The Album Review Club - Christmas Break Until 8th January

[journolud]

Looking to download this album to listen to in the car and as is usually the way it’s a deluxe version with 23 tracks. Where does the original end?

 

[mancity2012_eamo]

I suspected it was in jest, but in my role of thread runner, I thought I'd send a warning shot across the bows just in case :)

I'm glad that there seem to be a reasonable amount of people who are familiar with the thread even if they don't participate regularly. The door is always open for new nominators or even posters who just want to comment on and score the nominated albums.

First listen to XO this morning and it's much better than I remembered, but more about this in my full review.

First listen this afternoon, while pottering about doing various tasks.
First reaction?
Pretty good background music. A lot more bright than I was expecting from the write up. I quite liked the general feel and didn’t get the depressing vibe that was emanating from the narrative of the nomination.

I wasn’t overly concentrating on the lyrics and will give them more attention on the next listen.

By the end of it however, I was feeling, that’s enough of that for now. Not sure I could delve into any more of this right now. It was starting to sound like a spare room recording. Yes there are multiple instruments, multi layers, but it did actually feel like just one guy and I felt it needed some external input or production values.

As I’ve said, I’ll concentrate better on the next listen.

 

[BlueHammer85]

Gosh, not that many; that might be our resident Iron.

I am approaching 3,500 titles (about 4,400 discs). I do need to check that everything on the shelves has been logged.

I did a photo in here many many years ago of my cd collection, it was rather mammoth.

Sold everyone one a few years back of Music Magpie (some for 50p when I purchased them for £12-15!) but wanted rid.

Kept all my Beatles, Stones, Dylan and Oasis CDs.

 

[Big Joe Corrigan]

Looking to download this album to listen to in the car and as is usually the way it’s a deluxe version with 23 tracks. Where does the original end?

The original is 14 tracks, the last one being I Didn’t Understand.

 

[RobMCFC]

XO – Elliot Smith

Note to 30-year-old self: this album is better than you gave it credit for – maybe you should have given it more than couple of listens.

I bought this album in 1999, the year after it was released, and must have barely played it before deciding that I didn’t like it. I didn’t think I’d remember any of the songs, but “Waltz #2 (XO)” does sound familiar.

The songs have some beautiful melancholy chord changes that The Beatles or Nirvana would have been proud of. I also like the sonic palette, where most of the songs use stringed instruments that are very clearly recorded and feature in an uncluttered mix that has room to breathe. “Tomorrow Tomorrow” and the aforementioned “Waltz #2 (XO)” exemplify these two traits perfectly. In places he sounds a little like Neil Finn (or even his son, Liam Finn) and this is no bad thing for me.

I also enjoyed the relative fire of “Amity”, some nice steel guitar on “Oh Well, OK” and on “Bottle Up And Explode!”, Elliot Smith balances the sadness with a sweet sound featuring strings and a melodic guitar solo. It’s such a shame to read about how he died, and you wonder what he’d have been able to produce if he’d lived a longer life.

I don’t know why I didn’t connect with it first time around. I can only think that at the time I wasn’t into such a melancholy sound or missed the guitar solos or something, but I certainly appreciated listening to the album this week. Great first nomination and write-up from @Big Joe Corrigan, and It’ll be interesting to see what everybody makes of it.

Musically, it’s probably a 7, but for the wonderful rediscovery, and to say sorry for abandoning it too quickly when it came out, I’ll bump that up to 8/10.

 

[mrbelfry]

I have a friend who is always in a constant state of significance. Whatever happens to them is always important and life changing. When you're so alert to significance then every experience you have is magnified and your body becomes saturated by adrenaline, anxiety and meaning. This is probably caused by some past trauma but when you're in this state everything that subsequently happens to you becomes traumatic. I spend a good proportion of every week telling them to calm down and reminding them not everything is about something. She met Tito Jackson weeks before his death and now I have to look at pictures of the fried chicken he didn't eat and listen to why that means she's wasted her life.

Obviously I don't know Elliot Smith but it does appear he maybe suffered from the same condition. Some people see the iceberg above the water, some see the terrifying cold mass below. You should really avoid the iceberg but when everything means something you instead turn up the engines and crash your ship as hard as you can and then spend the rest of your life chipping bits of ice off for shots and enjoying the cold numb. Like his school district let's be thankful that Elliot Smith picked up a guitar instead of an assault rifle.

XO has a collection of songs that are about something significant. They come heavily wrapped in some sweet Beatlesque melodies that sound great and hint at some deeper understanding of music than I can explain. The descending guitar line and pedal point of Sweet Adeline is the perfect example and it even has a nice Pixiesque quiet loud dynamic. It's probably my album highlight but i did also enjoy the horns in A Question Mark and the nasal harmony of I Didn't Understand.

It is normal for me to force some significance in what is seemingly insignificant and then spend days annoying everyone (hello Gary Clarke Jr). However XO makes me feel like a poseur. It's already significant in ways that I am much too insignificant and insincere to express. These short paragraphs have already taken me 2 hours to write as I write and scribble out ideas and thoughts inbetween wikipedia and subreddit expeditions. I find I have nothing to say that is worth saying. I normally start writing and a conclusion appears. Not today. Maybe even never again. Icebergs ahead

I like this but i feel guilty that it probably cost Elliot Smith a lot and I don't love it. It has all the right stuff in all the right places but I'd rather watch hours of youtube videos explaining it than listening to it. It's a conflicted 7 with a 9 reserved for the hypothetical documentary explaining how to play it hosted by the people it's written about.

 

[journolud]

XO – Elliot Smith

Note to 30-year-old self: this album is better than you gave it credit for – maybe you should have given it more than couple of listens.

I bought this album in 1999, the year after it was released, and must have barely played it before deciding that I didn’t like it. I didn’t think I’d remember any of the songs, but “Waltz #2 (XO)” does sound familiar.

The songs have some beautiful melancholy chord changes that The Beatles or Nirvana would have been proud of. I also like the sonic palette, where most of the songs use stringed instruments that are very clearly recorded and feature in an uncluttered mix that has room to breathe. “Tomorrow Tomorrow” and the aforementioned “Waltz #2 (XO)” exemplify these two traits perfectly. In places he sounds a little like Neil Finn (or even his son, Liam Finn) and this is no bad thing for me.

I also enjoyed the relative fire of “Amity”, some nice steel guitar on “Oh Well, OK” and on “Bottle Up And Explode!”, Elliot Smith balances the sadness with a sweet sound featuring strings and a melodic guitar solo. It’s such a shame to read about how he died, and you wonder what he’d have been able to produce if he’d lived a longer life.

I don’t know why I didn’t connect with it first time around. I can only think that at the time I wasn’t into such a melancholy sound or missed the guitar solos or something, but I certainly appreciated listening to the album this week. Great first nomination and write-up from @Big Joe Corrigan, and It’ll be interesting to see what everybody makes of it.

Musically, it’s probably a 7, but for the wonderful rediscovery, and to say sorry for abandoning it too quickly when it came out, I’ll bump that up to 8/10.

Similar to you I dismissed an Elliot Smith album soon after purchase, a bit of a recurring theme on recent picks.

At least you have the benefit of remembering that it was this specific album you bought, I’ve no idea which one I had and nothing so far is familiar.

Like you I expect I’ll come to an improved appreciation of him by the time I’m done listening.

Very initial impressions of the very opening few bars were that it sounded like one of the exercises you do when you’re just learning guitar. That though has no real bearing or relevance whatsoever just thought I’d throw it in there.

 

[GornikDaze]

Similar to you I dismissed an Elliot Smith album soon after purchase, a bit of a recurring theme on recent picks.

At least you have the benefit of remembering that it was this specific album you bought, I’ve no idea which one I had and nothing so far is familiar.

Like you I expect I’ll come to an improved appreciation of him by the time I’m done listening.

Very initial impressions of the very opening few bars were that it sounded like one of the exercises you do when you’re just learning guitar. That though has no real bearing or relevance whatsoever just thought I’d throw it in there.

Unfortunately if that is the case, he sounds a lot better than me!! Two years in and I still sound worse than when my daughter was learning violin!!

 

[threespires]

I have a friend who is always in a constant state of significance. Whatever happens to them is always important and life changing. When you're so alert to significance then every experience you have is magnified and your body becomes saturated by adrenaline, anxiety and meaning. This is probably caused by some past trauma but when you're in this state everything that subsequently happens to you becomes traumatic. I spend a good proportion of every week telling them to calm down and reminding them not everything is about something. She met Tito Jackson weeks before his death and now I have to look at pictures of the fried chicken he didn't eat and listen to why that means she's wasted her life.

Obviously I don't know Elliot Smith but it does appear he maybe suffered from the same condition. Some people see the iceberg above the water, some see the terrifying cold mass below. You should really avoid the iceberg but when everything means something you instead turn up the engines and crash your ship as hard as you can and then spend the rest of your life chipping bits of ice off for shots and enjoying the cold numb. Like his school district let's be thankful that Elliot Smith picked up a guitar instead of an assault rifle.

XO has a collection of songs that are about something significant. They come heavily wrapped in some sweet Beatlesque melodies that sound great and hint at some deeper understanding of music than I can explain. The descending guitar line and pedal point of Sweet Adeline is the perfect example and it even has a nice Pixiesque quiet loud dynamic. It's probably my album highlight but i did also enjoy the horns in A Question Mark and the nasal harmony of I Didn't Understand.

It is normal for me to force some significance in what is seemingly insignificant and then spend days annoying everyone (hello Gary Clarke Jr). However XO makes me feel like a poseur. It's already significant in ways that I am much too insignificant and insincere to express. These short paragraphs have already taken me 2 hours to write as I write and scribble out ideas and thoughts inbetween wikipedia and subreddit expeditions. I find I have nothing to say that is worth saying. I normally start writing and a conclusion appears. Not today. Maybe even never again. Icebergs ahead

I like this but i feel guilty that it probably cost Elliot Smith a lot and I don't love it. It has all the right stuff in all the right places but I'd rather watch hours of youtube videos explaining it than listening to it. It's a conflicted 7 with a 9 reserved for the hypothetical documentary explaining how to play it hosted by the people it's written about.

I am going to have to read this at least a couple more times to try and understand it; that I can actually be arsed to do so either speaks well of you or badly of me, I like to believe it's the former. I do mostly understand the Tito Jackson and the chicken part I think so that's good.

What I can say it that you are going into the Rob box i.e. the day you post a review that simply says 'bag o shite' I'm heading straight down to my bunker at the bottom of the garden, because it definitely means the end days are coming. In fact if you both do it the same week I won't even bother trying to make it to the bunker, I will simply put Low Life on and wait for the imminent Armageddon.

 

[mrbelfry]

I am going to have to read this at least a couple more times to try and understand it; that I can actually be arsed to do so either speaks well of you or badly of me, I like to believe it's the former. I do mostly understand the Tito Jackson and the chicken part I think so that's good.

What I can say it that you are going into the Rob box i.e. the day you post a review that simply says 'bag o shite' I'm heading straight down to my bunker at the bottom of the garden, because it definitely means the end days are coming. In fact if you both do it the same week I won't even bother trying to make it to the bunker, I will simply put Low Life on and wait for the imminent Armageddon.

I wouldn't bother reading again. Read Robs a couple more times