Review Summary: Figure 8 is a classic example of the extraordinary talents Elliott Smith had for song writing and composition, he will be missed by us all.
Its a bit of a longer album and in my opinion could have been made shorter to create a classic, however many beg
I know this is going to sound cliché, but I am not lying the first bar of Elliott Smith I heard broke my heart. The setting also sounds cliché, I was at my local independent record store Big Star outside Marion Shopping Center in South Australia, sitting down on a burnt out office chair from the seventies, with cans half the size of my head clamped to each ear. I was in front of an ancient CD player hooked up to an amp even older the brand of Amp was scratched off and the volume switch was missing, I sat their with Figure 8 in hand, the grumpy store holder decided to talk to me that day, saying I would not regret listening to this album he was so 'fn' correct.
I was so late, too late to the Elliott Smith scene, he had passed two years before I heard his voice, his wonderful but understated guitar work coupled with the almost perfect piano and guitar chords of Figure 8 was my first affair with Elliot I worked backed from there. This is the way I recommend you introduce yourself to Elliot start here, work all the way back to Roman Candle then tease yourself with From a Basement on the Hill and think of what could have been.
Why start here you ask? Well If your new to Elliot Smith Son of Sam is the perfect introduction, its sweet guitar lines married perfectly to its beautiful piano chords sound so sad but then almost instantly the song is boosted with such a positive first line "Something’s happening don’t speak to soon" and this I believe describes Elliot Smiths music as a whole perfectly. Son of Sam is a bouncy/bluesy tune that tells the story of letting go despite the anxiousness of having no way to know what lies ahead. Lines such as "I told the boss off, made my move, got nowhere to go" and I may talk in my sleep tonight cos I don’t know what I am" highlight the anxiousness we can all feel and Elliot acknowledges this at the end of this superb opener by implying that "he’s a little like us, but more like Son of Sam", Thanks Sam.
The fantastic opner is followed by the stripped down guitar and vocal track of Somebody I Used To Know the song barrels along like an old electric train down older tracks and takes us on a journey of love lost. Somebody I Used To Know is a lovely little ditty about moving on from a love or even a good friend, this time we are moving on with a head wind. With the quick guitar chord changes Elliot sounds confident of the subject matters decision and spends little time convincing us of this. This is one of the shorter tracks on the record sitting at 2:09 but it’s a gem.
The next track Junk Bond Trader starts with punchy guitar lines that hark all the way back to late Heatmiser tracks, Its a simple slow Alt Rock tune with a steady drum beat, a driving piano for rhythm and a fantastic guitar lead, Elliot and producers Tom Rothrock and Rob Schnapf double track his vocals to perfection on this track, its one of many Elliot Smith Tracks that make you wonder about all those collaborations that could have been. Elliot’s voice was so steady, so capable, so smooth, a producers dream.
From Junk Bond Trader Elliott takes us into the center of heartbreak in Everything Reminds Me Of Her. This is another short one lasting all of 2:38, Elliot pleads with people to let him be with his heartbreak no matter how much of a sap he has become in this song I’m with him! I feel the shorter the song for Elliott the more emotional he sounded, it was as if the he only needed a short time to say what he really felt. It is very rare that melancholy can have such a large impact in such a short time (Robert Smith, Thom Yorke to name a couple who need 5-12 minute songs to pour their heart out at times). The simple acoustic rhythm guitar flows perfectly with every line sung and with a smooth lead guitar he leads us to end the song and then he is done.
We are then left with Everything Means Nothing To Me, which becomes the mantra for depression. The Piano is simply heart wrenching and would sound as strikingly beautiful and sad on its own without being joined three quarters the way through by driving slow beat of a double tracked drum kit and organ chords from the heavens. With Elliot repeating over and over that Everything Means Nothing his voice getting more and more powerful with every bar, its hard for you to think that Music must have meant something because he fired away on all four cylinders on this track with this brilliant composition. Yet again it says so much in such a short time with its running time at 2:24.
On the next track Elliot shows his nous again with the guitar with L.A. This track roles forwards at pace with brilliant lyrics and even more brilliant guitar licks. Elliot revels in this track just as you would in the L.A. sun which I believe is the whole point of the song. He sounds so content in with the lyrics and his performance he just lets the guitars lead the track, forever drawing us away from some of his best lyrics he has ever written and forcing us to get lost in some of his best guitar work. This track is a stand out on the album despite the sadness of some of the others a wonderfully crafted song perfectly displaying his courage in using as many chords as he needed to perform his more complicated tracks.
We are then introduced to one of the lesser tracks on the album In The Lost And Found (Hanky Back) The Roost, whicl in my opinion holds back this excellent album from being a classic. This is a basic piano track coupled with double tracked vocals, which by now have become a stable on the album. It is beautifully produced though it is a very clear example of how in-tune the producers on the album were with Elliot's song writing signatures their production work make this a track worth listening too, the back mastered guitar at the end is a nice way to end the tune and gives another reason to shed a tear.
Stupidity Tries is again not one of the better tracks on the album but is a solid tune all the same. Fantastic instrumentation helps us groove and nod our heads with aplomb. Theirs good lead guitar no doubt because of the boundaries set by the great drumming by session drummer Joey Warner and their is more double tracking of Elliott’s vocals on this track. Stupidity Tries is one of the longer tracks lasting all of 4:24 ending more like a Jam than a composition but that’s where the charm of this song is evident, great use of understated strings in the back ground as the track fades into the next one.
We are then left with acoustic guitar lines and Elliot’s sad vocals on Easy Way Out. Strings are used beautifully in this one and those often mentioned Double Track vocals are very prominent. Elliot’s love for John Lennon comes to the forefront on this track; you can almost close your eyes and imagining hearing Lennon backing Elliot with acoustic guitar in hand. This is a perfect example of what I mentioned about before, what could have been when it comes to collaborations, Elliot Smith and Kurt Cobain (softer voice), Elliot Smith and Ben Folds, Elliot Smith and Beth Orton... the list goes on.
"The Question Is Wouldn’t Mamma be proud" one of the all time classic opening lines in history, Wouldn’t Mother Be Proud is another gem of a track and helps cement this record in the Excellent categories. More Electric guitar leads, but this time the lyrics take center stage as Elliot tells the story of ones corporate success and the climbing of the corporate ladder. This track reminds all of us white-collar brogans how easy it is to be lost in the moment of our working life, how a year becomes a lifetime at a switch of a tie. Elliot sums this world up perfectly in this one and gives us all something to think about.
The Next track is Color Bars, this track flows well enough and also is pleasant to the ears, however it really fails in comparison to some of the stronger tracks. It does have a great piano solo in the middle eight that saves this from being a throw away and is also accompanied by fantastic string work by the producers that helps it fit nicely into the bottom half of the record.
Happiness follows Color Bars and really holds its own with a simple guitar and drum opening. Elliot does his best to tell a story of regret and loss. Its a longer track and proves my earlier point that although its a lovely sad song it is not as powerful to the earlier two minute plus tracks at the start of the record that hit us with so much sadness. Less is more we all know that, unfortunately as nice as the instrumentation is it falls short in punching us in the face with its emotion.
Pretty Mary K is track 13 and by now you should be feeling strung out and on the home stretch, you are on the home stretch and Elliot's smith Falsetto opening gives you an idea that even though you are on the home stretch the brilliance may yet be on its way. Elliot is made to sound that he has already past on this track his voice is so much a part of this song but feels so far away.
The Next track is I Better Be Quiet Now and brings the poet of Elliot Smith out to meet you all, one line in this whole song sets the scene for despair as he sings how he "has a long way to go but getting further away" The brilliance of this song is in its guitar work but you just can not escape the brilliant lyrics which overshadow the guitar work until the signature guitar work in the middle eight. By the time the middle eight is finished you are looking forward to that last verse and chorus, don’t worry Elliot does not disappoint with his dream about being an "Army man with the dead enemy screaming in his face". Your heart should be broken and prepared for the next song, which is the epic of the album.
I truly believe this the next song Cant Make A sound is the saddest song the man ever put to record, with every rule there is an exception this is one of the longer tracks on the album but what this has over the other longer tracks is its consistent sadness. His guitar work is perfect as usual, but this time instead of it overshadowing the lyrics it runs right with them, Elliot is sounding powerless in this song and I believe he is opening up and letting it all spill, "standing up to sit back down", "Spinning the world like a toy top till there's a ghost in every town" and "why should you want any other when your a world with in a world" gives us an incite into the mind of a true tortured artist, the Van Gough of music, Elliot was a gift to us all with his music, but you get the impression with this song he never quite could enjoy his gift the way we did. Id just like to say I could be completely wrong about the song all the same its an epic just like Radiohead’s Paranoid Android, Pink Floyd's Echoes and countless others and will always be his stand out track in my opinion.
The last ditty is called Bye and is the last track on his last album that was released before his untimely demise. Elliot stepped out with this track to close the album I'm sure with the view that there was more to come; it’s a pure piano composition that ends the album nicely. I cant help but think that the album was meant to end with the mantra of Cant Make a sound but this was tact onto the end much like the concert hall music that comes on when the lights are switched on after every concert to snap us all back into reality and to send us home with the wonderful memories of the songs we have just enjoyed.
