Elliott Smith - XO
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Elliott SmithEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1998-08-25
Music Label: Dreamworks
Soundtracks:
- Sweet Adeline
- Tomorrow Tomorrow
- Waltz #2 (XO)
- Baby Britain
- Pitseleh
- Independence Day
- Bled White
- Waltz #1
- Amity
- Oh Well, Okay
- Bottle Up And Explode!
- A Question Mark
- Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands
- I Didn't Understand
Free Music Notes for XO
Free Music Review: The Rebirth of Elliott Smith
Hit: 5 Stars
Emerging from the shadow of Kurt Cobain in the late 90's, Elliott Smith was perhaps the greatest singer songwriter of his generation. Smith's genius was his unabashedly honest, naked, poetic lyricism that was so beautifully complemented by his unpretentiousness acoustic guitar. Like none that came before him, Smith delivers note after note of haunted, sparkling melancholy. Far from gloomy, his songs radiate with incredible emotional intensity. Combining an unbridled punk rage within the guise of an acoustic folk song, his songs speak for themselves. Reflective and introspective, each song unfolds like a delicately wrapped package, revealing itself slowly. Smith's songs present themselves like late night thoughts that just won't go away. Concerning themselves with drug abuse, depression, and troubled relationships, Smith exorcises his inner demons and releases them in a beautiful, blinding, luminosity, albeit born from dark, painful emotional despair.
Almost immediately following the release of Good Will Hunting, Smith's popularity exploded overnight. With that popularity followed an offer from a bigger studio with more opportunity. What inevitably followed was a stylistic change in the sound that Smith had become known for. Who knows what XO would have sounded like had he not been nominated for an Academy Award. But XO afforded Smith the chance to embellish his sound with lush production and a rich, full bodied and arguably better sound. A few songs (Tommorrow, Tommorrow, Pitseleh) retain the simplicity of his earlier work). XO is undeniably Smith, the songwriting, the trademark guitar, the voice. Smith's album benefited from increased publicity, and XO would go on to become his best selling album. It is also arguably his most easily accessible album, which has drawn comparisons to The Beach Boys masterpiece Pet Sounds. You will catch yourself singing along to the melody before you realize what he is singing about. Lyrically, XO is just as dark as any of his previous efforts, this time there are just more lights. Perhaps best described as punk rage and despair with a sensitivity. XO is catchy and full bodied, reminiscent of The Beatles and 60's pop. The work on XO is just as complex lyrically as anything he has ever done, yet gorgeous ballads that are layered with pianos, guitars and drums. The result is a fully realized body of work of incredible impact. Smith takes full advantage to show off his proficiency on the piano on several tracks. From the driving guitars of "Amity", to "A Question Mark" XO is no doubt a rock album. Waltz #1 is a gorgeous, soaring, ballad that stands out among as one of the best. No longer a quiet hushed whisper, Smith's incredible singing voice is given the chance to soar, and soar it truly does. His voice truly resonates on songs like Waltz #1 and I Didn't Understand. It is just as easy to imagine the songs without the production, just as acoustic songs. Elliott Smith was a huge Beatles fan and it shows here. The melodies are stronger and catchier than ever. Each new layer fleshes his sound out almost adding another emotional layer. The result is a poppier, catchier sound. Each song flows into the next, and there isn't a dull song on the album. Soaring melodies and gorgeous harmony, supplemented by lush instrumentation allow Smith's songs to truly soar. XO explodes in a kaleidoscopic display of fireworks reaching for the heavens. XO may lose many of the purists who prefer the simple acoustic, although it is undeniable his music is still emotionally resonating.
XO Poster
Elliott Smith's fourth solo album and major-label debut, XO, brings narrative detail and a wide range of emotion to an indie meld of '60s-style rock and folk-pop. Whether in the broken stateliness of "Waltz #2 (XO)," the Sgt. Pepper tribute of "Baby Britain," or the explosions of "Amity" and "Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands," Smith's melodic and arrangement senses give his vulnerable vocals and brilliant wordcraft the maximum effectiveness. XO is a watershed in singer/songwriter rock. --Rickey WrightOn XO, Elliott Smith leaves the indie doldrums behind and takes wing to new, lush surroundings. By adding full instrumentation to his acoustic reveries, Smith has ascended to a new level of songwriting that shores up his gentle voice and country-tinged guitar playing with extra layers of vocal arrangements and charming piano vamps. Strains of classic rock filter into the Beatlesque "Baby Britain" and the Beach Boys-inspired "I Didn't Understand," but Smith succeeds in adapting them to his style rather than the other way around. A foot soldier in DreamWorks' war on standard-issue rock & roll, Smith joins new label mates Rufus Wainwright and Morphine as sophisticated interpreters of the new male psyche. XO is a stunning shadow print of a soul adrift in the music industry, a dark place indeed. --Lois Maffeo
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