Elliott Smith – Either/Or [180g Black Vinyl LP]

Elliott Smith – Either/Or [180g Black Vinyl LP]

Details

• Format: Vinyl LP, Album, Reissue, Single Sleeve + Insert, Stereo
• Catalogue Number: 4752941
• Barcode: 602547529411
• Genre: Indie Rock / Lo-Fi / Singer-Songwriter
• Label: Universal Music
• Originally Released: 25 February 1997
• Reissue Released: 2024
• Pressing: 180 Gram Vinyl
• Condition: New & Sealed

Description

Either/Or is the third studio album by Elliott Smith — the record on which he found the sound that would define his career, and the bridge between the stark lo-fi intimacy of Roman Candle (1994) and Elliott Smith (1995) and the lush studio productions that would follow with XO (1998) and Figure 8 (2000). Recorded in several Portland, Oregon locations — Joanna Bolme's house, the Heatmiser house, The Shop, Undercover Inc. and Laundry Rules studio — while Smith was still a member of post-punk band Heatmiser, and produced by Smith alongside Tom Rothrock and Rob Schnapf, it was released on 25 February 1997 on Kill Rock Stars, shortly after Heatmiser's dissolution. The album did not chart on release, but its critical standing grew steadily in the years that followed, and it is now consistently ranked among the finest singer-songwriter records of the 1990s.

1997 proved to be the year everything changed. Director Gus Van Sant had already approached Smith about contributing music to his new film Good Will Hunting, and several Either/Or tracks — including "Between the Bars" and "Say Yes" — appeared on the soundtrack. The original song Smith wrote for the film, "Miss Misery", was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, and Smith's performance at the 1998 ceremony — appearing in a white suit against the gilded pageantry of the Oscars — became one of the defining cultural images of the decade. The sudden crossover exposure brought Either/Or to an entirely new audience without Smith having changed a note of his approach.

The album's 12 tracks are meticulously crafted and emotionally unsparing — intimate multi-tracked acoustic and electric guitar arrangements built around Smith's layered vocals, elliptical melodies, and lyrics that oscillate between tenderness and despair with unnerving precision. "Speed Trials" opens at a clip; "Alameda" is languid and aching; "Ballad of Big Nothing" and "Between the Bars" — the album's two singles — demonstrate Smith's ability to make devastation sound effortless; "Angeles" is the album's most delicate and widely loved track; "2:45 AM" and the closing "Say Yes" end the record on a note of exhausted, flickering hope. The album's production is a masterclass in apparent simplicity: Smith's guitar playing is technically assured, the arrangements are spare but never thin, and the lo-fi aesthetic is a deliberate and entirely appropriate choice rather than a limitation.

This 2024 European reissue on Universal Music faithfully reproduces the sought-after 2017 Kill Rock Stars 180g edition — pressed on 180 gram black vinyl, housed in a replica of the original single sleeve with the original lyrics and credits insert. A clean, authoritative standard edition of one of the essential albums of the 1990s.

Tracklist

Side A

1. Speed Trials
2. Alameda
3. Ballad of Big Nothing
4. Between the Bars
5. Pictures of Me
6. No Name No. 5

Side B

1. Rose Parade
2. Punch and Judy
3. Angeles
4. Cupid's Trick
5. 2:45 AM
6. Say Yes

Credits

• Elliott Smith – Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Drums, Producer, Mixing
• Tom Rothrock – Producer, Mixing
• Rob Schnapf – Producer, Mixing
• Larry Crane – Engineer
• Debbie Pastor – Cover Photography
• Joanna Bolme – Back Photography
• Neil Gust – Layout
• Label – Universal Music