Compared to Nick Drake this guy just seems like a hack, especially

>>73465944

I always thought exactly the same thing but would never say it in public.

>>73465944
not if you have any sense of melody like at all lol
https://youtu.be/Sh_6_4Ciziw

>>73465944
No hes best work is Either/Or.

>>73465944
Nick Drake was a British public school and Cambridge-educated former rugby player who happened to suffer from depression. He was an ultra-chad from an established solid middle class English family. Elliott Smith was also a depressive chad, but he didn't come from such good stock and overall culture. It's as simple as that.

>>73466036
>5'9
>ugly
fucking kek, Elliot is a great musician but he's no Chad.

Roman Candle is his best album.

I don't really think Nick Drake is a great comparison. If anything he's more similar to James Taylor, but Elliott's voice was never as pleasing and his music rarely as catchy, if ever.

And let's be honest, his albums suffer from bloat. He really should have condensed his ideas better into fewer songs.

>>73466215
>James Taylor
Is he worth getting into? I recently finished almost all of Nick Drakes songs and I need a new guitarist to worship/study for a while. Elliot just isn't doing it for me.

>XO
Nah. Most peeps say it's Either/Or, then some say s/t, then a minor group says Roman Candle.

Smith's guitar playing isn't on the level of Drake's, but he makes up for it with lyrics that are more direct than abstract, a more melodic/unique approach to vocals, and having more than one record with varying arrangements.

That being said, I don't really listen to either these days. Smith sounds too indie for me and I just about sick of the laidback indie sound, while Drake doesn't scratch the itch for guitarwork the way classical and jazz guitar does for me these days.

>>73466342
Any guitarist recs?

Post GOAT Elliott songs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvLRiTcoZ_I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Napr5zJ-LE

>>73466271
>I need a new guitarist to worship/study for a while

I'm not sure JT is your guy, although you should definitely hear the Sweet Baby James album at least a couple times. He's a proficient, high-fidelity folk guitarist but you may not learn a shitload from him. In the long run you may be better off diving into Neil Young and Van Morrison.

>>73465944
I really like Elliots lyrics. His words and patterns express feelings in a song that would be more difficult or uncomfortable to say in a plainer fashion. The melody feels integral to the lyrics, and imo that's formula for great pop music.

>>73466215
Roman Candle is his second best. Either/or I could listen to forever.

>>73466342
Well put, but I hope you can come back to both of those artists sometime in the future. I've had phases were I got tired of them but I always come back

>>73466347
American Football might be a meme around here but Mike Kinsella is a great guitar player

check out Owen (even though he isn't the best vocally)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ8M0nwnhao

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzWwk60sz5Y

>>73466498
>american football tuning and tapping
Fuck I totally forgot about that, maybe I should get into this next. Not too much into emo though

>>73466361
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjpqlllHUGs

>>73466347
>classical
John Williams (recommend obviously starting with the piece Asturias, then afterward start getting into interpretations of Bach's stuff by any guitarist since classical requires just technical chops from performer not unique style)
>jazz
Grant Green (recommend starting with Idle Moments)
Dennis Sandole (recommend starting with Modern Music From Philadelphia it's kinda tough to find but there's a link in the archives)
Sonny Sharrock (recommend starting with either Ask The Ages or the OST to Space Ghost Coast To Coast)
Derek Bailey (recommend starting with Iskra 1903)
>folk?
John Fahey (recommend starting with America particularly the track Mark 1:15)
>noisy minimalism stuff
Glenn Branca (recommend starting with The Ascension; helps to listen to music at highest possible volume and knowing how overtones work)

>>73466649
Thank you so much man

I think part of the problem is you're looking at it from a more technical standpoint, and Elliott Smith's gift was his really organic style and blunt/simple lyrics that carried a whole lot of meaning.

And desu, it's a trope, but his drug abuse makes a lot of the stuff he's singing about really relatable to some people.

>>73466805
agreed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR09ggNWgEU

His S/T is his best imo. But there's something for everyone.

>>73465944
No, he doesn't. They both have unique combinations of strengths and they're both great artists.

>>73466805
Elliott Smith is less unique than Nick Drake, but that's because Nick Drake is one of the most unique artists who has ever existed. In my opinion, uniqueness and the profundity of what is being expressed is not part of the same domain as technical ability. If you agree with that, then Elliott was, on a technical level, a better musician, lyricist, and composer on every level, and he's still quite unique.