Maps of Music

Either/Or (1997)

Where the lyrics of Either/Or take you, and where it was really made.

This album never charted in the US, yet it became Elliott Smith's best-selling release, with 429,000 copies sold in the United States.

Key places

Portland recording sites (1997)

Recording site Bob Ludwig's studio, Portland, Maine — Most of Either/Or was recorded in several Portland, Oregon locations, including Joanna Bolme's house, Smith's own house, Undercover, Inc., Laundry Rules Recording and the Heatmiser House. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

The Shop in Arcata (1997)

Recording site The Shop — One of the album's recording locations was The Shop in Arcata, California, located outside Portland. The point is placed at the city center. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Either/Or is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Elliott Smith
• Released 25 February 1997 on the Kill Rock Stars label, following the dissolution of Smith's band Heatmiser
• Promoted with two singles, "Speed Trials" and "Ballad of Big Nothing"
• Did not chart in the US
• Acclaimed by critics

Background

• Recorded sometime between 1995 and 1996, while Smith was still a member of Heatmiser
• Produced by Smith, Tom Rothrock and Rob Schnapf
• First single "Speed Trials" released on 1 October 1996
• Second and final single "Ballad of Big Nothing" released on 29 June 1998
• Early in 1998 Smith performed his song "Miss Misery" at the Academy Awards, which briefly brought him international attention
• Afterwards Smith was signed to the major label DreamWorks and began work on his fourth studio album, XO

Recording

• Recorded in several locations, mostly in Portland, Oregon
• Locations include Joanna Bolme's house, Smith's own house, Undercover, Inc., Laundry Rules Recording and the Heatmiser House
• The Shop in Arcata, California was also used

Cover

• Front cover photography by Debbie Pastor
• Back cover photography by Joanna Bolme

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Steven Paul Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003), known as Elliott Smith, was an American musician and singer-songwriter.
• Raised primarily in Texas; lived much of his life in Portland, Oregon, where he gained popularity in the 1990s.
• Began playing piano at age nine and guitar at ten; at fourteen moved to Portland to live with his father.
• Took the name "Elliott" after high school; graduated from Hampshire College in 1991 with a philosophy and political science degree.

Members

• Formed the band Heatmiser with classmate Neil Gust while at Hampshire College; the band performed in Portland from 1992.
• Heatmiser released Dead Air (1993), Cop and Speeder (1994), and Mic City Sons (1996) before disbanding.

Career

• Began a solo career in 1994 with Roman Candle on Cavity Search Records, then released albums on Kill Rock Stars (Elliott Smith, Either/Or).
• Signed with DreamWorks Records in 1998; released XO and Figure 8 (2000).
• "Miss Misery", written for Good Will Hunting (1997), was nominated for the 1998 Academy Award for Best Original Song.
• Known for a whispery vocal style, artful chord changes, and themes of addiction, depression, and alienation.
• Died in 2003 from two stab wounds to the chest; From a Basement on the Hill was released posthumously in 2004.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Critically acclaimed upon release
• Stephen Thompson of The A.V. Club wrote that the album "marks something of a thematic transition" for Smith, noting brightness and a pop feel
• Robert Christgau found Smith "tuneful if depressive"
• Voted the 20th best album of 1997 in The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop critics poll

Reappraisal

• Trouser Press called it "even more fully realized" than Elliott Smith
• Tiny Mix Tapes, in a retrospective review, said the songs on the album are Elliott Smith's best
• Pitchfork ranked it 59th among the 100 greatest albums of the 1990s
• Spin ranked it 48th among the best albums from 1987 to 2012
• Blender ranked it 36th in its 100 Greatest Indie Rock Albums Ever list
• Rolling Stone ranked it 216th on its 2020 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list

Records

• Did not chart in the US
• As of March 2017, Elliott Smith's best-selling release, with 429,000 copies sold in the United States according to Nielsen SoundScan

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The title comes from Søren Kierkegaard's book of the same name, which contrasts aesthetic and ethical ways of being
• Smith recorded a song called "Either/Or" during these sessions but left it off the album; it later appeared on the posthumous compilation New Moon
• Director Gus Van Sant used three songs from the album in Good Will Hunting: Between the Bars, Angeles and Say Yes
• A restaurant named Either/Or in Portland, Oregon references the album's title

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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