Spinning Plates #5

Once a week, Spinning Plates examines an essential “long player,” an album worth listening through from the first note to the last.

With XO, Elliott Smith deserved to be a household name. Of course things didn’t work out that way, but there’s no denying that this album (more so than any of Smith’s other efforts) had the potential for pop-greatness. Take one part Nick Drake and one part Revolver/Rubber Soul era Beatles and the result is a bittersweet exploration of addiction and loneliness.

“Sweet Adeline” kicks off the album beautifully. While not quite as powerful as suicide ballad “Needle In The Hay,”which kicks off Smith’s self-titled album, “Sweet Adeline” is no less stunning. With XO’s opener, the dread atmosphere of “Needle…” though, is replaced by a more aggressive form of regret and disappointment. Knowing the eventual outcome of Smith’s life, it’s hard not to be affected when he closes the song, longing for “any situation where I’m better off than dead.”

The remarkable thing about XO is the way the album celebrates the melancholy, rather than dwelling in it. That may seem like a particularly trite observation when dealing with a clinically depressed and suicidal singer/songwriter, but one cannot deny the fact that “Tomorrow, Tomorrow,” “Waltz #2 (XO)” and “Baby Britain” are all painfully beautiful. The album never really regains its grandeur after the first four songs have passed, but the remaining tracks are still strong, if not as cohesive as the first fourth of the album. All and all, a stunning work from an under appreciated artist.

— Curt Whitacre