How do you rank Elliott Smith's s/t album with the others??

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I love the next two..never heard the s/t

― meister, Friday, 27 August 2004 00:46 (twenty-one years ago)

i have a lot of time for it, especially "st ides heaven". it's probably my second favourite album of his.

― purple patch (electricsound), Friday, 27 August 2004 00:59 (twenty-one years ago)

It's my favorite and the only one I ever listen to. To me it's the only album where his fuck-up-edness is allowed to shine unfettered by flashies and doodahs. "St. Ides" is indeed a highlight.

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Friday, 27 August 2004 01:17 (twenty-one years ago)

My second fave after either/or, but it has a few of my favorite ES songs ("St. Ides Heaven" and "Needle in the Hay" among them).

― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Friday, 27 August 2004 01:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Third favorite behind E/O and the new/final one.

Like everyone before me, though, "St Ides Heaven" is a favorite.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Friday, 27 August 2004 02:06 (twenty-one years ago)

It isn't great, but it's much better than any of his other albums.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Friday, 27 August 2004 02:29 (twenty-one years ago)

I can agree with that.

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Friday, 27 August 2004 02:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Easily his best. I love stripped-down, primitively strummed guitar music.

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Friday, 27 August 2004 06:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Easily as good as the albums he made after it. I would also highly, highly recommend Heatmiser's Mic City Sons, which came out between the s/t album and Either/Or. He only sings on about half the songs, but a few of them are among his best ever: Plainclothes Man, Not Half Right, I forget the names of the other ones.

― jedidiah (jedidiah), Friday, 27 August 2004 14:03 (twenty-one years ago)

His best IMO. The sound is too right for him. Don't get me wrong, the later albums are brilliant too but something about the fact that you can hear every string slide from changing notes, every time he inhales too close to the mic, every tick from his fingers touching the strings that makes it his best. Many of my favorite Elliott songs are on Self Titled too, the afformentioned "St. Ides Heaven", the fingerpicking mastery of "Southern Belle", the oft-quoted (especially when referencing his death) drug ballad "The White Lady Loves You More", and the song so emo that Bright Eyes covered it on the Halloween following his death: "The Biggest Lie". It's very short, very bitter, and very rewarding. Then again I'm a huge ES fan to begin with. Enjoy if you decide to buy it.

― Reed Rosenberg (reed), Friday, 27 August 2004 15:18 (twenty-one years ago)

the first one I heard and still my favorite

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 27 August 2004 15:27 (twenty-one years ago)

four years pass...

s/t probably track for track has the strongest set of songs (though roman candle shines in this respect too, with some awesome growers). i really don't see it as any bleaker or barer than the likes of either/or though, which incidentally i would claim as elliott's definitive statement since it captures a wider breadth of channeled emotion and resigned ambivalence to life's inevitable trappings.

― Charlie Howard, Wednesday, 7 January 2009 12:35 (seventeen years ago)

i'd pick the second one for sure. i think the third has more concessions?/leanings towards pop and arrangement, which are reined in on the second record, in favour of the intimacy mentioned before. it's a beautiful record.

― schlump, Wednesday, 7 January 2009 14:02 (seventeen years ago)

The first three albums make a near-perfect trilogy, though the s/t is the best. I think everything after Either/Or is spotty. Some really excellent tracks and some really boring tracks. Smith's voice wasn't strong enough to carry power-pop rockers, but it was perfect for 4-track-in-the-basement material.

― scott pgwp (pgwp), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 18:03 (seventeen years ago)

Haven't listened to this in forever, but it's by far my favorite ES record. As you say, song for song, his best, most memorable and immediate set. Needle, St Ides, Christian Bros, etc. Why the revive, CH? Not busting your chops, just curious...

― Calling All Creeps! (contenderizer), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 18:08 (seventeen years ago)

oh, i revived it because i still return to the first three records pretty regularly, so they're always floating around in my mind somewhere.

plus, i'm sort of constantly intrigued by the lyrical concept of 'christian brothers'. have never quite been able to work out what that song's all about. the whole "bad dream fucker" notion is fascinating to me. also, 'alphabet town' has a weird, cryptic undertone that i really like.

― Charlie Howard, Thursday, 8 January 2009 09:20 (seventeen years ago)

Took me a long time, but I eventually twigged to the fact that it's probably about Christian Brothers Brandy:

"No bad dream fucker's going to boss me around
Christian Brothers going to take him down
But it can't help me get over"

― Calling All Creeps! (contenderizer), Thursday, 8 January 2009 19:07 (seventeen years ago)

"I've seen the boss blink on and off" remains opaque tho.

― Calling All Creeps! (contenderizer), Thursday, 8 January 2009 19:11 (seventeen years ago)

I rank it towards the bottom of his oeuvre - I like his orchestrated, poppy latter era stuff.

― redmond, Thursday, 8 January 2009 19:24 (seventeen years ago)

yeah, brandy would explain it well!

funny thing is i always used to skip that track. found it a little nervy and laboured, even by elliott's standards. but then i sort of became obsessed with it. found the motif about troubled sleep strangely compelling, and the urgency of the delivery sobering in the most comforting way possible.

― Charlie Howard, Friday, 9 January 2009 15:01 (seventeen years ago)

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