Elliott Smith – Reflecting on the 25th Anniversary of “Either/Or”
The Album First Came Out on February 25, 1997
Few artists have been able to fully embody the nature of Portland in its heyday as influential cult singer/songwriter Elliott Smith did on his classic third album. Recorded in Heatmiser’s twilight and released after its dissolution, the impending separation of Smith from his group can be discerned in the sound of Either/Or, which sees the guitar balladeer embracing a more pop-friendly style. Greeted with critical acclaim upon its release, Either/Or was by no means a Smith sellout, as his music remained as raw and vital as on Roman Candle and Elliott Smith.
Opening track “Speed Trials” is introduced in a series of whispers, Smith’s mellow guitar weaving a bleak tale of loneliness and denial, the singer delivering some of his finest lines, inquiring, “You little child, what makes you think you’re tough/When all the people you think you’re above/They all know what’s the matter.” The subsequent “Alameda,” a standout, is a bouncy ode to affectation and alienation, Smith sounding at once patronizing and empathetic, singing, “Nobody broke your heart/You broke your own ‘cos you can’t finish what you start.” Album gem “Ballad of Big Nothing” remains one of Smith’s most moving portraits of Gen X disillusionment and the resultant drive for personal freedom, as its coke-addled narrator comes down at last. Favorite “Between the Bars” depicts a tale of doomed romance between the protagonist and his demon—in this case, the bottle. He laments the possibilities of what could have been: “The potential you’ll be/That you’ll never see…” This is an achingly tender portrait of resignation, as only Smith could paint it.
Either/Or’s spare atmosphere works well with its often gritty and downtrodden lyrical content, as on “No Name No. 5” and “Rose Parade,” the latter of which absolutely devastates on every level. “Punch and Judy” is a quintessential outcast’s narrative of city drives, tangled sheets, and sadness, Smith declaring, “I used to like it here/It just bums me out to remember.” Subsequently, the stunning “Angeles” reveals Smith at some of his late-’90s best as he sings, “Someone’s always coming around here/Trailing some new kill.” This may, on the right day, stand as Either/Or’s top track, having managed to tear the heavy-headed indie king from his golden smack snare for a stint on the Good Will Hunting soundtrack, along with “Between the Bars” and “Say Yes.” “Cupid’s Trick” comes on heavier, a sense of aggression swelling just beneath Smith’s otherwise temperate demeanor, while penultimate “2:45 AM” finds him grappling with trauma in the aftermath of brutal conflict, singing, at his most tender, “I’m going out like a baby/A naive unsatisfiable baby/Grabbing onto whatever’s around/For the soaring high or the crushing down.” Closing track “Say Yes,” entirely out of the blue, casts a deceptively warm ray of sunlight across the otherwise wounded experience, Smith sounding almost playful, childlike in his melodies and profane promises of perseverance. One cannot help but lament the exclusion of the album’s incredible title track, which was ultimately shelved, only to appear on the posthumously-released New Moon a decade later. “Either/Or” is, frankly, one of Smith’s greatest songs.
Upon reflection, Either/Or serves as a premonition of an ultra-hip America to come—streets lonesome, denizens bored and given over to various vices. That said, it is also indicative of the sort of creative brilliance that can emerge from such a tragic scene. Elliott Smith was a rough-and-tumble poet, who spoke naked truths in dingy basements and upon littered street corners, his jaded, yet boyish voice carrying within itself heaps of education and resilience, which we find in bulk on Either/Or and even more so on 2000’s masterpiece Figure 8, released just three years prior to Smith’s inarguably perplexing death at age 34. Listen to Either/Or and reflect upon the 25 years lost between then and now. The music still sounds as fresh, the voice as honest as it always was. One can imagine that artists such as Smith will continue to fare well with the passage of yet another quarter-century.
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