From A Basement On A Hill

11/04/2004 5:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Craig Rosen

Listening to an Elliott Smith album has never been exactly an uplifting experience. Since the release of his solo debut, 1994’s Roman Candle, Smith had made a name for himself with melancholy folk-rock that ached with desperation and often chronicled his battle with drugs. Perhaps that subject matter and Smith’s tattooed loveboy indie-rock looks were the only things that keep him from reaching a wider audience. His contribution on the Good Will Hunting soundtrack launched him onto the Academy Awards where he performed uncomfortably on the same stage as Celine Dion and his albums are filled with some of the most striking folk-rock since Simon still recorded with Garfunkel. But like all too many rock star tragedies, Smith’s personal demons were apparently too much for him to handle. In October 2003, Smith died by from steak knife jab to his chest, which was either suicide or a homicide. The release of his final studio album, From A Basement On A Hill, coming almost a year to the day of his death, makes it the most difficult listen in the Smith catalog. It’s the aural equivalent of a suicide note (or at least a will written while its author knows the end is near). A quick glance of the song titles (“Don’t Go Down,” “Strung Out Again,” “Fond Farewell” “A Passing Feeling,” “Last Hour,” “Memory Lane,” and “A Distorted Reality Is Now A Necessity To Be Free”) and it’s safe to assume that Smith knew his fate. Making his death all the more tragic is the fact that Smith was still in his prime as an artist. This album is one of his best, mixing the sparse, acoustic approach of his early indie work (“Let’s Get Lost,” “Twilight,” “Last Hour”) with the elaborate Beatlesque production of some of his later major-label efforts (“Coast To Coast” “Strung Out Again,” “Shooting Star,” and “A Distorted Reality…”