Elliott Smith - From A Basement On The Hill (redux)

Elliott Smith

From A Basement On The Hill (redux)

Side A (28 min)
Coast To Coast (alt mix) GMD 6
Mr. Goodmorning GMD 2
Suicide Machine GMD 2
Let's Get Lost (alt mix) GMD 6
Splitsville GMD 3
Don't Go Down (alt version) GMD 6
Strung Out Again (alt mix) GMD 6
Let's Turn The Record Over GMD 2

Side B (29 min)
Shooting Star BH
True Love GMD 2
Riot Coming NM
A Passing Feeling (alt mix) GMD 6
Memory Lane (alt mix) GMD 6
High Times NM
A Fond Farewell GMD 6

Side C (30 min)
From The Poisoned Well GMD 2
Brand New Game (alt version) GMD 7
Looking Over My Shoulder NM
King's Crossing (alt mix) GMD 6
Twilight (alt mix) GMD 6
The Last Hour (alt mix) GMD 6
Abused GMD 2
Little One BH

Side D (29 min)
Dancing On The Highway (alt mix) GMD 7
Pretty (Ugly Before) ES
Stickman (alt version) GMD 7
New Disaster GMD 7
A Distorted Reality... BH
Everything's Okay GMD 3
Almost Over NM


"From a Basement on the Hill" is the sixth and final studio album by the American singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. Recorded between 2000 and 2003, it was released posthumously in 2004.   Many of the songs Smith intended for the album remained unfinished, in some cases only lacking vocals. Smith's family hired his former producer Rob Schnapf and ex-girlfriend Joanna Bolme to sort through and finish the batch of over thirty songs that were recorded for the album, although the estate retained final decision of which tracks to include.  Many of the songs reference Smith's lifelong struggles with drug addiction and depression. His death was presumed to be a suicide, although the coroner's report and statements from close friends state that his death is still under speculation. It was not investigated further. - wikipedia

According to sweetadeline.net  there may have been between 30 and 50 songs that Smith was working on after the release of 2000's Figure Eight until his death in 2003. Some of these tracks he started earlier on previous albums so it us hard to know if he intended on releasing them on "From A Basement..." or not, but collectively it is a large assortment to dig thru and for this album redux I put together 30 of them to form a double album since at one point that was his plan, though the songs may have varied.  

I used the Grand Mal Discs for most of the songs because they include alternate versions that I personally favor over the official 15 track release. I tweaked the official album cover slightly because I knew I would get too emotional if I spent a lot of time on it.

"Sometimes
Is all I feel up to now
But it's not worth it to you
'Cause you gotta get high somehow

Is it destruction that you require to feel
Like somebody wants you
Someone that's more for real"

-Pretty (Ugly Before)

These are my notes as I was putting this together. I thought some may find interesting or in the least it shows that this redux isn't without thought.

GMD = Grand Mal Disc 1-8 2011
NM = New Moon 2007
BH = From A Basement On The Hill 2004
ES = An Introduction To Elliott Smith 2010

Elliott Smith FABH download

The Beatles - Please Please Me (redux)

Project 1 Early Period

Sept 4 1962 - April 28 1963

PLEASE PLEASE ME (redux)

1. Love Me Do
2. P.S. I Love You
3. Please Please Me
4. Ask Me Why
5. I Saw Her Standing There
6. Misery
7. Anna (Go To Him)
8. Chains
9. Boys
10. Baby It's You
11. Do You Want To Know A Secret
12. A Taste of Honey
13. There's A Place
14. Twist and Shout
15. From Me To You 
16. Thank You Girl 
17. One After 909

The original UK version of "Please Please Me" was released on March 22, 1963 and contained 14 songs lasting 32:45 in total. Since The Beatles often released singles separate from their albums, there are a lot of songs through out that can be added to make them longer. The single "From Me To You" backed with "Thank You Girl" was recorded after the album was complete (March 5, 1963) but before it was released so we'll use them here. Also, the song "One After 909" was recorded that same day so I included the Anthology version. I chose to keep "Hold Me Tight" on "With The Beatles" since the version they recorded during the PPM sessions was lost and sound-wise it didn't seem to fit. 

Basically, my version of these Beatle redux albums includes singles and sometimes unreleased songs that were from the same time period and the order of the tracks is based on when the song was recorded. This version ends up being right around 40 minutes long.

All songs remixed into "Soft-Stereo" to sound not as hard-panned left and right, but fuller than mono. Also, I remixed the song "Please Please Me" to correct the fluffed line in the third verse, but wasn't able to fix the odd flange at the very end. For "Love Me Do" I remixed the Past Masters version featuring Ringo on drums.

For the album cover I used an alternate photo found on the web of the photo-shoot and edited it a little.

The Beatles PPM download

The Beatles - With The Beatles (redux)

Project 2 Early Period

May 1 1963 - Nov 30 1963

WITH THE BEATLES (redux)

1. She Loves You
2. I'll Get You
3. You Really Got A Hold On Me
4. Devil In Her Heart
5. Money
6. Till There Was You
7. It Won't Be Long
8. All My Loving
9. Please Mr. Postman
10. Roll Over Beethoven
11. All I've Got To Do
12. Don't Bother Me
13. Little Child
14. I Wanna Be Your Man
15. Not A Second Time
16. Hold Me Tight
17. I Want To Hold Your Hand
18. This Boy

The Beatles second album "With the Beatles" released November 22,1963 was recorded just four months after the band's debut "Please Please Me". The album features eight original compositions and six covers. They released the single "She Loves You" b/w "I'll Get You" between their first and second album, and "I Want To Hold Your Hand" b/w "This Boy" afterwards. I've added them here in order to have all singles included on albums which makes 18 songs and approximately 43 minutes of music compared to the original 14 songs coming in just over 33 minutes.

I remixed all of these tracks into "Soft-Stereo" as I have done with all The Beatles tracks from their early period since mono sounds too flat to me and any of the stereo mixes are panned too hard. The order of the tracks for most of my Beatle redux are in "somewhat chronological order" based on Allan W Pollack's Notes... On Series. 

I edited the "I Want To Hold Your Hand" single to make a new album cover along with some features of the U.S. "Beatles' Second Album" 

Beatles WTB Download