You Cast Your Shadow Everywhere

Posted by Andrea Benvenuto
in Blog, Music 8:15 pm Thursday, May 3rd, 2007

Available from Kill Rock Stars next week (or right now if you pre-order it): New Moon, the second official Elliott Smith release since his death in 2003. The two discs’ worth of songs recorded between 1994 and 1997 include seven from the sessions for his self-titled album and 11 from the sessions for Either/Or. Although only three of the 24 tracks have been previously released, dedicated fans will have already heard many of the songs, some of which were included in the underground “From A Basement on the Hill II” collection shared online in 2005. Still, there’s plenty to discover here. (I have 449 Elliott Smith songs—including live performances—in my iTunes library; there were no versions of “New Monkey,” “Looking Over My Shoulder,” “All Cleaned Out,” “First Timer” or “Fear City” until I uploaded New Moon.) An early version of “Miss Misery” reveals the song’s lyrical evolution: “Do you miss me, Miss Misery / Like you say you do?” started out as, “It’s all right / Some enchanted night I’ll be with you.”

Much of the proceeds from the double-CDs and LPs will be donated to Outside In, a Portland-based organization serving homeless youth and low-income adults. But maybe the best thing about New Moon is imagining what other material might be out there. It’s possible you still haven’t heard your favorite song.

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