Track Listing

1. Sweet Adeline
2. Tomorrow Tomorrow
3. Waltz #2 (XO)
4. Baby Britain
5. Pitseleh
6. Independence Day
7. Bled White
8. Waltz #1
9. Amity
10. Oh Well OK
11. Bottle Up And Explode! - Elliott Smith, Tom Rothrock, Rob Schanpf
12. A Question Mark
13. Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands
14. I Didn't Understand

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5276 in Music
• Released on: 1999-03-20
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 45 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
On XO, Elliott Smith leaves the indie doldrums behind and takes wing to new, lush surroundings. By adding full instrumentation to his acoustic reveries, Smith has ascended to a new level of song-writing that shores up his gentle voice and country-tinged guitar playing with extra layers of vocal arrangements and charming piano vamps. Strains of classic rock filter into the Beatlesque "Baby Britain" and the Beach Boys-inspired "I Didn't Understand"- but Smith succeeds in adapting them to his style rather than the other way around. A foot soldier in DreamWorks' war on standard-issue rock & roll, Smith joins new label mates Rufus Wainwright and Morphine as sophisticated interpreters of the new male psyche. XO is a stunning shadow print of a soul adrift in the music industry, a dark place indeed. --Lois Maffeo

CD Description
The Cinderella-esque climb from lo-fi indie cult artist to Grammy nominee/major label darling must have been a perilousone for Smith, who makes the leap to the big time here after three well-regarded albums on small labels. He's lost noneof his bite, though. The production values on XO may be slightly higher, but Smith's vision remains undiluted.
The production, centred around acoustic guitar augmented by keyboards and lush vocal harmonies, recalls pop icons like the Beach Boys (especially on the closing acapella cut), Beatles and Big Star, but this is no sunny Cali-pop album. Leavening the instrumental brightness are Smith's Nick Drake-ish whisper and his thoroughly downcast lyrics, which cast him squarely in the Mark Eitzel/Smog camp of unrelenting self-effacement and misery. The combination of Smith's internal angst andhis melodic pop constructions makes for a compelling artistic tension.

Customer Reviews

I AM speechless at this guys talent
the first elliott smith album i bought was "either/or"
and i thought that was fantstic then i invested in this classic "XO" and i was blown away i mean BLOWN AWAY AT HOW beautifully melodic and catchy his melodies and lyrics were and the lyrics are some of his best a great fantastic warming album which leaves a warm feeling inside after the album has finished and it doesn't go away for a couple of hours i can tell you i love this album so friggin much it's unbelieveble i haven't been blown away with an album like this since i bought mark lanegan's "bubblegum"
a classic masterpiece of art BUY BUY BUY IT now click add to basket and reep the genius of elliott smith "xo"

what can I say ...amazing
I have been an avid Elliott fan for the past 12 months, I am only sorry that I didn't get to know about this most amazing artist earlier. All of Elliotts albums are a masterpiece in their own way, with XO and Either/Or being my two personal favourites at the moment. XO takes you on a beautiful ride starting with the melodic 'Sweet Adeline' to the impeccable guitar picking in 'Pitseleh' then onto the instrumental peaks such as 'Bled White' and 'Amity' and finishing on a the fullfilling note of 'I Didn't Understand' where Elliott puts on an amazing acapella performance. I cannot say enough about this album, easily a favourite of all time and something that no good CD collection should be without. If you buy this then I guarantee it will only be a short while before you own all five Elliott albums.

Simply incredible
I've been a fan of Elliott Smith for a while and to hear of his death was saddening as he wrote and performed such amazing songs.

X/O is my favourite record by Elliott Smith and perhaps by any other artist. It is such a pure record with melodies and lyrics that stir the soul. True X/O can come across as depressing but I found it to be quite cathartic, it somehow alleviates the problems in my life.

It amazes me how Elliott Smith could write such pure and beautiful songs from such painful and heartbreaking subject matter.In a way it is nice that Elliott was not hugely famous as it gives real fans an opportunity to hold on to something that they can feel is uniquely theirs.

X/O is a superb record that deserves to be listened to by all people that appreciate what music really should be.