"Between the Bars" by Elliott Smith

Portland/Olympia label Kill Rock Stars releases "An Introduction to... Elliott Smith" Nov. 2.

How do we feel about this?

Smith's wasn't an easy death in 2003 — the former Portland resident was ripped from the world by knife wounds to the chest in his Los Angeles apartment. With his indoor-voiced, immaculately composed/arranged pop songs already sacred in the Pacific Northwest while he was alive, and his early/mid-period classic album run — "Roman Candle," "Elliott Smith," "Either/Or" — practically defining the word "haunting," it's safe to say legion regional indie rock fans never got over his passing.

Granted, "closure for superfans" is not why greatest hits collections exist, and that's what "An Introduction to..." essentially is.

But for the great numbers of them in the Seattle area, there might be something strange about seeing this particular collection of Smith's angry/sad/comforting songs for the first time. The title, concept, and seemingly arbitrary tracklist are all so formal and final.

This can't be right. Didn't he die, like, yesterday?

Kill Rock Stars promo copy:

On November 2nd Kill Rock Stars will release An Introduction to... Elliott Smith on CD and 180 gram vinyl. This album features fourteen tracks compiled from all seven of Elliott Smith's albums: Roman Candle, Elliott Smith, Either/Or, XO, Figure 8, From A Basement on the Hill, and New Moon. An Introduction to... is, as the title suggests, intended as an introduction to one of the greatest songwriters of our era. We hope this will enable new generations to learn about Elliott's music by providing a pathway for people to delve more deeply into his immensely satisfying catalog.

Track Listing:

1 Ballad of Big Nothing - from Either/Or
2. Waltz #2 - from XO
3. Pictures of Me - from Either/Or
4. The Biggest Lie - from Elliott Smith
5. Alameda - from Either/Or
6. Between The Bars - from Either/Or
7. Needle In The Hay - from Elliott Smith
8. Last Call - from Roman Candle
9. Angeles - from Either/Or
10. Twilight - from From a Basement on the Hill
11.Pretty (Ugly Before) - from From a Basement on the Hill
12. Angel In the Snow - from New Moon
13. Miss Misery (early version) - from New Moon
14. Happiness (single version) - from Figure 8

Elliott Smith was born Steven Paul Smith in Omaha, Nebraska on August 6, 1969. His father Gary Smith was in medical school at the University of Nebraska, and his mother Bunny was an elementary school teacher. When Elliott was one year old his parents divorced, and he moved with his mother to Dallas, Texas. That same year, his father was drafted, assigned to the U.S. Air Force, and sent to the Philippines as a physician. By the time Elliott was 5, both his father and mother had remarried and his father and stepmother moved to Portland, Oregon. From the age of four to thirteen, Elliott lived with his mother, stepfather and two half- siblings in Duncanville, TX (a suburb of Dallas). At fourteen, Elliott moved to Portland, Oregon to live with his father, stepmother, and two half-sisters. Elliott started to write and record songs at home in Portland on a four-track recorder. He attended Lincoln High School and graduated in 1987 as a National Merit finalist. While in high school he formed his first band, Strange than Fiction. Elliott attended Hampshire College in Massachusetts and graduated in 1991 with a major in political philosophy. He then moved back to Portland and formed the band Heatmiser along with Neil Gust, his friend and fellow-musician from Hampshire College. Elliott released his first solo album, Roman Candle (Cavity Search), in 1994. He followed with the self-titled Elliott Smith (1995) and Either/ Or (1997), both issued on the independent label Kill Rock Stars. He also recorded three albums with Heatmiser in the early '90s: Dead Air and Cop and Speeder (both on Frontier) and Mic City Sons (Virgin/Caroline). In 1997 director and Portland resident Gus Van Sant used some of his songs in the film Good Will Hunting (Van Sant had been a friend and fan of Smith's since hearing Roman Candle). One of those, "Miss Misery," went on to earn an Academy Award nomination for Best Song in a Motion Picture. Elliott performed "Miss Misery" on the Academy Awards telecast March 23, 1998. Elliott signed a contract with DreamWorks Records in 1998 and quickly released XO, his fourth solo album. That same year his cover of The Beatles "Because" was the end-credit song for the Academy Award winning film American Beauty. In 2000, Smith released his fifth solo album, Figure 8, to much critical acclaim. After the release of Figure 8 and subsequent touring in support of the record, Smith concentrated on writing and reworking more songs, many of which made up From a Basement on The Hill, which was released posthumously on Anti Records in October of 2004. Before his death on October 21, 2003, Elliott had realized his long time dream of building his own recording studio, New Monkey, located in Van Nuys, California. Kill Rock Stars released New Moon, in May 2007. New Moon is a double-CD collection of 24 songs recorded from 1994-97, during the period of the release of the self-titled album and Either/Or. KRS also reissued both Roman Candle and From a Basement on the Hill in April 2010, placing all of Elliott's independent catalog onto one label.