Elliott Smith & Heatmiser - Mic City Sons (Elliott Smith Edition) (1996)

I've been on another Elliott Smith kick lately, so here's something else from him. This is an officially released album, the last album of a band he was in early in his music career called Heatmiser. But that band had two singer-songwriters, and split their output roughly evenly. Due to some recently released bonus tracks, I was able to make an all-Elliott-Smith version. That original version is still out there for those who want it this way. But for those especially keen on Smith's songs, here's an option for you. I would argue that if this was actually one of Smith's solo albums, it would be considered one of his best.

Heatmiser was founded in Portland, Oregon, in 1991. The two main singer-songwriters were Smith and Neil Gust. The two of them were friends, as well as being roommates for several years. 1991 was the year that grunge started to make it big up the coast in Seattle. Thus, at the time, there was a lot of incentive to ride the popularity of the grunge sound, and that's what Heatmiser did. The band's first two albums in particular, "Dead Air" in 1993 and "Cop and Speeder" in 1994, really rock in a way that can sound shocking for those only familiar with Smith's later acoustic-based style. They were heavily influenced by bands like Husker Du and Fugazi.

Heatmiser found a lot of popularity in Portland, and performed there practically constantly. But their albums came out on an indie label and didn't make much impact elsewhere. At one point, they played a laudromat in Cleveland, and their entire "audience" left when that person's laundry was finished.

Smith later dismissed the band's music as "loud," and complained that being in Heatmiser changed the songs he was writing at the time into "loud rock songs with no dynamic." Furthermore, in a later interview, he said of his time in the band:

"I was being a total actor, acting out a role I didn't even like. I couldn't come out and show where I was coming from. I was always disguised in this loud rock band. [In the beginning] we all got together, everyone wanted to play in a band and it was fun, then after a couple of years we realized that none of us really liked this kind of music, and that we didn't have to play this way. You didn't have to turn all these songs you wrote into these loud... things. [...] It was kinda weird – people that came to our shows, a majority of them were people I couldn't relate to at all. Why aren't there more people like me coming to our shows? Well, it's because I'm not even playing the kind of music that I really like." 

In 1994, Smith released his first album, "Roman Candle," in a drastically different, semi-acoustic style. His solo career soon began to find a growing audience. Then in 1995, he released a second solo album in that style, "Elliott Smith," and his following continued to grow even more.

However, while that was going on, Heatmiser was working on their third album. The band's other main singer-songwriter, Neil Gust, was going through a similar musical transformation, moving away from a punk and/or grunge influenced rocking style to a more melodic one. Their 1996 album, "Mic City Sons," was a big musical leap forward, in my opinion, and many other people agree. 

For instance, here's part of the album's AllMusic.com review, by Michael Frey: "The quartet's finest and final album, 'Mic City Sons' features a decidedly more pop feel than its predecessors and marks Smith's maturation into the role of the band's visionary. From the opening notes of the swaggering, bass-heavy 'Get Lucky' to conclusion of the album with a soothingly soft hidden track ['Half Right'], 'Mic City Sons' is an outstanding collection of diverse and invigorating tracks. Songs like 'Plain Clothes Man' and 'You Gotta Move' exhibit the interplay of soulful, smooth vocals over gentle guitar strumming that has been so evident in Smith's solo work. The Gust-penned tunes, like 'Cruel Reminder' and 'Eagle Eye' are more rugged and aggressive, but complement Smith's songs brilliantly. ... Despite the success Heatmiser's members have achieved since their disbanding, it's unfortunate that this collective decided to split up just when they had reached such a creative peak."

As that review points out, Gust's songs are very good. One should hear the original version of this album, with an even number of Smith and Gust songs. But, in my opinion, it's also nice to listen to this Smith-centric version. The first seven songs here are from the original album. The remainder are from a deluxe edition released in 2025. That edition also contained two demos, but I didn't include them because they were full-band demos that didn't sound that different, and they were of songs from the original album. 

It would have been really interesting if Heatmiser could have kept going, along with Smith's solo career. But Smith's growing popularity basically made that impossible, especially due to some record company intrigue. For their third album ("Mic City Sons"), the band signed with a major label, Virgin Records, for the first time. Smith later explained what happened next:

"It was kind of ridiculous to carry it up to a certain point and then drop the ball or the bomb, like quitting the band right after we had signed to Virgin. I was the guy who made that gravy-train crash so to speak, and it was a gravy-train at the time. The breakup happened almost immediately after the contract was signed. I watched myself put my paw in the bear trap on that one because there was this clause about leaving members. In the event of the band dissolving, any members could be kept to that contract with or without their consent under the same terms. They didn't pick up Neil's option, only mine. It turned out to be a fucked-up situation because they said the reason they had signed Heatmiser was that they'd been hoping this [the breakup] would happen - or something to that effect. They said that right in front of Neil and I couldn't believe it."

Basically, the record company didn't want Heatmiser to succeed because they were only interested in Smith's solo career material. A 2018 article about the band by the Oregonian newspaper commented that "at some point in [late] 1996, the band fell apart. 'Mic City Sons' was released on a smaller Virgin sister label, Caroline, and slipped into the world quietly." In my opinion, the album really is a lost classic, be it the original version or this Smith-centric version.

This album is 43 minutes long.

01 Get Lucky (Heatmiser)
02 Plainclothes Man (Heatmiser)
03 The Fix Is In (Heatmiser)
04 You Gotta Move (Heatmiser)
05 Pop in G (Heatmiser)
06 See You Later (Heatmiser)
07 Half Right (Heatmiser)
08 I'm Over That Now (Heatmiser)
09 Burned Out, Still Glowing (Heatmiser)
10 Everybody Has It (Heatmiser)
11 Christian Brothers [Rock Version] (Heatmiser)
12 Untitled Instrumental (Heatmiser) 

https://pixeldrain.com/u/gESih8e4

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/RdUa17d8B2tapaI/file

The cover image is almost identical as the original. However, I changed the text at the top from "Heatmiser" to "Elliott Smith & Heatmiser." 

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. 

Elliott Smith - The Steamboat, Austin, TX, 5-3-2003

I was listening to some Elliott Smith music yesterday, and I noticed that I'd never posted this concert from him. So I want to fix that ASAP, since it's an excellent concert. It's the best concert I've heard from 2003, the last year of his life. (He died on October 21, 2003, at the age of 34.) This is a solo acoustic concert.

What makes this concert recording stand out is the sound quality. It's an excellent soundboard bootleg. He was in good form, which wasn't always the case in 2003. He hadn't toured much since 2000, and he was playing a lot of new songs, some of which would end up on his 2004 album, "From a Basement on the Hill." It also ends with a nice cover of "Blackbird" by the Beatles. 

By the way, I've noticed there's a video of this entire concert on YouTube. This isn't sourced from that, though. The video quality isn't that good, but I thought I'd mention it for people who might want to watch it. 

This album is an hour and three minutes long.

01 Happiness (Elliott Smith)
02 Memory Lane (Elliott Smith)
03 Rose Parade (Elliott Smith)
04 Strung Out Again (Elliott Smith)
05 talk (Elliott Smith)
06 Plainclothes Man (Elliott Smith)
07 I Figured You Out (Elliott Smith)
08 St. Ides Heaven (Elliott Smith)
09 A Passing Feeling (Elliott Smith)
10 Division Day (Elliott Smith)
11 talk (Elliott Smith)
12 Between the Bars (Elliott Smith)
13 Twilight (Elliott Smith)
14 I Better Be Quiet Now (Elliott Smith)
15 talk (Elliott Smith)
16 Pretty [Ugly Before] (Elliott Smith)
17 Waltz No. 2 [XO] (Elliott Smith)
18 Satellite (Elliott Smith)
19 talk (Elliott Smith)
20 Coast to Coast (Elliott Smith)
21 Say Yes (Elliott Smith)
22 talk (Elliott Smith)
23 Blackbird (Elliott Smith)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/H56xYJ42

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/hRfx7N2IVC2fHqT/file

The cover image is from a concert at the University of London Union, in London, Britain, on March 30, 2003.

Elliott Smith - Club Congo, Scottsdale, AZ, 1-12-1995

I'm excited to post this album, because it suggests a whole new way to improve sound quality using the powers of new audio editing programs. This is very interesting concert from early in Elliott Smith's solo career. It was recorded surprisingly well, considering it was just taped by someone in the audience. But there was a lot of talking from the audience all through the songs. There was so much that at one point Smith complained about it, asking why so many people would pay to attend a concert and then just talk.

I recently discovered a audio editing program called MVSEP. That stands for "Music and Voice Separation." It has lots of options, and one option I haven't seen with other programs is separating crowd noise from the rest of the music. It's not perfect and doesn't work all of the time, but it does a great job the vast majority of the time. I've been using it a lot on the albums I posted here, for instance removing crowd noise on live tracks that are mixed in with lots of studio tracks. 

So I tried it for this concert. Boy, did it work well! The recording went from a pretty good sounding audience bootleg to soundboard quality. There are very few Elliott Smith soundboards, and this sounds just as good as most of those. I removed nearly all of the crowd noise during the songs (with a couple of brief exceptions), but I kept the applause at the ends of songs the same. Then, during the banter between songs, I increased the volume of Smith's voice and lowered the volume of the audience talking.

As for the music, at this point in his career, Smith had been in the band Heatmiser, but he's only released one solo album in his new, more acoustic style, "Roman Candle," in 1994. This concert is just him in solo acoustic mode. There's only one other concert recording from this early part of his career with this level of sound quality, which was from Portland, Oregon, in September 1994. I would have posted that here, except it's been released in whole as part of a 25th anniversary edition of his 1995 album "Elliott Smith." 

I'd say this one now sounds as good as that one, but most of the songs are different. Only three were played at both: "Some Song," "Condor Ave.," and "No Confidence Man." For this concert, he also played one cover song, "Little Maggie." 

By the way, different dates have been posted for this concert, with most of them claiming December 1, 1994. But the person who taped it recently confirmed it took place on this date, January 12, 1995. 

Like the concert in Portland I mentioned, this one is pretty short, because Smith was only an opening act at the time. Furthermore, the crowd sounds quite small. I'm guessing only a few dozen people were there. So it's great to have another recording of this quality when he was so unknown.

This album is 36 minutes long.

If anyone knows of concert bootlegs that sound great but for lots of crowd noise during the songs, please let me know. I might be able to fix it using this new technique.

01 talk (Elliott Smith)
02 Some Song (Elliott Smith)
03 talk (Elliott Smith)
04 Single File (Elliott Smith)
05 talk (Elliott Smith)
06 No Confidence Man (Elliott Smith)
07 talk (Elliott Smith)
08 Little Maggie (Elliott Smith)
09 talk (Elliott Smith)
10 Needle in the Hay (Elliott Smith)
11 talk (Elliott Smith)
12 Antonio Carlos Jobim (Elliott Smith)
13 talk (Elliott Smith)
14 Last Call (Elliott Smith)
15 talk (Elliott Smith)
16 Condor Ave. (Elliott Smith)
17 talk (Elliott Smith)
18 Clementine (Elliott Smith)
19 talk (Elliott Smith)
20 Roman Candle (Elliott Smith)
21 talk (Elliott Smith)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16224781/ELLITTSMTH1995_ClbCngoScttsdleAZ__1-12-1995_atse.zip.html

I'm not entirely sure, but I think the cover photo is from 1997. I don't know any more about it.

Elliott Smith - Tramps, New York City, 10-4-1998

A few days ago, I posted an album of singer-songwriter Elliott Smith playing at Tramps, a club in New York City, in 1998. This also is an album of Smith playing at Tramps in 1998. But the two concerts are very different, even though they're only about six months apart. The key difference is that first one I posted is a solo acoustic concert whereas this one is with a full band. But also, all but four of the songs are different. So if you're an Elliott Smith fan, I suggest you listen to both.

One similarity between the two shows is that they both have great sound quality, even though they're unreleased. Clearly, someone running the club was making soundboard recordings and keeping them. These two Smith shows haven't gotten around much, but I'm hoping to change that. High sound quality is especially important for band performances, and I don't think you'll find any recordings of Smith's concerts with a band that sound better than this one.

The only problem with this recording was the first song, "Christian Brothers." About the first minute was missing. I found another recording from a concert about a week later, and used that to fill in that missing minute. That's from an audience bootleg, so the sound quality isn't as good. But it's pretty good as audience boots go. 

Regarding the set list, between the Tramps show earlier in the year and this one, Smith's studio album "XO" was released. He'd played a few songs from that in the earlier show, but he played a lot more in this one. In case you're curious, the four songs played in both shows are: "Alameda," "Division Day," "No Name No. 4," and "Waltz No. 2 [XO]." That concert had one cover of a famous song, and this one does also: "When I Paint My Masterpiece" by Bob Dylan. I guess because this was a full-band concert, Smith wanted to keep things moving and thus had almost no banter whatsoever between songs.

This album is 53 minutes long.

01 Christian Brothers [Edit] (Elliott Smith)
02 Waltz No. 2 [XO] (Elliott Smith)
03 Stupidity Tries (Elliott Smith)
04 talk (Elliott Smith)
05 Bottle Up and Explode (Elliott Smith)
06 Baby Britain (Elliott Smith)
07 Sweet Adeline (Elliott Smith)
08 Alameda (Elliott Smith)
09 Bled White (Elliott Smith)
10 Happiness (Elliott Smith)
11 Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands (Elliott Smith)
12 Ballad of Big Nothing (Elliott Smith)
13 Independence Day (Elliott Smith)
14 Good to Go (Elliott Smith)
15 No Name No. 4 (Elliott Smith)
16 I Didn't Understand (Elliott Smith)
17 Division Day (Elliott Smith)
18 talk (Elliott Smith)
19 When I Paint My Masterpiece (Elliott Smith)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15342741/EllittS_1998d_TrmpsNewYrkC_10-4-1998_atse.zip.html

The cover photo was taken at the Reading Festival in Reading, Britain, in August 1998.

Elliott Smith - Tramps, New York City, 4-22-1998

I recently discovered two Elliott Smith soundboard bootlegs that took place at the same New York City venue, Tramps, in the same year, 1998. They're surprising rare bootlegs because their sound quality is excellent. I'm going to post them both, because one is an acoustic performance and the other one is with a full band, plus the vast majority of songs played are different. I'll start by posting this acoustic one first.

There were no problems to speak of with this recording. I did boost the vocals of the banter between songs, but there were only a few instances of banter.

There's not much else to say. If you're familiar with acoustic Elliott Smith, this is prime stuff. I believe the only cover is a version of John Lennon's "Jealous Guy." This concert took place a few months before the release of his "XO" studio album, but includes some songs from it.

This album is 52 minutes long.

01 talk (Elliott Smith)
02 Angeles (Elliott Smith)
03 Division Day (Elliott Smith)
04 Clementine (Elliott Smith)
05 talk (Elliott Smith)
06 Southern Belle (Elliott Smith)
07 Waltz No. 2 [XO] (Elliott Smith)
08 Between the Bars (Elliott Smith)
09 Alameda (Elliott Smith)
10 Oh Well, Okay (Elliott Smith)
11 Rose Parade (Elliott Smith)
12 Pictures of Me (Elliott Smith)
13 Jealous Guy (Elliott Smith)
14 Say Yes (Elliott Smith)
15 St. Ides Heaven (Elliott Smith)
16 talk (Elliott Smith)
17 The Biggest Lie (Elliott Smith)
18 No Name No. 4 (Elliott Smith)
19 Coming Up Roses (Elliott Smith)
20 Some Song [Help Me Kill My Time] (Elliott Smith)
21 No Name No. 3 (Elliott Smith)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15325650/EllittS_1998a_TrmpsNewYrkC__4-22-1998_atse.zip.html

I've posted a zillion album covers of someone standing on a concert stage facing an audience. I came across this picture of the backside of Smith, so I thought I'd post something different for a change. This one comes from a concert in Belgium in August 1998.

Elliott Smith - Bumbershoot Festival, KeyArena, Seattle, WA, 9-2-2000

When it comes to Elliott Smith live recordings, there are a great many, but the vast majority are audience bootlegs with variable sound quality. That's especially the case for shows when he played with a band, because it's harder to get a listenable recording than if it's a solo acoustic performance. So I was very pleased to recently come across this concert of Smith playing with a small band. It was professionally recorded in order to be broadcast over the Internet at the time, so the sound quality is really excellent. Plus, Smith was a troubled soul who could have good days and bad days, but he had his act together here.

All of the songs are with his band except the last four. I'm guessed he played all the songs the band knew, then wanted to do a few more.

There's not much else to say, since there were no problems to fix. If you enjoy his music, you should definitely give this a listen.

This album in an hour and six minutes long.

01 talk (Elliott Smith)
02 Needle in the Hay (Elliott Smith)
03 Bled White (Elliott Smith)
04 Stupidity Tries (Elliott Smith)
05 Coming Up Roses (Elliott Smith)
06 Waltz No. 2 [XO] (Elliott Smith)
07 Everything Means Nothing to Me (Elliott Smith)
08 Clementine (Elliott Smith)
09 talk (Elliott Smith)
10 Son of Sam (Elliott Smith)
11 LA (Elliott Smith)
12 Amity (Elliott Smith)
13 Ballad of Big Nothing (Elliott Smith)
14 Cupid's Trick (Elliott Smith)
15 St. Ides Heaven (Elliott Smith)
16 Junk Bond Trader (Elliott Smith)
17 Division Day (Elliott Smith)
18 Christian Brothers (Elliott Smith)
19 talk (Elliott Smith)
20 Angeles (Elliott Smith)
21 Fond Farewell (Elliott Smith)
22 Alameda (Elliott Smith)
23 Say Yes (Elliott Smith)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15835445/EllittS_2000_BumbrshootFestivlKeyArenaSeattlWA__9-2-2000_atse.zip.html

The cover is a screenshot taken from this exact concert.

Elliott Smith - Live Cover Versions, 1998-2003

I've posted a lot of acoustic music by Elliott Smith, but not much featuring him fronting a band. This is all Smith with a full band, performing cover versions in concert.

Unfortunately, there aren't that many songs compared to his acoustic stuff, so I only have one album's worth to present. I think that's because it's relatively easy for someone like Smith to play a song with just his acoustic guitar. But when there's a full band, there has to be a lot of practice to get things right. Take for instance his cover of "Don't Fear the Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult (the song of "More cowbell!" fame). I'm amazed he did the song at all, because it has a rocking yet intricate arrangement.

Also unfortunately, the sound quality is not that great for many songs here. All the songs here are officially unreleased. Smith only played some of these songs once or twice in concert, and we're lucky to have any bootlegs of them at all. At least the sound quality is clear for all the songs. But most of them are from audience recordings, and on some of them you can clearly hear people talking through the song. "Ballad of a Thin Man" is an example of this. However, the performance is so compelling that I think it's more than worth putting up with that.

Here are who did the originals:

01 I'm So Tired - Beatles
02 Stroke It Noel - Big Star
03 Ballad of a Thin Man - Bob Dylan
04 When I Paint My Masterpiece - Bob Dylan
05 I Me Mine - Beatles
06 Care of Cell 44 - Zombies
07 Don't Fear the Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult
08 Yer Blues - Beatles
09 My Sweet Lord - George Harrison
10 Supersonic - Oasis
11 Car - Built to Spill
12 Do It Again - Kinks
13 Dead End Street - Kinks
14 Big Sky - Kinks

As you can see, Smith largely plays songs from the musical giants that came before him. It's interesting that he does an Oasis cover though. He got a lot of flack for playing that song in concert several times, even getting booed some. But I applaud him for seeing Oasis' talent, despite a certain hipster segment of his fan base thinking that's "uncool."

01 I'm So Tired (Elliott Smith)
02 Stroke It Noel (Elliott Smith)
03 Ballad of a Thin Man (Elliott Smith)
04 When I Paint My Masterpiece (Elliott Smith)
05 I Me Mine (Elliott Smith)
06 Care of Cell 44 (Elliott Smith)
07 Don't Fear the Reaper (Elliott Smith)
08 Yer Blues (Elliott Smith)
09 My Sweet Lord (Elliott Smith with Grandaddy)
10 Supersonic (Elliott Smith)
11 Car (Elliott Smith)
12 Do It Again (Elliott Smith)
13 Dead End Street (Elliott Smith)
14 Big Sky (Elliott Smith)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15835440/EllittS_1998-2003_LiveCovrVrsions_atse.zip.html

The cover art photo is of Smith playing at the Leeds Festival in 1998.

Elliott Smith - Live Acoustic Cover Versions, Volume 2, 1999-2003

A couple of weeks ago, I posted an album of Elliott Smith doing acoustic cover versions in concert. That dealt with the years 1997 to 1999. This one takes care of the rest of his all-too-brief career, from 1999 to 2003.

Here are the original artists for each song:

01 These Days - Nico / Jackson Browne
02 Chelsea Girls - Nico
03 Trouble - Jon Brion
04 Nighttime - Big Star
05 Little Maggie - traditional / Bob Dylan
06 Moonshiner - traditional / Bob Dylan
07 Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain - Willie Nelson
08 Friends - Led Zeppelin
09 Give Me Love [Give Me Peace on Earth] - George Harrison
10 Out on the Weekend - Neil Young
11 Long, Long, Long - Beatles
12 Blackbird - Beatles
13 Golden Street - Minders
14 Hooray for Tuesday - Minders

Generally speaking, Smith plays songs from artists who are widely considered musical giants. The exception to that are the two songs by the Minders. The reason for that is because Smith was on the same concert bill with the Minders many times during this time period, and he presumably liked their music.

All the songs are officially unreleased. The sound quality varies. Many of the songs were only played in concert once or twice, so we're lucky to get any bootleg recording at all. That means most of these are audience boots, not from soundboards. But that's not so important for acoustic performances, like these. It's much trickier to record a full band properly. If any of these songs sounded poor I would demote them to bonus tracks, but I didn't need to do that.

Although I don't have any more albums of Smith's live acoustic covers to present, I do have an album of Smith performing covers live with a band. I'll post that soon.

01 These Days (Elliott Smith)
02 Chelsea Girls (Elliott Smith)
03 Trouble (Elliott Smith)
04 Nighttime (Elliott Smith)
05 Little Maggie (Elliott Smith)
06 Moonshiner (Elliott Smith)
07 Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain (Elliott Smith)
08 Friends (Elliott Smith)
09 Give Me Love [Give Me Peace on Earth] (Elliott Smith)
10 Out on the Weekend (Elliott Smith)
11 Long, Long, Long (Elliott Smith)
12 Blackbird (Elliott Smith)
13 Golden Street (Elliott Smith)
14 Hooray for Tuesday (Elliott Smith)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15835535/EllittS_1999-2003_LiveAcoustcCoverVrsionsVolume2_atse.zip.html

The photo of Smith in the album cover is from London in 2003.

Elliott Smith - Live Acoustic Cover Versions, Volume 1, 1997-1999

Isaac Newton once said: "If I have seen father, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." One reason I think Elliott Smith was so great was because he was inspired by some of the best musical giants who came before him.

This album illustrates that point very well. All the songs here are cover versions, done acoustically in concert. I generally removed the audience noise at the end of songs. Only two performances here have been officially released, but the sound quality is generally very good. The one exception to that is "Oh Sister," a Bob Dylan song, which is hissy. So I made that a bonus track.

Here are the original artists for the other songs:

Waterloo Sunset - Kinks
Thirteen - Big Star
They'll Never Take Her Love from Me - Hank Williams
For No One - Beatles
Walk Away Renee - Left Banke
Set Me Free - Kinks
Lost Highway - Hank Williams
All My Rowdy Friends [Have Settled Down] - Hank Williams, Jr.
Clouds - Quasi
Care of Cell 44 - Zombies
Jealous Guy - John Lennon
Isn't It a Pity - George Harrison
Harvest Moon - Neil Young

Smith did so many live acoustic cover versions that I have a sequel album covering the other years of his career. I also have an album of live cover versions done with a full band.

01 Waterloo Sunset (Elliott Smith)
02 Thirteen (Elliott Smith)
03 They'll Never Take Her Love from Me (Elliott Smith)
04 For No One (Elliott Smith)
05 Walk Away Renee (Elliott Smith)
06 Set Me Free (Elliott Smith)
07 Lost Highway (Elliott Smith)
08 All My Rowdy Friends [Have Settled Down] (Elliott Smith)
09 Clouds (Elliott Smith)
10 Care of Cell 44 (Elliott Smith)
11 Jealous Guy (Elliott Smith)
12 Isn't It a Pity (Elliott Smith)
13 Harvest Moon (Elliott Smith)

Oh Sister (Elliott Smith)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15175052/EllittS_1997-1999_LiveAcoustcCoverVrsionsVolume1_atse.zip.html

For the album cover, I used a photo of Smith from 1998.

Elliott Smith - Acoustic Versions, Volume 3, 2000-2003

Here's another album from Elliott Smith. I've already posted two albums of his songs stripped down to acoustic versions; this one is the third. It also, sadly, is the last, due to his untimely death in 2003. Of course, Smith's music was acoustic=based to begin with, but this strips things down even more, usually to just him and his acoustic guitar.

If you like Smith's music, you should definitely like this one. All the songs here are officially unreleased. Only the first three weren't performed in front of an audience. But the vast majority of these come from soundboard bootlegs, so the sound quality is fine. As I often do, I've removed the audience noise so all the songs are consistent in sounding they were done in a studio.

I've already posted another series of albums containing Smith's stray tracks. Many of the songs here are officially unreleased in any form as well, since not much has come out yet from the last three years of his life. But any such song is also on my stray tracks series, but those are different performances.

Note that all the songs here are Smith originals. I have some other albums I'll be posting later that deal with the many cover songs he did.

01 Independence Day (Elliott Smith)
02 Bottle Up and Explode (Elliott Smith)
03 Everything Means Nothing to Me (Elliott Smith)
04 Pretty Mary K (Elliott Smith)
05 Dancing on the Highway (Elliott Smith)
06 Little One (Elliott Smith)
07 True Love (Elliott Smith)
08 Let's Get Lost (Elliott Smith)
09 A Passing Feeling (Elliott Smith)
10 A Fond Farewell (Elliott Smith)
11 Strung Out Again (Elliott Smith)
12 Twilight (Elliott Smith)
13 Brand New Game (Elliott Smith)
14 Shooting Star (Elliott Smith)
15 Pretty [Ugly Before] (Elliott Smith)
16 The Enemy Is You (Elliott Smith)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15260127/EllittS_2000-2003_AcoustcVersionsVolme3_atse.zip.html

For the cover art, I used a photo of Smith in concert in 2003. I took the lettering of his name from a bootleg.

Elliott Smith - Acoustic Versions, Volume 2, 1999

I've posted an album of Elliott Smith playing acoustic versions of some of his best songs, from 1996 to 1998. This is the second album in that series, just covering the year 1999.

Smith didn't release a studio album in 1999. But that was the year after his album "XO," and the year before his album "Figure 8." This album mostly contains acoustic versions of songs from those two albums. This first six songs come from an performance at a Seattle radio station. The rest are from concerts, but with the audience noise removed. However, these aren't from iffy sounding audience bootlegs. The sound quality is excellent throughout, probably all from soundboard recordings.

As with the previous volume in this series, there are no cover versions here, because I'll be posting those on a separate album series.

01 Happiness (Elliott Smith)
02 Son of Sam (Elliott Smith)
03 Baby Britain (Elliott Smith)
04 Everything Reminds Me of Her (Elliott Smith)
05 Rose Parade (Elliott Smith)
06 Waltz No. 2 [XO] (Elliott Smith)
07 Sorry My Mistake (Elliott Smith)
08 Half Right (Elliott Smith)
09 Stupidity Tries (Elliott Smith)
10 Easy Way Out (Elliott Smith)
11 See You Later (Elliott Smith)
12 Wouldn't Mama Be Proud (Elliott Smith)
13 Can't Make a Sound (Elliott Smith)
14 King's Crossing (Elliott Smith)
15 L.A. (Elliott Smith)
16 Color Bars (Elliott Smith)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16375926/ELLITTSMTH1999AcustcVrsionsVlume2_atse.zip.html

For the cover art, I found the cover of an Elliott Smith bootleg that I liked. But I replaced the text in the lower half. I also swapped the photo in the middle to one of Smith in concert in 1999.

Elliott Smith - Acoustic Versions, Volume 1: 1996-1998

I've posted six albums of Elliott Smith stray tracks. That's all I have in terms of original songs that didn't go on any of his studio albums of the time. But I have a lot of other material of his to post.

Such as this album. If you've been following this blog, you've probably noticed I have a special affinity for acoustic music. Smith's music was usually acoustic-based to begin with. But this album strips him down to the bone, usually just him and an acoustic guitar. This is the first of three albums I have like this. They're split according to chronological order.

Eleven of the 18 songs here were done in the studio. A few are recording session outtakes, but most are from in-person appearances at radio stations. The remaining seven songs were done in concert. But the recordings are so excellent that you can hardly tell the difference. Nearly all the songs here are unreleased, but of the seven done live, four of those have been officially released, and their sound is outstanding.

Thus, what you get is essentially Smith playing his best songs from his early years in a solo acoustic style, as if he was playing in your living room. All his best known songs from 1996 to 1998 are here. I was careful to keep digging until I found excellent versions of all the biggies. If there are some that are missing, they're probably on the next album in this series, as that has a few songs from his 1998 album "XO" on it.

01 Between the Bars (Elliott Smith)
02 Pretty Mary K [Other Version] (Elliott Smith)
03 Bottle Up and Explode [Piano Version] (Elliott Smith)
04 Antonio Carlos Jobim (Elliott Smith)
05 Say Yes (Elliott Smith)
06 The Morning After (Elliott Smith)
07 Division Day (Elliott Smith)
08 The Biggest Lie (Elliott Smith)
09 2;45 AM (Elliott Smith)
10 Alameda (Elliott Smith)
11 Pictures of Me (Elliott Smith)
12 Angeles (Elliott Smith)
13 Some Song (Elliott Smith)
14 Bled White (Elliott Smith)
15 Clementine (Elliott Smith)
16 Sweet Adeline (Elliott Smith)
17 Miss Misery [Piano Version] (Elliott Smith)
18 I Didn't Understand [Piano Version] (Elliott Smith)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16375925/ELLITTSMTH1996-1998AcustcVrsonsVlume1_atse.zip.html

The cover art comes from a concert poster. I'm not sure what year it's from, since I believe it's from an annual Portland event called the Rose Parade. I replaced some text between the legs with the album title.

Elliott Smith - Trouble - Non-Album Tracks (2002-2003)

Finally! This is the sixth and last of the stray tracks albums I've put together for Elliott Smith. He has seven official studio albums (if you include "New Moon"), so six of these albums means he has nearly as many songs that didn't come out on album as those that did. And that's not including whatever stuff that still remains in the vaults and has never been bootlegged.

This album covers the last two years of his life, 2002 and 2003. I'm not sure if Smith died by murder or suicide (the official verdict remains unresolved), but he clearly had some particularly troubled final years, especially 2001 and 2002. However, he reported quit all drugs altogether for most of 2003, and was more musically active, which makes his death that much more tragic.

As I've mentioned elsewhere, Smith's career has been split between two record companies. The company with the rights to his music through 1997 has released a lot of previously unreleased material, but the one that has the rights to the rest of his music has not. So nearly all of the songs here remain officially unreleased.

Three of the songs are covers: "I'll Be Back," "Trouble," and "Concrete Jungle."

Although this is the end of my series of Smith stray tracks albums, I have a bunch of other albums by him that I plan to post here. Some of them are all-acoustic versions of his songs, and others are cover versions that he only did in concert.

01 Mr. Goodmorning (Elliott Smith)
02 Kill-Fuck [Instrumental] (Elliott Smith)
03 Everything's OK (Elliott Smith)
04 Something to Lose (Elliott Smith)
05 Stickman [Acoustic Version] (Elliott Smith)
06 See You in Heaven [Instrumental] (Elliott Smith)
07 I'll Be Back (Elliott Smith)
08 A Distorted Reality Is Now a Necessity to Be Free [Single Version] (Elliott Smith)
09 Trouble (Elliott Smith)
10 Suicide Machine (Elliott Smith)
11 Concrete Jungle (Elliott Smith)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16687963/ELLITTSMTH2002-2003_Trble_atse.zip.html

For the cover art, I used part of a concert poster from 2000. I resized Smith's name vertically to make it fit, and added in "Trouble" to the angle and devil robot talk bubbles.

Elliott Smith - Dancing on the Highway - Non-Album Tracks (2000-2001)

My series of Elliott Smith stray tracks albums continues. This one covers 2000 to 2001.

Once again, note just how many non-album songs Smith has. Nine of the 14 songs here still remain officially unreleased. Of the remaining five, two are from B-sides and the others are from obscure sources. All but three of the 14 songs are originals - the covers are "Figure 8," "Waterloo Sunset," and "Jealous Guy."

Most of the songs have excellent sound because they come from studio recordings (even though many come from bootlegs). Two are very songs that were only played rarely in concert: "Confusion" and "Blue Mood." The sound on those two are a little worse than the others, because they come from audience bootlegs instead of soundboards.

I have one more stray tracks album covering thee last two years of his life. But after that, I have a bunch of other nice albums of Smith rarities to share.

01 A Living Will (Elliott Smith)
02 Figure 8 (Elliott Smith)
03 Nighttime (Elliott Smith)
04 I Can't Answer You Anymore (Elliott Smith)
05 Confusion (Elliott Smith)
06 No Life (Elliott Smith)
07 Dancing on the Highway (Elliott Smith)
08 Let's Turn the Record Over (Elliott Smith)
09 Waterloo Sunset (Elliott Smith)
10 Jealous Guy (Elliott Smith)
11 Don't Go Down [Acoustic Version] (Elliott Smith)
12 Blue Mood (Elliott Smith)
13 Splitzville (Elliott Smith)
14 True Love (Elliott Smith)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15328319/EllittS_2000-2001_DancngonHighwy_atse.zip.html

I made the cover from a Smith concert poster.

Elliott Smith - Sorry My Mistake - Non-Album Tracks (1998-1999)

Here's the next in my series of stray tracks albums for Elliott Smith.

This covers 1998 and 1999. From the start of his solo career through 1997, Smith was signed with a record company that, in retrospect, has released a lot of his material that went unreleased at the time, especially with the "New Moon" album. But from 1998 to the end of his career, it's been the opposite, with basically nothing else released since 2004. So that means there are a lot of excellent unreleased tracks here.

Smith was the kind of performer who wasn't afraid to play unreleased songs in concert. But only two songs here come from live shows. The rest are from B-sides or studio outtakes that somehow got bootlegged. Plus, there's a cover of a Beatles song ("Because") from a movie soundtrack.

By the way, the song "Some (Rock) Song" is the same song as "Some Song," which I put on the "Angels in the Snow" album. But it has a slightly different title due to this being the full band, rocking version.

This album is 35 minutes long.

01 How to Take a Fall (Elliott Smith)
02 Our Thing [Instrumental] (Elliott Smith)
03 Some [Rock] Song (Elliott Smith)
04 Brand New Game (Elliott Smith)
05 Cecilia-Amanda (Elliott Smith)
06 Grand Mal (Elliott Smith)
07 Taking a Fall (Elliott Smith)
08 Because (Elliott Smith)
09 Stained Glass Eyes (Elliott Smith)
10 Confidence Artist (Elliott Smith)
11 Flowers for Charlie (Elliott Smith)
12 Place Pigalle (Elliott Smith)
13 Sorry My Mistake [Edit] (Elliott Smith)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15260109/EllittS_1998-1999_SrryMyMistke_atse.zip.html

I made the cover from part of a 1999 Smith concert poster.

Elliott Smith - Miss Misery - Non-Album Tracks (1997)

Here's the next Elliott Smith stray tracks album to help you understand the method to my madness of splitting the "New Moon" official compilation up.

Two of the songs from that compilation were recorded in 1997 (with the rest from 1995 or 1996), so I've put those here, with all the other stray tracks from 1997. I'm sure when he recorded those he had no idea they would be singled out and lumped in with a bunch of earlier songs. It makes a lot more sense to be to organize things chronologically instead of the random whim of record company executives years after Smith died.

It so happens the number of stray tracks in 1997 is relatively small, so this album is only 30 minutes long. But the songs on it are strong, which should be no surprise since it's the same year he released "Either-Or," widely acclaimed as one of his best albums, and on some best albums of all time lists.

1997 was also the year Smith hit the big time, due to some of his songs appearing in the "Good Will Hunting" movie. One of the songs from that movie, "Miss Misery," didn't appear on "Either-Or," but did win Smith a Grammy Award! So it seemed fitting for me to name this album after that song, which of course is included here.

"Bottle Up and Explode" would appear on his next album, "XO." But this version is significantly different, and it's one of my favorite Smith songs, so I had to include it.

01 Miss Misery (Elliott Smith)
02 Division Day (Elliott Smith)
03 No Name No. 6 [This Time We Can't Lose] (Elliott Smith)
04 All Cleaned Out (Elliott Smith)
05 First Timer (Elliott Smith)
06 Bottle Up and Explode [Alternate Version] (Elliott Smith)
07 Punch and Judy [Other Version] (Elliott Smith)
08 The Enemy Is You (Elliott Smith)
09 Misery Let Me Down (Elliott Smith)
10 Unlucky Charm (Elliott Smith)
11 My New Freedom (Elliott Smith)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16522891/ELLITTSMTH1997MssMisry_atse.zip.html

For the cover art, I used a photo of Smith playing "Miss Misery" at the Grammy Awards ceremony.

Elliott Smith - New Moon - Alternate Version (1996)

Normally, I'm against posting officially released albums. We'll get less good music released if record companies aren't making money. However, I'm making an exception in this case because Elliott Smith's double album "New Moon" works better if it's broken up into chunks.

I'm more interested in gathering songs that fit together due to chronology or musical theme or the like. "New Moon" is kind of too much of a good thing. It gathers up all the unreleased songs covering the time Smith was signed to a particular record company, from 1995 to 1997. Smith's music evolved during that time, so it makes more sense to be to sort the music by year. I've already posted the 1995 stuff, together with some other songs he did from then, here:

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2018/10/elliott-smith-angel-in-snow-various.html

This album covers all the "New Moon" songs just from 1996. But Smith was so prolific that year that I made an entire album of other stray tracks from 1996, here:

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2018/10/elliott-smith-i-figured-you-out-various.html

Then I'm putting the rest of the "New Moon" songs on a stray tracks album cover 1997. You can find that here:

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2018/11/elliott-smith-miss-misery-various-songs.html

So that's the reasoning. As for the content, the songs that remained unreleased until after his death are generally as good as the ones that were released when he was alive. That's the case here. But Smith is pretty emotionally powerful music, so I think it's better appreciated in limited doses of a normal album length, which is roughly 45 minutes. Remarkably, this album is 44 minutes and 59 seconds long1 ;)

01 New Monkey (Elliott Smith)
02 Looking Over My Shoulder (Elliott Smith)
03 Going Nowhere (Elliott Smith)
04 Go By (Elliott Smith)
05 Thirteen (Elliott Smith)
06 Placeholder (Elliott Smith)
07 New Disaster (Elliott Smith)
08 Seen How Things Are Hard (Elliott Smith)
09 Fear City (Elliott Smith)
10 Either-Or (Elliott Smith)
11 Pretty Mary K [Other Version] [Early Version of Everything's OK] (Elliott Smith)
12 Almost Over (Elliott Smith)
13 See You Later (Elliott Smith)
14 Half Right (Elliott Smith)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16375924/ELLITTSMTH1996NwMonAltrnte_atse.zip.html

The album cover is just the same as the official one.

Elliott Smith - I Figured You Out - Non-Album Tracks (1996)

Here's the next stray tracks Elliott Smith album.

As I said with the last Smith posting, I'm not a big fan of his work as part of the band Heatmiser in general. But his songs gradually improved within that band. In 1994 and 1995 he put out two acclaimed acoustic solo albums. So by the time the band's last album came out in 1996, "Mic City Sons," his songs on it were less the loud grunge rock typical of the time that didn't suit him. They were more influenced by his new acoustic style, although some of them were still definitely rocking.

As I result, I've included all but one of the songs he wrote on "Mic City Sons," plus an A-side, after including almost nothing from Heatmiser on the previous stray tracks album. One can tell Smith was happier with this last batch of Heatmiser songs because he played most of them in concert as a solo artist while pretty much giving up on nearly all of his earlier Heatmiser songs.

The rest of the songs on this album are Elliott Smith solo songs from a variety of sources, generally just him and his guitar.

You may note that I didn't include any songs from "New Moon" after including a bunch last time. That's because my next posting here will be an entire album of songs from that source, all from 1996. As I said previously, I think the songs from that album are better served if they're broken up into chunks based on the years they were recorded.

01 Plainclothes Man (Heatmiser)
02 Get Lucky (Heatmiser)
03 The Fix Is In (Heatmiser)
04 You Gotta Move (Heatmiser)
05 Half Right (Heatmiser)
06 Everybody Has It (Heatmiser)
07 You Make It Seem like Nothing (Elliott Smith)
08 I Figured You Out (Elliott Smith)
09 The Real Estate [Solo Version] (Elliott Smith)
10 I Don't Think I'm Ever Gonna Figure It Out (Elliott Smith)
11 Coast to Coast [Early Version] (Elliott Smith)
12 Plainclothes Man [Solo Version] (Elliott Smith)
13 Abused (Elliott Smith)
14 Burned Out, Still Glowing (Elliott Smith)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15175129/EllittS_1996_I_FigurdYouOut_atse.zip.html

I made the cover art from a photo of Smith in concert in 1996.

Elliott Smith - Angel in the Snow - Non-Album Tracks (1983-1995)

I've been on a big Elliott Smith kick in recent days, so I'm going to start posting some of his music, even though I already have a ton of other artists I've started dealing with and haven't finished off. I'll get to all of them in time, I promise. Smith was a musical genius. I've got a lot of his stuff to post because he left all sorts of quality songs off his official albums.

As I usually do, I want to start at the beginning and move forward chronologically. One might think of this as a 35 minute album covering his stray tracks from 1993 to 1995, plus four songs at the start of the album, from six to ten years earlier. Those first four songs are kind of juvenilia - Smith was only 14 at the time of the first one, and he was still finding his style and his voice. Heck, he wasn't even Elliott Smith yet, as he was still going by his birth name "Steve Smith." But they're all good songs, so I've included them.

As for the rest of the album, by 1993, Smith was living in Portland and was in a loud "alt. rock" band called Heatmiser. He wrote and sang about half of their songs. Unfortunately, most of their music wasn't very good. And that's not just my opinion - Smith himself felt the same way, calling his singing on their early albums as "embarrassing" and his songs with the band "loud rock songs with no dynamic." Here's a longer quote from him about his time in the band:

"I was being a total actor, acting out a role I didn't even like. I couldn't come out and show where I was coming from. I was always disguised in this loud rock band. [In the beginning] we all got together, everyone wanted to play in a band and it was fun, then after a couple of years we realized that none of us really liked this kind of music, and that we didn't have to play this way. You didn't have to turn all these songs you wrote into these loud... things."

Heatmiser put out two albums and an EP in the time period covered by this compilation, but I've only chosen to include one song from any of that. However, they did put out a final album in 1996, "Mic City Sons," that's much better. I'll include a bunch of Smith's songs from that on my next stray tracks album. Also, some of the Heatmiser songs will reappear on later stray track albums done in Smith's more fitting acoustic style.

Smith also released his first two solo albums in this time frame, "Roman Candle" in 1994 and "Elliott Smith" in 1995. I'm not including any songs from either of those, because any Smith fan should have them already. But there is an official album that I am using: "New Moon." That's an archival double album released four years after Smith died. All the songs on it are good, but I don't think it hangs well as an album, since it covers four years of his career, and the only reason those songs were packaged together is because those were the years he was signed to a particular record company. Instead, I've divided the songs on that album into the different years they were recorded. The first chunk appears here.

01 Untitled Guitar Finger Picking [Instrumental] (Elliott Smith)
02 I Love My Room (Elliott Smith)
03 The Machine (Stranger than Fiction)
04 The Real Estate (Stranger than Fiction)
05 Where I Get It From (Elliott Smith)
06 Antonio Carlos Jobim (Heatmiser)
07 No Confidence Man (Elliott Smith)
08 Crazy Fucker [Another Standard Folk Song] (Elliott Smith)
09 Angel in the Snow (Elliott Smith)
10 High Times (Elliott Smith)
11 Riot Coming (Elliott Smith)
12 Georgia, Georgia (Elliott Smith)
13 Whatever [Folk Song in C] (Elliott Smith)
14 Big Decision (Elliott Smith)
15 Talking to Mary (Elliott Smith)
16 Some Song (Elliott Smith)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15328236/EllittS_1983-1995_AnglinSnw_atse.zip.html

I made the cover art from a photo of Smith playing in concert in 1995.