Elliott Smith‘s Either / Or represents a stylistic and songwriting breakthrough, taking it to the “next level,” creatively speaking. This singer/songwriter can say more with a whisper than most folks can with a scream. The gently insinuating despair of Smith‘s work communicates volumes about the heartbreak and alienation that is the bane of 20th-century boys with too much time on their hands.

On Either / Or, Smith observes a production ethic that retains a lo-fi looseness without sacrificing any sonic clarity. His songs of loss and loneliness have the broken-poet aura of Smog or Mark Eitzel, but he offsets the gloom with a hatful of damnably catchy melodies and progressions, turning suffering into pop and making it signify

Tracklist:

1.        Speed Trials
2.        Alameda
3.        Ballad Of Big Nothing
4.        Between The Bars
5.        Pictures Of Me
6.        No Name No. 5
7.        Rose Parade
8.        Punch And Judy
9.        Angeles
10.        Cupid’s Trick
11.        2:45 AM
12.        Say Yes

13. My New Freedom (live)
14. Pictures Of Me (Live)
15. Angeles (Live)
16. Some Song (Live)
17. Rose Parade (Live)

18. New Monkey (Keys)
19. I Don’t Think I’m Ever Gonna Figure It Out (Remixed / Remastered)
20. I Figured You Out
21. Bottle Up And Explode! (Alternate Version)