Mike's post about Elliot Smith reminded me of a tendency I have when I really love an album. I've loved Elliot Smith's 1997 album Either/Or, and I agree with Mike's assessment of his vocals, but what really struck me was his amazing and subtle guitar playing. Tracks like "Angeles" inspired me to pick up the acoustic guitar. I mean, Death Cab's "I Will Follow You Into The Dark" is a great song I think, but my first thought upon hearing it was that it sounds like Elliot Smith. That wasn't what I wanted to talk about though.
The thing is, as much as I loved Either/Or, I could never bring myself to listen to any of his other albums. It's a weird and completely irrational fear I have (I have a lot of those): Some albums are so good that I can't listen to any other albums by the same artist, for fear that a later album won't be as good, and its poor quality will somehow taint the good album. It's completely ridiculous, I know, if one album is good, chances are that they'll make more good music. Sometimes I get over it, like with Left And Leaving or I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning, and I don't regret it, but I always find myself favouring my original favourite. And Sometimes, like with Elliot Smith, I've never been able to make a serious effort to explore the rest of their catalog.
Call me crazy, but really, what am I if not a loose collection of my many eccentricities ?
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2 comments:
"i will follow you into the dark" was on death cab's most recent album ( i think ), so there's a good case for listening to new stuff from bands?
You're talking recent chronologically, I mean recent autobiographically. "New to me", in other words. And Plans was the first Death Cab record that I was into.
Also, I realize that listen to new stuff is a good idea, I'm just saying it's a bad habit of mine.
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