Customer Reviews

Elliott Smith's XO (33 1/3 series)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was allowed to fact check and was interviewed for this book and I feel it's one of the better things to come out about my friend. The second half, examining Elliott's portrayal in the media, is a great "setting the record straight" for this amazing artist.
-Larry Crane, Archivist for the Estate of Elliott Smith/recording engineer/producer

XO is one of my favorite albums, and after reading this book, I am able to appreciate it in a new, deeper and more nuanced way. Lemay strategically employs Smith's own words, whether it be in an interview or in his lyrics, to steer us to an interpretation of XO that seems closer to what Smith had originally intended. (Larry Crane's review above affirms this idea.)

The book is split into two parts: Part one is a guided tour of the subtleties buried within XO (both lyrical and musical). Part two is about why we, as listeners, should free ourselves from the romanticized yet simplistic image of Smith painted by the popular press.

Both parts are extremely well researched and it shows: Lemay has amassed and analyzed quite a back catalog of Elliott Smith demos, live shows, interviews, reviews, on top of having conducted his own interviews with Smith's friends/collaborators.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who wishes to enjoy this album more, and to understand Elliott Smith as a human being who is more than just a "sad guy singing sad songs."

First off, let me say that i am a huge fan of all Elliott Smith's albums. And usually i really enjoy the 33 1/3 line of books.

So naturally, i thought i was going to really enjoy reading this book. I'm very sad to say though, that i didn't.

In comparison to other books of 33 1/3 that i have read, there is VERY little interview/ fact based stuff in this book. and very little about the process of writing or recording XO. it really is mostly what the author thinks about the album and everything else. his opinion.

What this book is made up of, essentially, is a bit on Elliott Smith around the time the XO was made, a lot on what the author thinks Smith's lyrics 'mean' and then some on how he first heard of Smith, how Smith's music effected his life.. things like that.

Being a musician and writer myself, i'm just so damn tired of people taking lyrics and breaking them down. down. down again. - analyzing everything. it might be hard for some people to believe but sometimes the words
musicians sing aren't a cryptic code that needs to be cracked.

I'm surly not saying that Simth's lyrics aren't amazing because i think that they are. and they deserve to be heard and felt. But what i am saying is that i did not enjoy reading page after page of a random guy picking apart, quite literally, every single lyric on the XO album (including the B-side songs).
This author has had no connection to Smith. he talks in the book about not even really liking Elliott Smith or XO until about 2006. i can't help ask myself the question, 'why is he writing this book?'
Some of what he said i agreed with, some i didn't. some of what he said was obvious, some was vague. it was just kind of boring. But more so, it felt a bit pointless to read this book.

Listen to XO yourself, see what YOU think about what Smith is saying and singing. How does it make YOU feel?
thats what should matter.

It makes me feel really sad to say it but,
i just don't feel that anyone who has thoughts of their own about the album XO needs to own this book.

interesting look at what went into the various ES favorites in the studio......recommended for ES fans who are musicians

In all honesty I feel a little mixed about this book. But it is well written, pretty enjoyable to get through. Part 2 (about 30 pages) is particularly welcomed as it is an effort to correct misconceptions associated with Elliott and his work as well as placing Elliott and X0 in relation to the media of the time. I am particularly thankful to the effort that went in to actually getting good sources to speak about Elliott and this Album. As well as the forethought and understanding that went in to paint Elliott and his work as far from one sided, while also making a good effort to explain the separation between artist and their works that usually gets so muddled with artists like Elliott who are carelessly portrayed by many media outlets.

Where I do think the book fell a bit short was in breakdowns of the recording process and musical elements used in the album itself. Instead most of the book is focusing on a breakdown of the lyrical themes of each song. While I'm on that topic I must say that I did not wholly agree with many of these interpretations of his lyrics and thought that they were in many cases too specific and little more than the author's personal opinion. But a lot of the discussion of the lyrics in relation to songwriting and how Elliott did it, WAS valid and definitely should be in there, especially for people who are only casually familiar with Elliott's work. I dislike over analysis of lyrical meaning, especially with lyrics so open to interpretation as Elliott's, so in a lot of ways this almost made me dislike this book. As a recording musician and someone who has already drawn many of my own conclusions about Elliott's lyrics, I really would have liked more of the time spent on the specifics of producing X0, as well as a formal breakdown of some of the musical/compositional elements Elliott used on this album, broader techniques and themes were touched on here and there, but there isn't much specific info in this book about what went on in the studio or in the music itself.

That said, its still a good read and probably one of the better published works about Elliott and his work that is out there. If you don't mind reading another fan's opinions on Elliott's lyrics you should pick this up and you'll most likely enjoy it. The lyrical breakdowns almost made me dislike the book. But like I said the author does his work to try and portray Elliott honestly and for that this book is a welcomed addition to the published material about Elliott.

While I did enjoy this book, I didn't find it to be a very exciting of interesting book to read. I'm not sure if the author is an actual author, but this felt like a term paper, very factual and to the point. I've read other 33 1/3's that exposed interesting things about the recording process, or aspects of the songs that I never noticed, but this didn't really do that for me, and that's coming from an enormous Elliot fan. That being said, it is thorough and if you really are interested in Elliot Smith and his work, this certainly wouldn't hurt to read.

I found this book in the series to be too zoomed-in..
Everything is under the microscope with such a degree
that I found it a chore at times to read.
Although I like the goals with which he sets to reach
about dispelling long-ago standardized preconvictions about ES
and his stardom, the manner in which he goes about ultimately
is not all that entertaining.
I guess that's what you get when you hire a writer from Pitchfork media..

I am a long-time Elliott Smith fan and was looking forward to a peek into how this great album came into existence. What I got however, was a song-by-song overview comprised of the author's interpretations of the lyrics. This would have been less problematic if the end result didn't come across so much like a college freshman trying to meet a length requirement for an essay, not to mention the fact that the late Smith's lyrics do a very good job speaking for themselves.

There are some nice quotes from Larry Crane and other outside interviews and I enjoyed the time taken to track the evolution of certain lyrics, but overall I came away feeling I know very little about the process of making the record, which is a shame.

Larry Crane's approval should win this book your admiration, although it won mine on its own merits. It's wonderful--if a shock--to see so much of the "sad-sack" oversimplification with which Elliott was unfairly labelled dispelled. I hear and regard XO in a new light, and feel almost liberated to be able to value the songs as magnificently heartrending works of art as opposed to beautifully heartbreaking chronicles of Smith's personal pain. The volume is short and required reading for any listener of Smith's enlivening, meaningful work.

If you got the joke in my review title, than this book is DEFINITELY for you. The best thing about LeMay's criticism (and in this case, defense) is that he so clearly loves the man's records. He delves deep into the Elliot S(myth) without getting stuck in the mucky muck. A serious book, from a serious writer, with a serious command of his subject matter. Highly recommended for music geeks, indie-rockers, studio-nuts, and lovers of great music of any era.