Six albums recorded by Elliott Smith in high school surface online
Six albums recorded by Elliott Smith in high school between 1985 and 1989 have surfaced online.
The albums feature Smith and the friends he was in bands with as a teenager, playing under names including Stranger Than Fiction, A Murder Of Crows, and Harum Scarum.
The six newly-surfaced records were obtained and distributed by a fan of Smith’s from Texas called Cameron McCrary. The fan contacted local record stores in Portland, where Smith spent much of his life, and hunted on Discogs to find the albums. Finally, Tony Lash, the drummer on several of the albums, sold his copies to McCrary, while other recordings were found over the span of two years.
Among the albums are Stranger Than Fiction’s ‘Any Kind Of Mudhen’ (1985), ‘Still Waters More Or Less’ (1986), and ‘Menagerie’ (1987), A Murder Of Crows’ ‘The Greenhouse’ (1988), and Harum Scarum’s ‘Trick Of Paris Season’ (1989).
Some of the tracklists feature songs that would go on to appear in Smith’s solo work, like ‘Condor Ave’, which featured on his 1994 record ‘Roman Candle’. That track also appears on ‘The Greenhouse’ with different lyrics. ‘Trick Of Paris Season’ also features the first use of Smith’s moniker Elliott Smith, as opposed to his real name, Steven Paul Smith.
Back in 2020, Smith’s self-titled second album was reissued to mark its 25th anniversary. It came backed with a new live album called ‘Live At Umbra Penumbra’, which was recorded at the titular Portland cafe in September 1994.
Last year, Bright Eyes covered Smith’s ‘St. Ides Heaven’ as part of a special reissue of their 1998 album ‘Letting Off The Happiness’. The cover appeared on the ‘Letting Off The Happiness: A Companion’ release that was part of the band’s project of reissuing all nine of their studio albums with a Companion EP.
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Rhian Daly
NME
