By Chris Moore:
Trying to find great acoustic cover songs on the web is like trying to find a needle in the hay…
…and now you can find both in the same place!! (In this case, a great acoustic cover song music blog AND a “Needle in the Hay”)
Seriously, though, it is my pleasure to bring you the Laptop Sessions’ second installment in the Elliott Smith category (see our 100+ band categories in the drop-down menu above) with his great song “Needle in the Hay.” This is track one on his second, self-titled album. I truly love Elliott Smith’s work, but I’m really a fan of his third (Either/Or), fourth (XO), and especially fifth (Figure 8 ) albums. His first two releases are solid and I’ve grown more and more fond of them after multiple listens. I think what really holds them back for me is the fact that they’re predominantly Smith and his acoustic guitar. There is, of course, double-tracking and soloing, but it simply doesn’t stand up to the mixture of simple acoustic tracks and lively, fully-produced, upbeat tracks on the aforementioned three later albums. I just discovered XO recently, and I was so into it that I decided to record my first Elliott Smith session based on “Waltz #2 (XO).”
So, you may be wondering why I chose this track from the early two albums. The answer is simple — what better song to record for an acoustic cover than a song that is already based on vocals and acoustic guitar alone? I hope you enjoy this song as much as I enjoyed learning and playing it — I’ll certainly be digging into Smith’s catalog again at a later date, after I’ve helped patch some holes in our category offerings (can anyone say, “The Rolling Stones” or “Simon and Garfunkel”?…).
See you next session!