underdawg's Full Review: New Moon * by Elliott Smith
Elliott Smith fans have been waiting for something like this...two cd's worth of unreleased music by the late singer/songwriter. Listening to this New Moon, I have no idea why Elliott chose to leave them off Either/Or, except maybe he felt that he couldn't put THAT much awesomeness in one album. Don't worry that these are songs not good enough to be on his other albums!
New Moon starts off with Angel In The Snow, an acoustic number with relatively simple guitar work, great vocals, and superb lyrics...just like so many of his other songs.
Don't you know that I love you?
Sometimes I feel like
Only a cold still life
Only a frozen still life
That fell down here to lay beside you
This is definitely one of his best songs and I don't think anyone can do sad love songs better. New Monkey is a more rocking number with drums and distorted guitar! The melody is great in the verses and pretty mellow, but then the song explodes gloriously in the chorus with an array of instruments...
No actor action man
Gonna move in and take my place
I'll be pumping out the product
Just a total waste
...and mellows out again later with the great verse...
I'm here with my cup
'fraid to look up
This is how I spend my time
Lazing around
Head hanging down
Stuck inside
My imagination
Busy making something from nothing
Pictures of hope (and depression)
Anything is better than nothing...
Just about a flawless song, and probably the one with the most appeal in the album. Riot Coming is another great song with just guitar and vocals with some real emotion as Elliott warns, "There's a riot coming/Like a drug in the water/A punch in the stomach makes/Sons into daughters." All Cleaned Out is another masterpiece with great vocal harmonies, simple yet good melodies and guitar work, and once again great lyrics...
Here comes your pride and joy
The comic little drunk you call your boy
Making everybody smile
Who takes your pretty plan
And then becomes a disappearing man
After a little while
I saw you with your makeup running down
Now, what's that all about?
You say you don't want anyone around
Cause you're all cleaned out...
I'm sorry you seem so stumped
And I'm sorry you think you have to hold your tongue
When you're so pretty and small
I'm seeing you caving in
Becoming afraid of these men
That you've given your heart...
I think many of us know some girl like this. Some great girl who's with a charming jerk and deserves much better...Elliott really makes the situation come alive with these lyrics, and really reminds me of his Waltz #2 (XO) that describes another suffering woman so well.
Go By is another great sad song with the lines "Spending all your time /With some girl you'll never get to know" and the part when "go by" is repeated over and over is great. Whatever is a folksy number that makes you sing along and features Elliott's lyrics at their self-deprecating best with...
I haven't wanted to do anything for a long time
But whatever you got right now
Will probably suit me
If you're all done like you'd say you'd be
What are you doing hanging out with me?
...and has a sweet lil solo in it. Big Decision is quite frantic sounding, which definitely is different from most of Elliott's songs which are usually leisurely paced. New Disaster is even sadder sounding than most of his songs with a beautiful little riff and chorus. Fear City is a cool sounding song with organs and lightly distorted guitars and a great chorus.
I don't know why Either/Or song was left off Either/Or the album because it's as good as any of the songs on that album. With just guitar and an organ, the song is simple but great and you want to "uh huh" along with Elliott during the solo. The rest of the song has such a disciplined strumming pattern on the guitar so when Elliott lets loose for the solo, it makes it sound so much cooler. The Strokes (of all people) do a similar thing in Last Nite with the entire song's guitar part consisting of just downstrokes until right before the solo. Nice!
These are the best songs of New Moon. It also has an early version of Miss Misery with some different lyrics "Some enchanted night I'll be with you", but it really can't stand up to the finished version (which might possibly be the best song ever made, so it's not too much of a diss). Not Half Right is also the bonus track on Heatmiser's Mic City Sons and I like the that one better than the one on New Moon. Pretty Mary K on this album is completely unrelated to the one of Figure 8, but it's pretty nice. But while I've covered the best songs on these 2 CD's, all the other tracks are certainly worth your time. It's just that tracks like New Monkey, Angel in the Snow, and All Cleaned Out are in the running for Best Song Ever in my book. Certainly worth it for any Elliott fan, but if you're not a fan of his acoustic stuff, you might not like it.
I don't see why you wouldn't be though.
The bottom line is that if you didn't know that this album was made posthumously, you'd think it would fit quite neatly in between the self-titled and Either/Or, and you'd think it was just another Elliott Smith album. Which is a very high honor, since all of his albums (except Roman Candle) have been my favorite at some point, and I still can't decide which one is best to this day. Now I have another one in the running! The only con is that this is probably it in terms of new Elliott Smith material.
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