Elliott Smith’s Classic Self-Titled LP Is Revitalized on New Anniversary Edition

Elliott Smith’s self-titled album has served as a landmark in indie folk for the past 25 years. Smith’s work has taken on a life of its own (especially in the years following his death in 2003), creating a musical blueprint for exploring the deepest recesses of human emotion. To commemorate its anniversary, Smith’s label Kill Rock Stars released an expanded reissue of Elliott Smith that breathes new life into an old classic. But is it necessary?

“Needle in the Hay” is a brutal opener. The repetitive guitar strum in the intro paints an endless landscape of dirt, trees and darkness. The compressed, almost claustrophobic original sounds like it was recorded in an empty bedroom. In the remastered version, you’re in that bedroom. The already uncomfortable intimacy is heightened by enhanced vocals that feel almost voyeuristic.

Most of the details are subtle. The faint screech of Smith’s feverish guitar plucking is enhanced ever so slightly, especially on “Southern Belle.” The haunting harmonica on “Alphabet Town” slips out of tune more noticeably. The harmonies on “Good to Go” are clearer. These small recording inconsistencies manifested in the bedrooms of bandmate Tony Lash and mixing assistant Leslie Uppinghouse add charm to the original recording and are made more powerful in the remaster. These details convey the innocence and desperation of a pained man itching to record songs that may eventually change one life, or thousands.

However, that’s not to say that the original recordings weren’t also magical. The lo-fi nature of the record also made it that much easier to forgive all the subtleties that the remaster intensifies. There is a profound intimacy within the original album’s bareness, even when all the instruments clash into a sea of indistinguishable noise.