Elliott Smith’s new album will be released next week,
almost one year after his death. Is this his final album, or merely
the first in what is to be a long string of posthumous releases?
For artists such as Jeff Buckley and Tupac Shakur, an onslaught of
albums have been released since their deaths, with everything from
bare-bones demos to finished music becoming available. Fans and
critics alike seem fascinated with these albums from beyond the
grave.
“It becomes a brand, and as a fan, you buy the new one
because you have all the other ones,” said Robert Walser,
chair of the department of musicology and professor of UCLA’s
popular “History of Rock and Roll” class.
Shakur’s fifth posthumous album, the double-disc
“Better Dayz,” sold 366,000 copies in its first week.
Such posthumous releases often walk a narrow line between
commercial product and artistic worth. Where Shakur’s latest
album features new recordings by a number of artists and producers,
Smith’s “From A Basement On The Hill” will be
released in its intended form. Six of the 15 tracks were completely
finished, while many of the others needed only minor touches or
mixing. Early reviews have been praiseworthy, as has fan
responses.
“It has so many levels to it, and they fit so well
together. I love how it has the intimate sound of (Smith’s)
earlier records to the loud rocking, experimental music he was
moving toward,” said Charlie Ramirez, founder of Sweet
Adeline (www.sweetadeline.net), the fan site that Smith eventually
designated as his official page.
Clearly, “From A Basement On A Hill” deserves a spot
alongside the rest of his catalog. But what of albums that are not
so complete? Jeff Buckley, an early 1990s songwriter who merged
grunge influences with a stunning, operatic voice, walked into a
river one night and never came out.
His first posthumous release was “Sketches (From My
Sweetheart, The Drunk),” a two-disc set containing a
completed album that Buckley had scrapped in favor of the newer,
unfinished recordings of the second disc. With the artist himself
not planning to release either of the discs, listeners have been
left to sort through the music without any guidelines.
“The majority of the Buckley fans I know are intelligent
and discerning in what is incomplete and what’s not,”
said Lauren Clark, a second-year history student. “You can
see where he was going and fill in the pieces. I think it paints a
more complete picture.”
The question is whether fans, family members and record
companies have the right to paint such a picture. The rights to
unreleased material often fall to the families of the deceased, who
tend to put out more rather than less work. For the most part,
though, the music remains relevant even without being in the format
the artist would have presented it in.
“It’s so hard to say because I’m not sure if
there is a definite list of songs Elliott didn’t think were
worth putting out. Sometimes songs just didn’t fit the time
or album he created the song for,” said Ramirez. “I am
thankful for it because a lot of the unreleased songs or other
versions of released songs that are circulating are really great
and meaningful.”
Beyond just the musical value of unreleased material, hearing
songs in an unpolished, unrevised form can shed new light on other
areas as well.
“(Artists) refer to it like their private work papers, and
they often say how the stuff should be private. On the other hand,
there is a certain historical importance to some of the stuff. …
So from a music fan standpoint, I’d like to see as much of
the material as possible even though they should be viewed as rough
drafts,” said Robert Hilburn, the L.A. Times’ pop music
critic.
On this view, critics, fans and historians alike seem to be
united. As long as the authenticity of the material is maintained,
posthumous releases of any kind seem worth at least a casual
inspection. The quality of the material is dim in importance when
compared to the emotional significance of the connections inspired
by new songs, especially when a talented artist is taken so
young.
“In 2003, I think Elliott dying was the furthest from our
minds as fans,” said Ramirez. “I really think his songs
are meaningful and will last for a long time.”