Yahoo! Music Review

Released on 07/05/07
Label: Domino

It's a testament to the immense songwriting genius of Elliott Smith that even his decade old cast-offs are worth hearing. It's also a massive relief. During his frustratingly short career - ended in 2003 by his death, presumed suicide - Smith not only established himself as the singer-songwriter's singer-songwriter, he built a proud reputation for never releasing a rubbish song. It would be a tragedy, second only to his death, if he were to start now.

Posthumous, vault clearing collections - the savouring of every last second of a talent lost or shameless exploitation of dross never meant to see the light of day - are almost always mixed blessings. That the two CDs and 24 tracks of "New Moon" are completely free of the sound of barrels being scrapped, makes them about as rare as his incredible lightness of touch when it came to delivering desperation with a grin and a chorus you could sing.

Unlike most albums of its kind, this isn't one for fans and completists only. Anyone with even a passing interest in Elliott Smith will find shining examples of everything they've ever liked about him here. The bittersweet melodies, the double tracked vocals, the fragile hope and radiant beauty, they're all to be found in abundance. More to the point though, they're not just reminiscent of his best work, they're a match for it.

Compiled from tracks record between 1994 and 1997 during sessions for his self-titled second album and the superb "Either/Or", all are fully formed songs, not pieced together, half finished demos. That these predominantly acoustic songs remained unreleased until now was pretty much the result of a coin toss. As Smith himself said at the time of "Either/Or"'s release: "I had too many songs and no mechanism for picking between them."

It's not hard to see why he struggled to choose. "Angel In The Snow"'s simple love is as sweet, "Talking To Mary"'s sinister undertone as dark and "New Monkey"'s drug-addled demons as radio-friendly as anything on either album. Meanwhile, the hillbilly stomp of "Big Decision", "Placeholder"'s lonesome campfire lament and the manic, string-plucking twitch of "Almost Over" are so deserving of CD space, that the thought they could remain unheard is almost unthinkable.

Elliott Smith had a unique talent; a gift for being able to unload suitcases worth of battered, bruised, tortured and tormented emotional baggage and do it with an innocence and optimism which made even the bleakest tales feel like reasons to be cheerful. That every track here reinforces that memory of him makes it an unexpectedly fitting tribute.

    by Dan Gennoe