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Elliott Smith - Roman Candle (CD)

Roman Candle
$7.99 - $12.14
4.7 out of 5.0 stars 3 Ratings (3 Reviews)

Album Details: Roman Candle

Release Date:01/01/1994
Label:Cavity Search
UPC:789507611321

Other Available Formats: Roman Candle

User Reviews: Roman Candle

  • Overall:

    not his best work, but...

    By ChristopherB  Jun 7, 2001

    OK, this is my least favorite smith album. This means that it is still great. Every song is worth hearing and is important because it shows how he's progressed as a songwriter. Its his debut recorded on a four track, and it still sounds good

  • Overall:

    ON-POINT!

    By Pablo  Dec 21, 1999

    get this, you won't be sorrrry...the E-man rocks without abandon on this one!

Pro Reviews: Roman Candle

  • All Music Guide

    Elliott Smith began his career like most aspiring musicians in the Northwestern States: putting in the requisite hours in a grunge band. Being a team player, however, is not Smith's forte. After those buzzy shows in the bars of Portland, OR, he would retreat backstage with his acoustic guitar and whisper his own quiet songs to himself. This album is his first attempt to record those songs, and they capture that feeling perfectly: a loner retreating from the noisy tension of life with others, finding solace in musical solitude. Roman Candle was, in fact, recorded in solitude on a four-track in a basement. Smith played all the instruments himself. He has said that he's always surprised when people call his songs "sad, " because playing them always made him happy. You can hear that reclusive joy in the light bounce of the melodies and hushed harmonies (which recall Simon and Garfunkel). But his lyrics are haunted by the downbeat, drug-addled life from which he was retreating. For all thei...r cryptic cleverness, there is a restless unhappiness in his fragmented stories of alienated urbanites. After that description, a reference to the definitive folk loner, Nick Drake, is inevitable. Smith's whispy vocals and able fingerpicking deserve the comparison. The highlight of Roman Candle is the title track. The quietly driving acoustic guitars and threatening bass create a disturbing portait of a human timebomb, barely containing a seething and simmering undercurrent of bitterness. The rest of the album, by comparison, is pure sunlight. - Darryl Cater, All Music Guide Read more Less

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Biography

Elliott Smith

Folk-punk singer/songwriter Elliott Smith rose from indie obscurity to mainstream success in 1997 on the strength of "Miss Misery," his Academy Award-nominated song from the film Good Will Hunting. A native of Portland, OR, Smith began writing and recording his first songs at age 14, later becoming a fixture of the city's thriving music scene; as a member of the band He... Read more