Elliott Smith's Roman Candle re-issue gets release date

Late last year it was announced that Elliott Smith's first release, Roman Candle, was to be re-issued through Kill Rock Stars in the US of A. This was good news. It will now be released on these shores through Domino, with April 5 being the magic date. This is better news.

As previously reported, the 1994 basement-recorded album has also been re-mastered, this time by Larry Crane, editor of Tape Op Magazine and archivist for Smith's family, along with Roger Seibel at SAE Mastering.

Larry says, of the re-mastering process:

“The intention that I had was to make the album more listenable. I felt that a lot of the guitar “squeaks” were jarring and very loud, and that many of the hard consonants and “S” sounds were jarring and scratchy sounding. I felt by reducing these noises that the music would become more inviting and the sound would serve the songs better. When I went to Roger Seibel's SAE Mastering, he proceeded to equalize the tracks a small amount and to make the volume slightly louder.”

“We never tried to make this CD as loud as current, over-limited trends, but just to match the volume of the rest of Elliott’s catalogue in a graceful way. Please note that none of this album is “remixed” from the master tapes - it is still composed of the mixes Elliott created himself.”

Track list for re-issue below:

1. Roman Candle
2. Condor Ave.
3. No Name #1 (Elliott Smith, J.J. Gonson)
4. No Name #2
5. No Name #3
6. Drive All Over Town
7. No Name #4
8. Last Call
9. Kiwi Maddog 20/20