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| Roman Candle | 
 enlarge | Artist: Elliott Smith
Label: Cavity Search
Category: Music
List Price: $13.98
Buy New: $6.99
You Save: $6.99 (50%)
Buy New/Used from $6.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  (43 reviews)
Sales Rank: 35895
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 76113
UPC: 789507611321
EAN: 0789507611321
ASIN: B000003D90
Release Date: July 14, 1995
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Roman Candle | | • | Condor Ave. | | • | No Name #1 - Elliott Smith, Garson, JJ | | • | No Name #2 | | • | No Name #3 | | • | Drive All over Town | | • | No Name #4 | | • | Last Call | | • | Kiwi Maddog 20/20 |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
A member of the band Heatmiser, Elliot Smith recorded home demos on any equipment he could get his hands on. His first "solo" album is a cheap four-track home recording that hints at the melodic possibilities Smith would explore in greater detail on subsequent releases. The title track is remarkable but with four songs referred to in sequential order as "No Name #1," "No Name #2," etc. ... the inspiration isn't always fully firing. Blessed with a quiet angelic voice and a lyrical mind that easily transforms the squalid details of everyday life into something worth hearing about twice, Smith stood on the verge of getting it on. With his next, self-titled release, he did.--Rob O'Connor
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| Customer Reviews: Read 38 more reviews...
 "Everyone is gone, home to oblivion, home to oblivion, home to oblivion...." April 9, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Emerging from the shadow of Kurt Cobain in the late 90's, Elliott Smith was perhaps the greatest singer songwriter of his generation. Smith's genius was his unabashedly honest, naked, poetic lyricism that was so beautifully complemented by his unpretentiousness acoustic guitar. Like none that came before him, Smith delivers note after note of haunted, sparkling melancholy. Far from gloomy, his songs radiate with incredible emotional intensity. Combining an unbridled punk rage within the guise of an acoustic folk song, his songs speak for themselves. Reflective and introspective, each song unfolds like a delicately wrapped package, revealing itself slowly. Smith's songs present themselves like late night thoughts that just won't go away. Concerning themselves with drug abuse, depression, and troubled relationships, Smith exorcises his inner demons and releases them in a beautiful, blinding, luminosity, albeit born from dark, painful emotional despair.
Roman Candle is the debut album of Portland Indie singer/songwriter Elliott Smith. Roman Candle was released on the small Cavity Search Label in 1994. This collection of no less than nine solo acoustic guitar tracks were recorded by Smith on an 4-track. At the time, Smith was a member of the Portland Alternative-Indie rock band Heatmiser. A departure from the trio, RC features no production, no drums, or bass. Roman Candle is intimate and you almost feel as if you're eavesdropping in on him playing behind closed doors. From the opening bars of Needle In The Hay, Smith immediately establishes the signature hallmarks of his sound. The haunted, understated delivery, the aggressive, finger picking guitar notes that pulse and radiate in flashes of color and intensity. So incognito and unpretentious is RC that you almost miss it. Until you hear it again. And again. Smith's angular melodies and intricately crafted compositions begin to take life with repeated listens. Pretty soon you are quietly singing along. Lyrically, his songs gravitate between insecurity and isolation and shine with a quiet understated brilliance, revealing a glimpse of the lyrical genius that he would become. Early on, Smith reveals an emotional intimateness that has rarely been seen before. The comparisons to Nick Drake were somewhat accurate, although Drake was more understated and less revealing. Smith was a boiling kettle just waiting to explode. He wanted to share that, and it comes across. You can feel the emotional intensity and passion he injects into his music. Although he would turn the volume up on his later work, everything was there from the beginning. On songs like Condor Ave, and No Name #3, there is a timelessness he brings forth, impressioning himself upon the listener. Roman Candle is an album that could be classified as "Vintage", "Classic" or "Timeless". Perhaps a more fitting word for the late singer is simply "Honest".
 Would recommend April 7, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I heard a few mp3s from this album and I liked it all. Acoustic self pity.
Magical December 11, 2007
Elliott Smith is some kind of alchemist. Some of this is unpolished, even perhaps ugly. At the same time, it's moving and beautiful beyond words.
Elliot smith peaked early... August 30, 2007
in his solo career. I've heard all his albums and I come back to them all often enough, but this one just stands out somehow. It has the most powerful emotional impact on me.
the "point a" of Elliot. July 24, 2007
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
4.46 stars.
for anybody who even half-way enjoys the one-man-and-a-guitar stylings of pre-"figure 8" Elliot Smith, go ahead and make that collection complete by snapping up a copy of "roman candle". i bought this album for that reason alone and wound-up very much enjoying it.
the opener, from whence the album takes its title, is enough to justify the purchase price, but that's not to say that the rest of the album is anything to simply gloss over. Elliot fans who, like myself, became such because of the "good will hunting" soundtrack will be happy to have a familiar friend along the way in the form of "no name no. 3". also, the sinister swell that "last call" delves into as it comes to a close is pretty ded-gum neat, so be sure to check that out as well.
i only rate this album a 4 instead of a 5 because i DO NOT wish to give the impression that i find it to be on par with "Elliot Smith", so if you are trying to decide between the two of them, hit that other one first. however, if after injesting that one you like it as much as the rest of the Elliot-lovin' free world does, be sure to get ye back out into thine music-gettin' landscape to procure a copy of "roman candle" for yo'self as well. enjoy!
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