XO (Elliott Smith album)

XO
Studio album by Elliott Smith
Released August 25, 1998
Recorded

1997–1998

Length 44:46
Label DreamWorks
Producer
Elliott Smith chronology
Either/Or
(1997)		 XO
(1998)		 Figure 8
(2000)
Singles from XO
  1. "Waltz #2 (XO)"
    Released: 1998
  2. "Baby Britain"
    Released: 1999

XO is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. It was recorded from 1997 to 1998 and released on August 25, 1998 by record label DreamWorks; Smith's first solo album on a major record label. Two singles, "Waltz #2 (XO)" and "Baby Britain", were released.

Content

An early working title for the album was Grand Mal.[1]

The title of the first track, "Sweet Adeline", was inspired by Smith’s recollections of his grandmother singing in her glee club, Sweet Adelines International.[2] "Amity" is believed to be named after a friend who can be seen in photographs from Smith's 1997 tour.[3]

Release

XO was released by DreamWorks Records on August 25, 1998. It was Smith's first solo record on a major record label, though he had previously released music on a major label with his band Heatmiser final album, Mic City Sons (1996).

Singles released from the album were "Waltz #2 (XO)" in the same year[4] and "Baby Britain" the following year.[5]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[6]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[7]
Entertainment WeeklyB[8]
Los Angeles Times[9]
NME7/10[10]
Pitchfork Media8.1/10[11]
Rolling Stone[12]
Select4/5[13]
Spin8/10[14]

XO was well received by critics upon its release. Mark Richardson of Pitchfork Media wrote, "Smith's songwriting continues to improve, as each of [the album's] fourteen tracks displays his inarguable mastery of the pop song structure more clearly than ever."[11] Robert Christgau of The Village Voice gave the album a one-star honorable mention rating, indicating "a worthy effort consumers attuned to its overriding aesthetic or individual vision may well like".[15] XO placed at number five on The Village Voice's 1998 end-of-year Pazz & Jop poll.[16]

In its retrospective review, BBC Music wrote, "the budget might have gone up, but Smith's masterful way with an understated melody and melancholic lyric remained firmly intact", calling XO "perhaps the greatest long-player Smith released; if not, it's certainly the equal of the preceding Either/Or. Repeat listens don't dull it in the slightest, every barbed one-liner and exhalation of despair perfectly preserved".[17] Trouser Press called the record "a tastefully commercialized production (completely with horns and strings) that respects Smith's privacy and, in fact, does him a solid service. [...] If the songs are not the most profound or developed of Smith's catalogue, it's still a great record that proves how durable integrity can be."[18]

Legacy

In 2010, Spin magazine placed XO at number 90 on its list of the 125 best albums in the magazine's lifetime.[19] Pitchfork Media placed the album at number 68 in their list of the greatest albums of the 1990s.[20]

Matthew LeMay has written a book about XO as part of the 33⅓ series of books on albums, released on April 6, 2009 by the Continuum International Publishing Group.

RJD2 sampled "I Didn't Understand" on the song "Ghostwriter" on his album Deadringer. Indie rock band Grandaddy performed "Oh Well, Okay" live in 2012 as a tribute to Smith.[21]

Track listing

All tracks written by Elliott Smith. 

No. Title Length
1. "Sweet Adeline"   3:15
2. "Tomorrow Tomorrow"   3:07
3. "Waltz #2 (XO)"   4:40
4. "Baby Britain"   3:13
5. "Pitseleh"   3:22
6. "Independence Day"   3:04
7. "Bled White"   3:22
8. "Waltz #1"   3:22
9. "Amity"   2:20
10. "Oh Well, Okay"   2:33
11. "Bottle Up and Explode!"   2:58
12. "A Question Mark"   2:41
13. "Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands"   4:25
14. "I Didn't Understand"   2:17

Personnel

  • Elliott Smith – guitar, vocals, piano, bass guitar, drums, organ, mandolin, electric piano, melodica, percussion, string and horn arrangements, production, recording (all tracks except 4 and 9)
Additional personnel
  • Rob Schnapf – guitar ("Baby Britain"), production, recording (all tracks except 4 and 9)
  • Paul Pulvirenti - drums on "Baby Britain"
  • Tom Rothrock – drum programming ("Independence Day"), production, recording (all tracks except 4 and 9)
  • Joey Waronker – drums ("Bled White", "Bottle Up and Explode!")
  • Jon Brion – vibraphone and Chamberlin ("Waltz #1", "Bottle Up and Explode!", "Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands")
  • Shelly Berg – string and horn arrangements
  • Tom Halm – string and horn arrangements
  • Bruce Eskovitz – bass saxophone, baritone saxophone, flute
  • R. James Atkinson – French horn
  • Roy Poper – trumpet
  • Farhad Behroozi – strings
  • Henry Ferber – strings
  • Jerrod Goodman – strings
  • Pamela DeAlmeida – strings
  • Peter Hatch – strings
  • Raymond Tischer II – strings
  • Russel Cantor – strings
  • Waldemar DeAlmeida – strings
Technical
  • Alex Sanderson – engineering assistance
  • Doug Boehm – engineering assistance
  • Richard Barron – engineering assistance
  • Stephen Marcussen – mastering
  • Larry Crane – recording (tracks 4 and 9)
  • Johnson and Wolverton – sleeve artwork
  • Eric Matthies – sleeve photography

Chart positions

Chart (1998) Peak
position
Swedish Albums Chart 41[22]
US Billboard 200 104[23]
Chart (1999) Peak
position
Australian ARIA Charts 46[24]
Singles
Year Single Peak positions
UK
1998 "Waltz #2 (XO)" 52[5]
1999 "Baby Britain" 55[5]

References

  1. ↑ LeMay 2009, pp. 13–14.
  2. ↑ "Sweet Adeline | Biography – Page 2". Sweet Adeline. Retrieved April 9, 2013.
  3. ↑ Nugent, Bejamin (2004). Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing. Da Capo Press. p. 111. ISBN 0-306-81393-9.
  4. ↑ Flick, Larry, ed. (August 22, 1998). "Reviews & Previews". Billboard: 16. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  5. 1 2 3 "Elliott Smith | Artists | Official Charts". Official Charts Company. Retrieved April 9, 2013.
  6. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "XO – Elliott Smith". AllMusic. Retrieved April 9, 2013.
  7. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-857-12595-8.
  8. ↑ Browne, David (August 31, 1998). "XO". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved March 2, 2016.
  9. ↑ Hilburn, Robert (August 24, 1998). "'XO' Is Superbly Soft, With a Nicely Gritty Edge". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 2, 2016.
  10. ↑ Segal, Victoria (August 19, 1998). "Elliott Smith – XO". NME. Archived from the original on October 14, 2000. Retrieved March 2, 2016.
  11. 1 2 Richardson, Mark. "Elliott Smith: XO". Pitchfork Media. Archived from the original on October 14, 1999. Retrieved April 9, 2013.
  12. ↑ Sheffield, Rob (August 12, 1998). "XO". Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 9, 2013.
  13. ↑ Barnes, Mike (October 1998). "Elliott Smith: XO". Select (100): 72.
  14. ↑ Wolk, Douglas (September 1998). "Elliott Smith: XO". Spin. 14 (9): 180–82. Retrieved March 2, 2016.
  15. ↑ Christgau, Robert (2000). Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-24560-2.
  16. ↑ "The 1998 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll". The Village Voice. March 2, 1999. Retrieved April 9, 2013.
  17. ↑ Diver, Mike. "BBC – Music – Review of Elliott Smith – XO". BBC Music. Retrieved April 9, 2013.
  18. ↑ Azerrad, Michael; Robbins, Ira. "TrouserPress.com :: Heatmiser". Trouser Press. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
  19. ↑ "125 Best Albums of the Past 25 Years | Spin | Best of Spin | Spin Era". Spin. Retrieved April 9, 2013.
  20. ↑ "Staff Lists: Top 100 Albums of the 1990s | Features | Pitchfork". Pitchfork. November 17, 2003. Retrieved April 9, 2013.
  21. ↑ "Grandaddy – Oh Well, Okay (Live @ Shepherd's Bush Empire, London, 04.09.12) – YouTube". YouTube. September 4, 2012. Retrieved June 22, 2013.
  22. ↑ "swedishcharts.com – Elliott Smith – XO". Swedishcharts.com. Retrieved April 9, 2013.
  23. ↑ "XO – Elliott Smith : Awards : AllMusic". AllMusic. AllRovi. Retrieved April 9, 2013.
  24. ↑ "australian-charts.com – Elliott Smith – XO". Australian-charts.com. Retrieved April 9, 2013.

Further reading

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