The Album Review Club - Christmas Break Until 8th January

Just realised it's Wednesday. I don't think this album has the immediacy of Figure 8 which I'm more familiar with, but every time I listened to this I heard a little bit more so I think it has more subtlety to it and might be a grower. I think it's very consistent, there's no obvious duds on it and I think unlike lots of albums it's got a really strong middle. I struggle a bit with his vocals over a prolonged period, there's nothing inherently bad about his singing it's just a bit one dimensional over a whole album but the nice layering and harmonies mask much of this. In fact his overall approach harmonically I quite like. I dont really connect emotionally with many of his lyrics but I think he was clearly a talented guy and it's sad that he had so many troubles. 7/10.
 
Elliot Smith one of those artists i should have liked but i struggle with.
Struggled with this frm the off.The first 2 tracks bored me.
Then Waltz #2 (XO) came on which i enjoyed.
Back to struggling apart from Bottle up and Explode and Everybody Understands.
5/10 an extra couple of marks for playing all the instruments.
 
Elliot Smith one of those artists i should have liked but i struggle with.
Struggled with this frm the off.The first 2 tracks bored me.
Then Waltz #2 (XO) came on which i enjoyed.
Back to struggling apart from Bottle up and Explode and Everybody Understands.
5/10 an extra couple of marks for playing all the instruments.
That’s Tubular Bells as my next nomination then ;)
 
XO - Elliot Smith

After listening to this in its entirety more than just a few times, it came as no surprise that one of Smith's favourite Beatles albums was their "White Album" from 1968. Lots of influences can be heard, especially with the harmonies, melancholy delivery, and tempo changes in songs where the sound jumps from 1 to 10 in an instant, never quite knowing the first time what is coming. I liked that a lot in songs like "Sweet Adeline", just quietly plodding down the string keys until it no longer is and hitting you with full force at 1:33 in. I have to think George Harrison really influenced him a lot as I could hear the similar sounds in the vocals, and the last song Smith played live was Harrison's "Long, Long, Long" off that album, which has its own quiet to loud jumps as Smith so well does on XO.

Like MCD noted yesterday, this album starts off very strong with enjoyable song after another, for me through "Amity". The high trio sequence of "Waltz #2 (XO)", "Baby Britain", and "Pitseleh" are the extreme high points for me, with the first track being the pick of the album. I too enjoyed the both sad and funny lyrics that were sometimes put together in a single track. In "Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands", he notes:

You say you mean well
You don't know what you mean
F'ing* oughta stay the hell away
From things you know nothing about


(* my condensing)

Pretty direct and then the piano and bass and guitar and string section comes in as a closer to drive that all home.

There's still a lot of I'm discovering about this artist, and one week and one album isn't enough to feel that I'm qualified and understand the layers to his songs and writings, so I think I'll heed those lyrics and simply note I'll be coming back to this, and looking forward to hearing more of his albums. Enjoying what I heard and looking forward to more is an 8/10 for me overall on this album. XO, Elliot Smith, as the lyrics to your hit song notes.
 
XO - Elliot Smith

After listening to this in its entirety more than just a few times, it came as no surprise that one of Smith's favourite Beatles albums was their "White Album" from 1968. Lots of influences can be heard, especially with the harmonies, melancholy delivery, and tempo changes in songs where the sound jumps from 1 to 10 in an instant, never quite knowing the first time what is coming. I liked that a lot in songs like "Sweet Adeline", just quietly plodding down the string keys until it no longer is and hitting you with full force at 1:33 in. I have to think George Harrison really influenced him a lot as I could hear the similar sounds in the vocals, and the last song Smith played live was Harrison's "Long, Long, Long" off that album, which has its own quiet to loud jumps as Smith so well does on XO.

Like MCD noted yesterday, this album starts off very strong with enjoyable song after another, for me through "Amity". The high trio sequence of "Waltz #2 (XO)", "Baby Britain", and "Pitseleh" are the extreme high points for me, with the first track being the pick of the album. I too enjoyed the both sad and funny lyrics that were sometimes put together in a single track. In "Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands", he notes:

You say you mean well
You don't know what you mean
F'ing* oughta stay the hell away
From things you know nothing about


(* my condensing)

Pretty direct and then the piano and bass and guitar and string section comes in as a closer to drive that all home.

There's still a lot of I'm discovering about this artist, and one week and one album isn't enough to feel that I'm qualified and understand the layers to his songs and writings, so I think I'll heed those lyrics and simply note I'll be coming back to this, and looking forward to hearing more of his albums. Enjoying what I heard and looking forward to more is an 8/10 for me overall on this album. XO, Elliot Smith, as the lyrics to your hit song notes.
Thanks for taking the time to write your review, much appreciated and I’m glad you enjoyed the album.

More than a few people have referenced The Beatles, and although I know Smith was a huge fan, I’ve not heard enough of them to appreciate the comparison. Maybe I should explore their work more.

Cheers.
 
Elliott Smith's XO, grabbed 14 votes at a respectable average of 6.39.

I think that this is one of those nominations where the score belies what was a very good nomination. There were a couple of people, me included, who reassessed Elliott Smith as a result of listening to this album and even better, a few people who were intrigued enough to explore his back catalogue further, which I'd say is a great result.

All in all, a terrific debut nomination from @Big Joe Corrigan

That brings us to the end of round #9, which has been great on several fronts. A big shout-out to @mrbelfry - I have all enjoyed reading your analysis each week and I know I'm not the only one. It's good to have @Saddleworth2 nominating again and @mancity2012_eamo commenting. And we have had a few new nominators this time around: @bluemoonrisin', @Big Joe Corrigan and @Kippaxpete has signed up for the next round - just make sure you get stuck into reviewing everybody else's nominations, guys.

Thanks also to @Coatigan who has stepped in several times to keep things running smoothly when I've not been available. This will continue moving forward (hopefully more for holidays than hospital!) and his help is much appreciated.

Speaking of which ............

With all of that out of the way, we will be taking our traditional two-week break from album nominations to do something different. @Coatigan is standing by to tell us all about it.
 
Elliott Smith's XO, grabbed 14 votes at a respectable average of 6.39.

I think that this is one of those nominations where the score belies what was a very good nomination. There were a couple of people, me included, who reassessed Elliott Smith as a result of listening to this album and even better, a few people who were intrigued enough to explore his back catalogue further, which I'd say is a great result.

All in all, a terrific debut nomination from @Big Joe Corrigan

That brings us to the end of round #9, which has been great on several fronts. A big shout-out to @mrbelfry - I have all enjoyed reading your analysis each week and I know I'm not the only one. It's good to have @Saddleworth2 nominating again and @mancity2012_eamo commenting. And we have had a few new nominators this time around: @bluemoonrisin', @Big Joe Corrigan and @Kippaxpete has signed up for the next round - just make sure you get stuck into reviewing everybody else's nominations, guys.

Thanks also to @Coatigan who has stepped in several times to keep things running smoothly when I've not been available. This will continue moving forward (hopefully more for holidays than hospital!) and his help is much appreciated.

Speaking of which ............

With all of that out of the way, we will be taking our traditional two-week break from album nominations to do something different. @Coatigan is standing by to tell us all about it.
Cheers Rob, I’ve really enjoyed my first attempt at an album review and reading all the comments from the folks on here.
 
Thanks for taking the time to write your review, much appreciated and I’m glad you enjoyed the album.
Absolutely, and my first introduction as I noted on the playlist of "Pitseleh" was well rewarded to this entire album listen.

More than a few people have referenced The Beatles, and although I know Smith was a huge fan, I’ve not heard enough of them to appreciate the comparison. Maybe I should explore their work more.
Glad I wasn't still sipping on coffee when I read your last line! ;-) Seriously, any of their post-1965 albums or at least George Harrison's All Things Must Pass I would think would be right up your alley.
Thanks again to you as well, and quite an enjoyable initial selection here as Rob noted. Finding new-to-me prior music I missed really is the enjoyable payoff to this thread, in addition to all the various viewpoints.
 
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The end of round break playlist

- Favourite Finds -

The customary two week break and collective playlist + guessing game, before going again. With a bit of a theme.

Following up on an idea and suggestion by @Saddleworth2 some time ago, this one will focus on this thread and looking back at some of the past albums.

Here is what I have in mind.

By the end of Saturday (in your time zone), PM me the followng:
- a list of your top 5 album finds from this thread
- a song of choice for the playlist from (ideally but not exclusive to) your top album find. Or from one of the 5.


The song will go on the playlist, and people can later try guess which poster put up which song as their favourite. Perhaps it makes guessing easier than previous rounds, or maybe not, time will tell.

Sometime on Sunday the 3rd, I will post the playlist (Rob will whip up a spotify link), and a list of the participants, and we can start listening to that.

Over the week I will apply the bluehammer scoring metric to the albums (no.1 gets a 5, no.2 a 4 etc) to list out the top find albums as the numbers spit out.

The guessing can happen on the thread. You can use the swap technique to hide amongst your guesses. People can also list their top 5 songs from the playlist, excluding your own (unless they use a swap). Don't think either needs to happen via PM, think it is more fun when visible to all.

On Tuesday the 12th, possibly Monday 11th, lists guesses and who put what forward will be revealed, and that lets us resume regular album nominations from Wednesday the 13th, to the order Rob puts up at some point by then.


What are we defining as a find?

A band and an album new to you, that you would not have listened to, were it not for this thread.

That seems to be the fairest way I can put it, to not be overly prescriptive or technical.

I.e, if we were to say only put forward bands you have Never heard of, there will likely be bands people heard by mention or in articles, but still never properly listened to. On the other hand, don't be like, 'well I Did hear of the Beatles, but I never listened to Revolver itself, so that's technically my top find'. If you have heard a number of a band's hits, but not an album, I would say you are pushing it. But if you may have heard songs in passing, but it still felt new to you, go for it. Guess if you definitely never heard of them before, you are safe, but ultimately, nobody is going to police this, so just use your common sense, in the spirit of the theme.

As for the songs for the playlist, I did think of keeping it simple and saying one song from your top album from the 5 you provide. But then, there may be people that have an album that they loved as a whole, but an individual song from another album that stuck or resonated more with them, that they think is better for the playlist. Again, common sense there, as long as it is from one of the 5 albums you pick, free choice.

Finally, I am a less is more kind of guy, so went with 5 albums here. Think that focuses choice more etc, and also wasn't sure many might find more than 5 albums completely new to them. Particularly given various joining dates etc. But, if people do feel strongly about making it 10, or feel there are that many 'finds' worth listing, speak up, happy to pivot on that.

Given the nature of this, and some people joining later than others, different tastes, breadth of musical exposure etc, it may not be a true reflection of the thread so far, but let's see how it goes. There may also be duplicates, as more than one person might have liked the same album/song. If there are two songs from the same album, both will go on, it is a fair reflection of that album imo. If people pick the same song, will offer them the chance to pick an alternative.

Open to suggestions as well btw, if people think it can be simplified, improved or I have missed something.
 

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