Figure 8

by

Elliott Smith

Edit

A lot of fans like to dog this album. I have a theory for why this is.

It's not that the album is bad, at all, but that it's not the Elliott that THEY want Elliott to be. They fell in love with the man behind either/or, or the self-titled, or (gasp) the barely audible Roman Candle. They swoon for the quietness, the starkness, the nakedness, bitterness, intimacy. They think "hi-fi" is a four-letter word, not to mention "production", and dare I even say it, "pop."

They were willing to accept XO as a temporary stray from the purity of their vision for his career. In their forgiving state of mind, the music was able to seep into their brains and they saw its brilliance. Hence, XO = good. And, surely Elliott will get back on track next time.

Figure 8 comes along and dashes their hopes. Their beloved tortured soulmate actually knows his way around modern expensive studio technology - AND HE LIKES IT!!! Traitor!

Man, I love E.S. and E/O as much as anyone. Love em. Love em love em love em. But I'm one of those who believe that Elliott broke through into an altogether new plane of genius with XO. And Figure 8 is absolutely a worthy continuation of the path he was on.

Put it this way - if I'm taking ten to the desert island, XO is in the bag for sure. Figure 8 will be really, really hard to leave out. The others, I'll miss a hell of a lot.

This review only addresses the 2008 LP pressing by Plain Vinyl records, not the music itself - which, IMHO is an Elliott Smith masterpiece. In fact, it's only Elliott's music that elevates this product beyond the minimum one star rating it truly deserves.

I first noticed some significant hissing on Side 1 and thought that perhaps something was wrong with my turntable or receiver. Consonant sounds such as "S" sounds or drum snares had a significant high-end crackle and hiss. Flipped over to Side 2 and there was a huge skip on the first song "Everything Means Nothing to Me". I took the record off and inspected it with a magnifying glass, but didn't see anything. I cleaned the record like a madman and tried a few more listens. Tried Sides 3 and 4 - same problem. By this point, I was almost pulling my hair out and feverishly checking every little detail of my audio setup.

I wasted a good hour in this fashion until, finally, I decided to go online and do some sleuthing. Lo and behold, I discovered others who were having similar problems that I was - including that huge skip on "Everything Means Nothing to Me". Obviously, then, this is a bad pressing by the manufacturer.

Because of my love for this album, I tried to overlook the quality problems on this LP and continue listening - but I simply couldn't bear to hear the music butchered like that. Ended up returning the item, and will simply continue listening to the digital (CD/MP3) version of this until I can save up enough money to purchase a copy of the original, 2000 pressing by Bong Load records. Too bad.