Just got this new album, which is set to drop in October, a few days from when he committed suicide.

Here's the Tracklisting.

* "Coast to Coast"
* "Let's Get Lost"
* "Pretty (Ugly Before)"
* "Don't Go Down"
* "Strung Out Again"
* "Fond Farewell"
* "King's Crossing"
* "Ostriches & Chirping"
* "Twilight"
* "A Passing Feeling"
* "Last Hour"
* "Shooting Star"
* "Memory Lane"
* "Little One"
* "A Distorted Reality Is Now a Necessity to Be Free"

The album concludes with an alternate, updated version of "A Distorted Reality Is Now a Necessity to Be Free," the B-side to Smith's last single ("Pretty [Ugly Before]") that was originally released on Suicide Squeeze Records in August of 2003. The new version, free of the "Strawberry Fields"-ish organ, is still Beatlesque but contains drastically different, vaguely political lyrics: "It's so disappointing, first I put it all down to luck/ God knows why my country don't give a f---."

Some tracks are uncharacteristically heavy and build to crescendos of explosive guitars and drums ("Coast to Coast," "Shooting Star"). Musically, "Strung Out Again" bridges these two worlds, beginning with delicate acoustics before bursting open with abrasive drums and fuzzy, swirling guitar overdubs.

Lyrically, the subject matter is less impressionistic than Smith's previous album, Figure 8, and more direct and confessional about his tumultuous life and drug abuse. "Shooting Star" and "Fond Farewell" all contain allusions to his troubled final years. ("The cold comfort of the in-between/ A little less than a human being/ A little less than a happy high/ A little less than a suicide" — "Fond Farewell.") "Strung Out Again" conveys the fallout of drug addiction: "Just looking in the mirror will make you a brave man/ I know my place, hate my face."
[Edited 8/31/04 14:50pm]

i miss elliott smith.