After hearing all his other albums, "Needle in the Hay" remains Smith at his haunting best. Lines like, "drink yourself into slo-mo/ made an angel in the snow" should make "Clementine" an all time favorite(as well as bring a smile to your kiss-less lips). Drug references abound & "The White Lady Loves You More" has to be one of the most heartbreaking songs about chemical dependency I've hever heard. "The Biggest Lie" is enough to make you play the whole thing over again. While not my first introduction to Elliott Smith, this one certainly left me with a lasting impression. Melancholy to say the least, but not enough to make you want to hang yourself in a garrett. A tourniquet for the soul, so to speak.

Bed-Sit Beauty
This was my second introduction to Elliott Smith. I was mesmerized by EITHER/OR and got my hands on what else I could find. I can say based on my tastes he doesn't have a bad album from ROMAN CANDLE to FIGURE 8. Though I adored the production on has last 2 albums, I keep going back to this one.

Say he's a sad sack. Say he's derivative. It's all there---The Beatles, Big Star, Nick Drake and The Velvet Underground. But when all is said and done, he's an original and a helluva lyricist to boot. Call this his drug album. He wears all allusions on his sleeve. "Needle In the Hay", "Christian Bros." and "White Lady" leave no questions and tell no lies. Neither does he preach or romanticize. Just lays it on the line. Personally, I get real sick of musicians singing and rapping about the joys & evils of it all. It's become so cliched by now. What's remarkable about this album is that it's all in the background as he stumbles on a few plaintive truths.

Excellent!
This is pure Elliott Smith! I highly recommend this.

the most private album i've ever heard
it really is like elliott is playing just for you. on this album in particular, smith's voice is so warm and affecting you feel him holding your hand and so cool and hurt you WANT to hold his hand.

i love this record. i have for sometime. elliott smith was a fine musician and, from what i understand, a very fine, though lonely, person. either/or is his masterpiece, but every recording of his is something you want to hold on to as all your own. you'll love it with a ridiculous passion.

sleep well, elliott, your listeners miss you dearly.

Elliot Smith
If he had lived, his music would have just kept getting better. Some people call Either/Or Elliott Smith's best, but I must dissagree. This just might be the most wonderful thing I have ever heard. Every single song is great and wonderful. His voice is so soft and peaceful, I feel as if he is sitting next to me, and playing his guitar in a mini-private concert, just for me. I really love Elliott's music. Buy this album before you buy anything else by him. Rest In Peace, Man.
Recorded mildly better than his debut (Roman Candle on Cavity Search), the self-titled second solo album is one of the most understated and incredible albums to emerge from the indie-rock scene in the 1990s. With his nimble picking fingers behind him, Smith writes sad, little songs about drugs and romantic codependence that border on the obsessed. "Needle in the Hay" and "The White Lady Loves You More" are exemplary tunes that fuse the Beatles' pop sense with Neil Young's sense of doom. Lying in his own burned out basement, Smith can rough up the gentlest love song with a few salty words of choice. --Rob O'Connor