Elliott Smith - Umbra Penumbra, Portland, OR, 9-17-1994

Here's something a bit unusual from singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. This is the earliest known acoustic concert by him, all the way back in 1994. 

From 1990 until 1996, Smith was a member of the rock band Heatmiser. While still in that band, he began a solo career in 1994. He released his first solo album, "Roman Candle," in July 1994. The album was a fluke. He had recorded it in a friend's basement, and sent the songs to a record company in hopes of getting a record deal to release a solo single. But the company liked his demos enough to want to release all of them as an album. Smith later said, "I thought my head would be chopped off immediately when it came out because at the time it was so opposite to the grunge thing that was popular ... The thing is that album was really well received, which was a total shock, and it immediately eclipsed [Heatmiser], unfortunately." 

Smith performed over a dozen solo concerts on the West Coast promoting the album. This one is the best sounding recording from that tour, by far. I had this as a bootleg for ages. But in 2020, it was released as a bonus disc for a deluxe edition of his 1995 album "Elliott Smith." Normally I don't released officially released stuff, but I'm making an exception here because I think this concert doesn't get enough attention. One can practically put it with his studio albums due to the sound quality, as well as the song selection. He performed ten songs, but only three of them were from the "Roman Candle" album (tracks 6, 9, and 10). Most of the others were unreleased at the time. One of those, "Alphabet Town," would be released on Smith's 1995 self-titled album.

The last song, "Half Right," was one that would be released on the last Heatmiser album, "Mic City Sons," released in 1996. The other main singer-songwriter in that band was Neil Gust. He joined Smith to sing the song here. The song though was written by Smith. Smith's solo version of it eventually was released on the archival album "New Moon."

This album is 34 minutes long. 

01 talk (Elliott Smith)
02 Some Song (Elliott Smith)
03 Alphabet Town (Elliott Smith)
04 Whatever [Folk Song in C] (Elliott Smith)
05 talk (Elliott Smith)
06 No Name No. 4 (Elliott Smith)
07 Big Decision (Elliott Smith)
08 talk (Elliott Smith)
09 Condor Ave (Elliott Smith)
10 No Name No. 1 (Elliott Smith)
11 talk (Elliott Smith)
12 No Confidence Man (Elliott Smith)
13 talk (Elliott Smith)
14 Crazy Fucker (Elliott Smith)
15 talk (Elliott Smith)
16 Half Right (Elliott Smith with Neil Gust)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/Gr3DMRQc

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/Hxn19sSJEVvr8To/file

The cover photo is from 1994. But I don't know the details.