Figure 8 (album)

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Figure 8
Studio album by Elliott Smith
Released	April 18, 2000
Recorded	1999-2000 at Abbey Road Studios, London Capitol Studios, Hollywood Sonora Studios, LA Sunset Sound Recorders, Hollywood
Genre	Indie rock
Length	52:06
Label	DreamWorks Records
Producer	Tom Rothrock Rob Schnapf Elliott Smith
Elliott Smith chronology
XO (1998) Figure 8 (2000) From a Basement on the Hill (2004)

Figure 8 is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. Released by DreamWorks Records on April 18, 2000, it became Smith's second release on a major label and the last album he would complete before his death. It was recorded at Sunset Sound in Hollywood, Sonora Studios in Los Angeles, Capitol Studios in Hollywood, and Abbey Road Studios in London ("Stupidity Tries", "In the Lost and Found (Honky Bach)" and "Pretty Mary K"). The album was also released on double vinyl 12" on Bong Load Custom Records, and later re-released by Plain Records in 2008. It is also available as a digital download.

The title is thought to be taken from a song by Schoolhouse Rock!;^[1] Smith covered this song, but it did not make the final track listing.

Regarding the album's title, Smith said this in a May 11, 2000 article in The Boston Herald:

"I liked the idea of a self-contained, endless pursuit of perfection. But I have a problem with perfection. I don't think perfection is very artful. But there's something I liked about the image of a skater going in this endless twisted circle that doesn't have any real endpoint. So the object is not to stop or arrive anywhere; it's just to make this thing as beautiful as they can."

Compared to Smith's earlier work, Figure 8 is more instrumentally ornate, and the lyrics are more impressionistic. Smith described the songs on the album as "more...fragmented and dreamlike".^[2]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link
The A.V. Club	(B-) [3]
Metacritic	(universal acclaim)[3]
Mojo	[1]
NME	(8/10) [4]
Pitchfork Media	(6.9/10) 4/1/2000
Q Magazine	8
Rolling Stone	[2]

Metacritic gave "Figure 8" a score of 81 (universal acclaim). The music review online magazine Pitchfork Media placed Figure 8 at number 190 on their list of top 200 albums of the 2000s.^[5] Rolling Stone had similar praises for the album, placing it at #42 on the "100 Best Albums of the Decade" list:^[6]

Elliott Smith's remarkable melodic sense had its perfect yin-yang match in the bottomless darkness of his lyrics. Figure 8, the last album Smith completed before committing suicide in 2003, was his most ornamented work. Yet there is joy in even the busiest arrangements: Dazzling music-hall piano drives the Beatlesque "In the Lost and Found (Honky Bach)/The Roost"; a guitar curlicues like wild ivy on the morbid power-pop number "L.A." It's hard to imagine the wave of rustic, gorgeous music coming out of Smith's adopted home, the Pacific Northwest (Fleet Foxes, the Decemberists), without this haunted high-water mark.

Additional musicians

• Sam Coomes - bass on "Everything Means Nothing to Me," "In the Lost and Found (Honky Bach)," "Stupidity Tries," and "Pretty Mary K"
• Pete Thomas - drums on "Junk Bond Trader," "Wouldn't Mama Be Proud?" and "Can't Make a Sound"
• Joey Waronker - drums on "Stupidity Tries"
• Jon Brion - backup vocals on "Happiness/The Gondola Man"

Track listing

(All songs written by Elliott Smith)

1. "Son of Sam"  sample (help·info) – 3:04
2. "Somebody That I Used to Know" – 2:09
3. "Junk Bond Trader" – 3:49
4. "Everything Reminds Me of Her" – 2:37
5. "Everything Means Nothing to Me" – 2:24
6. "L.A." – 3:14
7. "In the Lost and Found (Honky Bach)/The Roost" – 4:32
8. "Stupidity Tries" – 4:23
9. "Easy Way Out" – 2:44
10. "Wouldn't Mama Be Proud" – 3:25
11. "Color Bars" – 2:19
12. "Happiness/The Gondola Man" – 5:04
13. "Pretty Mary K" – 2:36
14. "I Better Be Quiet Now" – 3:35
15. "Can't Make a Sound" – 4:18
16. "Bye" – 1:53

Available on CD, cassette and LP. A DreamWorks Records release.

Produced by Tom Rothrock, Rob Schnapf and Elliott Smith.

Recorded and mixed at Abbey Road, Capitol, Sunset Sound, and Sonora Studios.

Songs and all strings arranged by Elliott Smith. Strings orchestrated by Suzie Katayama.

Photos by Autumn deWilde. Art direction and design by Autumn deWilde and Dale Smith.

Alternate releases

The Japanese release of this album included Smith's cover of The Beatles' song "Because" and "Figure 8", an abridged cover of a Schoolhouse Rock! song.

The promotional CD for Figure 8 featured cover artwork by Mike Mills, director of Thumbsucker. Smith contributed songs to the Thumbsucker soundtrack.

Outtakes, b-sides, and other non-album tracks

Officially released songs

• "A Living Will" - Included on the "Son of Sam" single.
• "Because" - Beatles cover included on Japanese releases of Figure 8; based on the Beatles' Anthology 3 version of the song, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Produced, mixed and recorded by Rob Schnapf.
• "Figure 8" - Schoolhouse Rock! cover, written by Bob Dorough; included on the "Son of Sam" single, and on Japanese releases of Figure 8.
• "Happiness" [acoustic] - Included on the French 3 Titres Inedits promo.
• "I Can't Answer You Anymore" - Included on the French 3 Titres Inedits promo.
• "Pretty Mary K" [alternate] - Included on the French 3 Titres Inedits promo.

Unreleased songs

• "Brand New Game" - two different mixes have leaked, with one mix containing the guitar higher in the mix, among other differences. Unfortunately, the latter mix suffers from running at the wrong speed at "digital" glitches.
• "Can't Make a Sound" - alternate mix; some different lyrics, no strings overdubbed.
• "Junk Bond Trader" - alternate version; some different lyrics.
• "No Life"
• "Place Pigalle"
• "Snowbunny's Serenade" - an alternate version of "Bye" featured in Southlander, in the scene where Chase is trying to seduce Snowbunny.
• "Sorry, My Mistake" - instrumental only; thought to have never had vocals recorded. However, on youtube there exists a live version that does have lyrics.
• "Stained Glass Eyes"
• "Tiny Time Machine" - instrumental; worked on later as "Suicide Machine" for Smith's next album, From a Basement on the Hill.

Other Figure 8-era songs

• "Confidence Artist" - Played live in 1999. Unknown if a studio recording exists.
• "Flowers for Charlie" - Played live in 1999 and 2000. Unknown if a studio recording exists.

Cover photo

The Figure 8 wall on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.

The wall Smith stands in front of in Autumn de Wilde's photograph on the cover of the album exists in Los Angeles, and since his death it has become a memorial to him. It is covered with graffiti and written messages containing lyrics and personal messages to Smith. It is located at 4334 W. Sunset Boulevard, which is a store by the name of Solutions Audio-Video Repair, just south of the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Fountain Avenue.

In 2007, the painting was returned to its original state after being vandalized. Since then, it has again been painted over with unrelated graffiti.

In May 2010, the wall was covered by marketing material for Roger Waters' The Wall Live. After finding out what had happened, Waters ordered for it to be removed.^[7]. In 2011, the wall was restored in celebration of the artist's bithday, including a stencil of Smith in order to mimic the photo on the album cover.^[8]

References

1. ^ sweet adeline | figure 8
2. ^ Carsten Wohlfeld (2000). "Elliott Smith: The Hamburger Interview". Luna Kafe E-Zine. http://www.lunakafe.com/moon44/usor44.php. Retrieved 2008-03-30. 
3. ^ ^{a b} http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/smithelliott/figure8
4. ^ http://www.nme.com/reviews/elliott-smith/2127
5. ^ Pitchfork staff (September 28, 2009). "The Top 200 Albums of the 2000s: 200-151". Pitchfork Media. http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/7706-the-top-200-albums-of-the-2000s-200-151/2/. Retrieved October 1, 2009. 
6. ^ http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/31248017/100_best_albums_of_the_decade/17
7. ^ http://www.laweekly.com/2010-05-13/music/roger-waters-vs-elliott-smith-s-wall/
8. ^ http://pitchfork.com/news/43523-elliott-smith-mural-updated-for-smiths-birthday/

External links

• Sweet Adeline: The Official Elliott Smith website
• The Official Elliott Smith online store
• Figure 8 on Amazon.com