.gif)
Figure 8 (album)
Encyclopedia
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!
; 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:
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".
The music review online magazine
Pitchfork Media
placed Figure 8 at number 190 on their list of top 200 albums of the 2000s.
Rolling Stone
had similar praises for the album, placing it at #42 on the "100 Best Albums of the Decade" list:
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.
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
.
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.. 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.
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
Elliott Smith
Elliott Smith
Steven Paul "Elliott" Smith was an American singer-songwriter and musician. Smith was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and resided for a significant portion of his life in Portland, Oregon, where he first gained popularity...
. Released by DreamWorks Records
DreamWorks Records
DreamWorks Records was an American record label. Founded in 1996 by David Geffen, Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg as a subsidiary of DreamWorks SKG, the label operated until 2005 when it was shut down...
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
Sunset Sound Recorders
Sunset Sound Recorders is a recording studio in Hollywood, California, located at 6650 Sunset Boulevard.The Sunset Sound Recorders complex was converted in 1962 by Walt Disney's Director of Recording, Tutti Camarata, from a collection of old commercial and residential buildings - some built more...
in Hollywood
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Hollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema...
, Sonora Studios in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, Capitol Studios in Hollywood, and Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios is a recording studio located at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, its present owner...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
("Stupidity Tries", "In the Lost and Found (Honky Bach)" and "Pretty Mary K"). The album was also released on double vinyl
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
12" on Bong Load Custom Records
Bong Load Custom Records
Bong Load Custom Records is an independent record label based in Los Angeles which was founded by producers Tom Rothrock, Rob Schnapf and partner Bradshaw Lambert. One of their biggest signings was Beck in 1991. Other notable bands from the original Bong Load Custom Records include Fu Manchu, Wool,...
, and later re-released by Plain Records in 2008. It is also available as a digital download
Music download
A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...
.
The title is thought to be taken from a song by Schoolhouse Rock!
Schoolhouse Rock!
Schoolhouse Rock! is an American interstitial programming series of animated musical educational short films that aired during the Saturday morning children's programming on the U.S. television network ABC. The topics covered included grammar, science, economics, history, mathematics, and civics...
; 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".
Reception
Metacritic gave "Figure 8" a score of 81 (universal acclaim).The music review online magazine
Online magazine
An online magazine shares some features with a blog and also with online newspapers, but can usually be distinguished by its approach to editorial control...
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
placed Figure 8 at number 190 on their list of top 200 albums of the 2000s.
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
had similar praises for the album, placing it at #42 on the "100 Best Albums of the Decade" list:
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 CoomesSam CoomesSamuel J. Coomes is an American musician, and currently one-third of the Portland-area indie band Quasi, along with drummer and ex-wife Janet Weiss and bassist Joanna Bolme...
- bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
on "Everything Means Nothing to Me," "In the Lost and Found (Honky Bach)," "Stupidity Tries," and "Pretty Mary K" - Pete Thomas - drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
on "Junk Bond Trader," "Wouldn't Mama Be Proud?" and "Can't Make a Sound" - Joey WaronkerJoey WaronkerJoseph "Joey" Waronker is an American drummer and music producer. He is the son of record producer Lenny Waronker and singer/actress Donna Loren; his younger sister is musician Anna Waronker; and his grandfather is record executive and professional violinist Simon Waronker. He has three other...
- drums on "Stupidity Tries" - Jon BrionJon BrionJon Brion is an American rock and pop multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, composer and record producer.-Early life:...
- backup vocals on "Happiness/The Gondola Man"
Track listing
(All songs written by Elliott Smith)- "Son of SamSon of Sam (song)"Son of Sam" is a song written by Elliott Smith. It was released on his fifth studio album Figure 8 in April 2000, and then as a single in November 2000.The song was not about the real life "Son of Sam", serial killer David Berkowitz...
" – 3:04 - "Somebody That I Used to Know" – 2:09
- "Junk Bond Trader" – 3:49
- "Everything Reminds Me of Her" – 2:37
- "Everything Means Nothing to Me" – 2:24
- "L.A." – 3:14
- "In the Lost and Found (Honky Bach)/The Roost" – 4:32
- "Stupidity Tries" – 4:23
- "Easy Way Out" – 2:44
- "Wouldn't Mama Be Proud" – 3:25
- "Color Bars" – 2:19
- "Happiness/The Gondola ManHappiness (Elliott Smith song)"Happiness" is a song written by Elliott Smith which was first released as a single in 1999.-Versions:A slightly different mix of the song was released on his album Figure 8 in 2000....
" – 5:04 - "Pretty Mary K" – 2:36
- "I Better Be Quiet Now" – 3:35
- "Can't Make a Sound" – 4:18
- "Bye" – 1:53
Available on CD, cassette and LP. A DreamWorks Records
DreamWorks Records
DreamWorks Records was an American record label. Founded in 1996 by David Geffen, Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg as a subsidiary of DreamWorks SKG, the label operated until 2005 when it was shut down...
release.
Produced by Tom Rothrock
Tom Rothrock
Tom Rothrock is an international record producer, composer and musician. Tom Rothrock has produced albums with James Blunt, Badly Drawn Boy, R. L. Burnside, Yonder Mountain String Band, Athlete, Sloan and Roman Carter....
, Rob Schnapf
Rob Schnapf
Rob Schnapf is an American record producer and musician. He was the co-producer of Elliott Smith's albums Either/Or, XO , Figure 8 and From a Basement on the Hill, for which he was recruited by Smith's family to complete after Smith's death.Schnapf, along with Rothrock and partner...
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'The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
song "Because
Because (The Beatles song)
"Because" is a song written by John Lennon and recorded by The Beatles in 1969. It features a prominent three-part vocal harmony by Lennon, McCartney and George Harrison, overdubbed three times to make nine voices in all...
" and "Figure 8", an abridged cover of a Schoolhouse Rock!
Schoolhouse Rock!
Schoolhouse Rock! is an American interstitial programming series of animated musical educational short films that aired during the Saturday morning children's programming on the U.S. television network ABC. The topics covered included grammar, science, economics, history, mathematics, and civics...
song.
The promotional CD for Figure 8 featured cover artwork by Mike Mills
Mike Mills (director)
Michael C. "Mike" Mills is an American film and music video director and graphic designer. He is perhaps best known for his independent films Thumbsucker and Beginners.-Early life:...
, director of Thumbsucker
Thumbsucker (film)
Thumbsucker is a 2005 American comedy-drama film directed by Mike Mills adapted from the Walter Kirn novel of the same name. The movie focuses on teenager Justin Cobb and how he copes with his thumb sucking problem, and his experiments with hypnosis, sex and drugs.-Plot:Justin Cobb is a shy...
. Smith contributed songs to the Thumbsucker soundtrack
Thumbsucker (soundtrack)
Thumbsucker is the soundtrack to the film of the same name, which is based on the novel of the same name by Walter Kirn. It was released on September 13, 2005 under the Hollywood Records label...
.
Officially released songs
- "A Living Will" - Included on the "Son of SamSon of Sam (song)"Son of Sam" is a song written by Elliott Smith. It was released on his fifth studio album Figure 8 in April 2000, and then as a single in November 2000.The song was not about the real life "Son of Sam", serial killer David Berkowitz...
" single. - "Because" - BeatlesThe BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
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!Schoolhouse Rock!Schoolhouse Rock! is an American interstitial programming series of animated musical educational short films that aired during the Saturday morning children's programming on the U.S. television network ABC. The topics covered included grammar, science, economics, history, mathematics, and civics...
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 SouthlanderSouthlanderSouthlander is an American independent film by Steve Hanft and Ross Harris.Originally titled Recycler after the Los Angeles magazine of the same name, the filmwriters changed the name of the movie—and a central plot device—to Southlander to avoid trademark issues.- Plot :Down-and-out...
, 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
Autumn de Wilde
Autumn de Wilde is an American photographer best known for her portraiture and commercial work photography of musicians.-Early life:...
'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
Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard is a street in the western part of Los Angeles County, California, that stretches from Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Coast Highway at the Pacific Ocean in the Pacific Palisades...
, 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
Roger Waters
George Roger Waters is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. He was a founding member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd, serving as bassist and co-lead vocalist. Following the departure of bandmate Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became the band's lyricist, principal songwriter...
' The Wall Live
The Wall Live (2010–2011 tour)
The Wall Live is a worldwide concert tour by Roger Waters, formerly of Pink Floyd. The tour is the first time the Pink Floyd album The Wall has been performed in its entirety by the band or any of its former members since Waters performed the album live in Berlin 21 July 1990...
. After finding out what had happened, Waters ordered for it to be removed.. 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.