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I said to myself I’d post a ‘Happy Birthday’ message to Elliott on here last month,  sorry Elliott I ended up forgetting and missed posting on the exact day.

Elliott Smith is probably my favourite singer/songwriter of all time, unfortunately I didn’t get in to his music until he’d passed away I was just a few years too late (I have a habit of becoming a huge fan of deceased musicians, not on purpose it just seems to happen, there’s at least a couple) which is so frustrating and upsetting knowing that you’ll never get to see them live.

Elliott, despite all his troubles was an incredibly talented man, not only writing and performing his own songs but often playing every single instrument involed in the recording.  His lyrics are so moving and although many deal with his addiction (something that i’m lucky and sensiible enough to never have had to do) It’s easy to take them and apply them to multiple other issues. He once spoke to Autumn De Wilde regarding interpretation of his lyrics, he stated he writes them for himself but that they become unique to the individual listner to interpret and they in turn apply to themselves.

I seriously recommend any Eliott purchases on vinyl, in this format he really sounds wonderfully haunting. I’m very lucky to have XO on it’s original Bongload Records release (not the reprint) thanks to a very special person.  It’s worth a lot, but I play it often, I collect records but I do so to play them, I don’t see the point in collecting so they sit in a shelf gathering dust.  I never understood why people bragged about their value,  I own some rare Elliott and Robert Johnson records but for me to just leave them in their sleaves is almost blasphemous to the musician who created them.  Anyway XO sounds amazing on vinyl,  even better is ‘Angeles’ the whole process of vinyl is something that can only be described as an magical, pardon the use of the word and call me daft but to take so much care and set something up, sit back and listen beats clicking play on an MP3 player any day of the week.

I was listening to this cover track on the Live at Largo CD the other day, the lyrics made me smile, so true of growing older. Out of all the tracks I could have chose, this makes me smile the most, it shows Elliott as he should be remembered, as a musician who loved his music, his fans and enjoyed what he did. I’d love to see some of his music played live by someone and I’m sure one day I will.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc69ZnDJWfc