Tellingly, Smith seems to be aware that people were paying attention to him on Either/Or, perhaps for the first time. It’s not his most charming or audacious record, but it could very well be his best. Sitting at the immediate end of Smith’s lo-fi origins and right before his lush, major label album crafting that took over his final records, Either/Or is the platonic ideal of an Elliott Smith record. That quiet co-frontman already had two studio albums to his name, but he also had recently lost his job at a bakery. Gust’s ‘Rest My Head Against the Wall’ and Smith’s ‘See You Later’ probably could have been hits on 120 Minutes, if not for the fact that Heatmiser imploded before the album even saw its release date. That’s not because they had bad material – in fact, the band’s final album, 1996’s Mic City Sons, has fantastic tracks on it. They probably couldn’t have even been the next Silverchair. Hiding in the back was another singer/guitarist who seemed quieter and more introspective.Ĭould Heatmiser be the next Nirvana? No shot in hell. Critics seemed taken by the fact that co-frontman Neil Gust was gay, and that his more aggressive material was largely powering the band’s sound.

In the alt-rock gold rush that occurred once Nirvana hit it big, a scrappy and weirdly folk-centred four-piece from Portland, Oregon were snapped up by Virgin Records in the hopes that maybe they could be a breakthrough success as well.

Elliott smith either or album