Penning tunes that often drew comparisons to Nick Drake, Bob Dylan, and the Beatles -his favorite band -Smith was cast in the roll of tunesmith to the downtrodden alternative-rock crowd. It might have been more interesting had he sung 'Angeles.An indie-rock musician who seemingly overnight went from an underground hero to a popularly recognized songwriter, Elliott Smith established his place in music by writing beautiful songs about the pains of life.

soared after he took his bow at the Oscars with Celine Dion and Trisha Yearwood. Ironically, 'Angeles' was included on the Good Will Hunting soundtrack, which won Smith the acclaim of Hollywood's biggest, brightest, and best connected voting body, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. The lyrics are a darkly biting rejection of the hypercapitalist dream machinery of Los Angeles (it would make a great theme song for Smith's label, Kill Rock Stars). 'Angeles' is equally ethereal - Smith's acoustic fingerpicking spins out notes which briskly move around a single atmospheric keyboard chord, like aural minnows swimming toward a solitary light at the surface of the water. He sings, in his endearingly limited whisper, of late-night drinking and introspection, and his subdued strumming creates a minor-key mood befitting the mysteries of self. 'Between the Bars,' for example, plays Smith's strengths perfectly.

The humbler arrangements are better suited to the sparse equipment. While the full-band songs are catchy and smart, Smith's recording equipment isn't quite up to the standards set by the Beatles and the Beach Boys. The most alluring numbers, however, are still his quietly melancholy acoustic ones. Several of the songs mimic the melody mastery of pop bands from 1960s. While he still plays all the instruments himself, he plays more of them. Elliott Smith's third album sees his one-man show getting a little more ambitious.

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