Saturday, November 3, 2018

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.imagenetz.de/j5Eoa

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

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