10 Greatest Acoustic Rock Albums

Does any album start with a more depressing track than this one? Perhaps not. Elliott Smith’s self titled sophomore solo effort leaves the listener with no illusions, kicking off as it does with “Needle In The Hay”, one of the single bleakest tracks ever recorded.

It’s also a magnificent tune, from its wrong-footing chord sequence to Smith’s desperate falsetto. Things get a little sunnier from there in part. The warm, rolling guitar of “Clementine” is genuinely lovely, and “Coming Up Roses” even adds a brief full band feel for a shot of energy.

But Smith true to form fills his record with the gloomier side of things. The skittish “Southern Belle” has ghostly vibes, from the piled up, heavily strummed guitars to Smith’s voice, multitracked just off kilter for a disconcerting feel.

Smith evolved significantly as an artist, with later records allowing him to showcase a more maximalist, Beatles-indebted approach, but his great songwriting and beautiful, much-missed voice are fully formed on this 1995 release.