- Record Label: Kill Rock Stars
- Release Date: Nov 2, 2010
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Nov 19, 2010An Introduction to Elliott Smith constitutes a worthy glimpse and gateway into a discography that has enchanted so many over the years. There are 14 songs here; 14 finer you'll seldom hear.
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Nov 19, 2010It's a fine starting point for someone looking to discover Smith, but even if you have all his albums, it serves as a greatest-hits collection of sorts and only confirms just how awful not having him here truly is.
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Nov 19, 2010he point is that there are lots of people who haven't yet had the occasion to discover Elliott Smith, and ultimately this gives them a chance to scratch away at the bittersweet reality of his work, at how conflicted he sounded, at how bitterly unresolved his career remains, and how every single song still somehow feels like both a confection and a dagger.
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UncutDec 20, 2010This collection does him justice by featuring cuts from all seven albums in the Smith catalogue. [Dec 2010, p.105]
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MojoDec 20, 2010This compilation is a reminder of the stillness and quiet power at the heart of his frank, softly sung confessional, of Smith's talent as an arranger and multi-instrumentalist, and of his able, Paul Simon-like finger-picking style. [Dec 2010, p.114]
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Q MagazineDec 20, 2010Like so much of his troubled catalogue, it disarms you with its beauty. [Dec 2010, p.124]
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Nov 19, 2010By concentrating heavily on this former and earlier part of Elliott Smith's career, the compilers of An Introduction To... have gathered some of his best songs into a starkly beautiful and coherent album.
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Nov 19, 2010Smith remains stubbornly entrenched in a perpetual slough of despond. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem he had much to laugh about during his short, unhappy life, but over an entire record, his maudlin musings are rather hard work for all but the most introspective of listeners.
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Under The RadarDec 22, 2010In the end, there's more questions than answers found, and if all of the music on Introduction is unimpeachable, its slightly haphazard execution is a bit of a letdown. [Fall 2010, p.70]
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Nov 19, 2010An Introduction to… may well lead new listeners to Smith's back catalogue, but hopefully they won't stop where the compilation does. Smith's entire recorded works are worth exploring, even those not technically independent releases.
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Dec 21, 2010An Introduction to Elliott Smith [is] a compilation that maybe would have made some sense in 1998 but has no place in 2010.