In November, Kill Rock Star will release ‘An Introduction to Elliott Smith’ on CD and Vinyl, a 14 track album which will be a compilation of his 7 albums: ‘Roman Candle’, ‘Elliott Smith’, ‘Either/Or’, ‘XO’, ‘Figure 8’, ‘From A Basement on the Hill’, and ‘New Moon’:
1 Ballad of Big Nothing – from Either/Or
2. Waltz #2 – from XO
3. Pictures of Me – from Either/Or
4. The Biggest Lie – from Elliott Smith
5. Alameda – from Either/Or
6. Between The Bars – from Either/Or
7. Needle In The Hay – from Elliott Smith
8. Last Call – from Roman Candle
9. Angeles – from Either/Or
10. Twilight – from From a Basement on the Hill
11.Pretty (Ugly Before) – from From a Basement on the Hill
12. Angel In the Snow – from New Moon
13. Miss Misery (early version) – from New Moon
14. Happiness (single version) – from Figure 8
The interesting thing is that KRS does not distribute the albums ‘XO’ and ‘Figure 8’ (they are on Dreamworks), but this compilation has 2 songs off these albums. Who knows, this could lead to other releases in the future by KRS, as some never released material is now owned by Interscope, that took over Dreamworks.
A lot of songs come from the first albums, with only one song from ‘Figure 8’ and two from ‘From a Basement on the Hill’.This kind of album obviously does not address to fans or people who had some interest in Elliott’s career because they will already own all these songs.
There are two ways to see things:
Some people are gonna say it is a way to make quick money by exploiting Elliott’s renewed fame since his death. The album features mostly ‘hits’ (‘Waltz #2’, ‘Between the Bars’, ‘Miss Misery’) if it is possible to call them hits, but at least well known songs, a lot of ‘old’ songs and no rarities at all. Elliott would not be the first one to get this treatment, from Jeff Buckley, to Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jimmy Hendrix, and Michael Jackson, there is a long list of posthumous compilation releases.
But other people will say it will generate more interest in his music, since it is a nice way to introduce more people to his music. I agree with that, and you don’t have to buy it if you already own all the songs, so KRS is not a money grabber.
And there is always the burning thought about what the dead person would have done, the torturing idea regarding the respect of his/her memory. Obviously Elliott would not have released such a compilation, he would have produced more music (he was talking about a double album for ‘From a Basement on the Hill’), and a compilation would not have been in the horizon. But he is dead, he will never produce new music and I don’t think we have to think in the what-would-he-have-done term, it does not make sense.
This compilation is a good idea, any idea which may allow more people to listen to his music is a good idea.