue living and making music.
y'see? -
The early stuff
Is so much better. But still a sore loss.
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I never used to like Jeff Buckley
and I had a horrible feeling that his death may have created a horrendous amount of hype. But when you get past the whole suicide thing the music is amazing without any myths to help it along. I love Jeff Buckley now, his album is really inventive and far reaching and I don't see any point is having a dig at him either.
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MP3s
For anyone who's interested there's a great website called trashtreasury.com (I think) which has loads of Elliott Smith live MP3s. There's some amazing stuff from about '94, and it can be downloaded free. It's so good I think it should be officially released at some point, because although the performances are great there is a lot of background noise which could be cleared up. Then again it's nice to hear what the audience are saying about him.
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