Either/Or (album)

Professional reviews
Either/Or

Studio album by Elliott Smith
Released	25 February 1997
Recorded	Various houses The Shop Undercover Inc. Laundry Rules
Genre	Indie Rock
Length	37:00
Label	Kill Rock Stars
Producer(s)	Elliott Smith Tom Rothrock Rob Schnapf
All Music Guide link Pitchfork (8.8/10) 3/1/1997 Robert Christgau (hon mention *) link Sputnik Music (4.85/5) 1/17/2005
Elliott Smith chronology
Elliott Smith (1995)	Either/Or (1997)	XO (1998)

Either/Or is the name of the third album recorded by American singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. The album was released on Kill Rock Stars on 25 February 1997 on compact disc and vinyl LP.

The title is actually derived from the Søren Kierkegaard book of the same name, reflecting Smith's interest in philosophy, something he studied (among other subjects) at Hampshire College in Massachusetts.^{[citation needed]} Smith stated in a few interviews that the album follows the Kierkegaard philosophy in relation with the absurdist struggle between choosing an aesthetic life and an ethical life.

[edit] Track listing

All songs written by Elliott Smith.

"The Enemy is You" appears as the final track on Japanese pressings.
"Angeles", "Between the Bars", and "Say Yes" were used in the soundtrack for Gus Van Sant's film Good Will Hunting, along with "No Name #3" from Roman Candle and an orchestral version of "Between the Bars."
"Between the Bars" was covered by Madeleine Peyroux on her 2004 release Careless Love.

The following tracks were recorded and at least partially completed during the same sessions as Either/Or but ultimately did not make the album:

"Bottle Up and Explode!" (later re-recorded and found on Smith's next album, XO. One demo version from these sessions was featured on the "Baby Britain" single.)
"Some (Rock) Song" ("Some Song" from the Elliott Smith sessions with more instrumentation)

"Abused" (later worked on during the From a Basement on the Hill sessions)
"Now You Wanna Show Me How" (This song may actually be named "Burned Out, Still Glowing", unconfirmed which title was Elliott's final title for the song)
"Either/Or" and "No More", alternate versions of the same song
"Fear City"
"Georgia Georgia"
"Go By (It's Alright)"
"Going Nowhere"
"New Monkey (Anything is Better than Nothing)"
"Looking Over My Shoulder"
"Placeholder"
"Pretty Mary K" (an entirely different song to that of the same name found on the Figure 8 album. Later re-recorded as "Everything's Okay")
"Seen How Things Are Hard"

The Emperor X song "Raytrancer" includes the line "Did you ever get sad on your bed late at night, crying, listening to Either/Or?""
The 2004 film The Girl Next Door features a snippet of "Angeles" played during one of the film's opening scenes.