By the time album closer “Say Yes” rolls around, it’s clear that the solo acoustic approach is a specific and purposeful choice, and no longer Smith’s default mode. “Angeles” and “Cupid’s Trick” provide a back-to-back study in Smith’s versatility as a guitarist, going from intricate fingerpicked pattern to lopey electric riffs. “Ballad of Big Nothing” propels itself forward with bubbly McCartney-esque bass lines and background vocals that sound like they might have been string arrangements if there were an orchestra handy. The fact that Smith was able to build this much emotional complexity into a song that sounds at home in a stadium or at a Starbucks speaks to his irreplaceable gift as a songwriter.Įlsewhere, Smith amplifies his well-honed songwriting chops with more fleshed-out arrangements. “Between the Bars” is about the ways in which protecting somebody you love turns into the need to control that person. It’s not a love song, exactly, and it’s not a song about addiction, exactly. Nowhere is this clearer than “Between the Bars,” the closest thing to a modern-day standard Smith ever wrote and covered by everyone from Metric to Madonna. And yet, Smith-as with many truly great songwriters-used this specificity as a way to explore emotional themes that resonate both deeply and broadly.

The sounds and words of Either/Or often conjure very specific images, textures, and situations. Thankfully, this 20th anniversary remaster doesn't smooth out too many of those rough edges-if anything, it brings the unique sound of the record into even clearer focus.

It’s too ambitious to read as “lo-fi” and too gritty to read as straightforward pop classicism. A year prior, his former band Heatmiser had been put through that very ringer, an experience captured in Either/Or standouts “Pictures of Me” and “Angeles.” Either/Or sounds like the work of somebody who has zero interest in either conforming to or directly transgressing the “commercial” sounds of the day. By the time Either/Or was released in 1997, Smith was no stranger to the cynical machinations of the post-grunge major label gold rush.

Elliott smith either or youtube