XO is the name of the fourth album recorded 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...

. Smith's first work on a major label, it was 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 August 25, 1998. 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,...

 released it on vinyl LP, which has since gone out of print. Vinyl copies of XO remained rare until a re-release by Plain Records in 2008. The album is also available as 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 singles from XO were "Waltz #2 (XO)" and "Baby Britain

Baby Britain

"Baby Britain" is a song written by Elliott Smith for his fourth studio album XO, released in 1998. The song was also released as a single in 1999.A remix version of "Baby Britain" was released on the Baby Britain promo CD...

". An early working title for the album was Grand Mal. Smith recorded numerous songs during the XO sessions that did not make it to the album.

Spin magazine included XO on their list of the best albums of the last 25 years, ranking it at No. 90. Writers at pitchfork.com placed the album at No. 23 (1st edition, 1999) and No. 68 (2nd edition, 2003) on their lists of favorite albums from the 90s. The album was placed at #5 on the 1998 "Pazz and Jop" poll. http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/pjres98.php Matthew LeMay has written a book about XO as part of the 33⅓ series, released on April 6, 2009 by the Continuum International Publishing Group

Continuum International Publishing Group

The Continuum International Publishing Group is a publisher of books, with its editorial offices in London and New York City. It had been owned by Nova Capital Management since 2005...

.

Track listing

All songs written by Elliott Smith.

1. "Sweet Adeline" – 3:15
2. "Tomorrow Tomorrow" – 3:07
3. "Waltz #2 (XO)" – 4:40
4. "Baby Britain
   Baby Britain
   "Baby Britain" is a song written by Elliott Smith for his fourth studio album XO, released in 1998. The song was also released as a single in 1999.A remix version of "Baby Britain" was released on the Baby Britain promo CD...
   
   " – 3:13
5. "Pitseleh" – 3:22
6. "Independence Day" – 3:04
7. "Bled White" – 3:22
8. "Waltz #1" – 3:22
9. "Amity" – 2:20
10. "Oh Well, Okay" – 2:33
11. "Bottle Up and Explode!" – 2:58
12. "A Question Mark" – 2:41
13. "Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands" – 4:25
14. "I Didn't Understand" – 2:17

Available on CD, cassette and LP. A DreamWorks release.

Recorded at Sunset Sound, The Sound Factory, Ocean Way and Sonora Recorders, Los Angeles, CA, except "Baby Britain" and "Amity" which were recorded at Jackpot! Studios, Portland, OR.

Strings and horns arranged by Elliott Smith with Tom Halm and Shelly Berg.

Sleeve by Johnson and Wolverton, Portland, OR.
Photographs by Eric Matthies.

Trivia

The title of the first track, "Sweet Adeline", was inspired by Smith's recollections of his grandmother singing in her glee club

Glee club

A glee club is a musical group or choir group, historically of male voices but also of female or mixed voices, which traditionally specializes in the singing of short songs—glees—by trios or quartets. In the late 19th Century it was very popular in most schools and was made a tradition...

, Sweet Adelines International.

"Amity" was named after a friend who can be seen in photographs from Smith's 1997 tour.

RJD2

RJD2

RJD2 is an American music producer, singer and musician. RJD2 was born in Eugene, Oregon, and raised in Columbus, Ohio. He currently resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was signed to the Definitive Jux label where he released two largely instrumental hip hop albums and has produced tracks...

 sampled "I Didn't Understand" for the song "Ghostwriter" on his album Deadringer

Deadringer (album)

Deadringer is the debut album of RJD2. It was released on July 23, 2002 on Definitive Jux.-Track listing:# "The Horror" – 4:11# "Salud" – 0:38# "Smoke & Mirrors" – 4:26# "Good Times Roll Pt.2" – 4:57# "Final Frontier" – 4:25...

.

Musicians

• Jon Brion
  Jon Brion
  Jon Brion is an American rock and pop multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, composer and record producer.-Early life:...
  
   – chamberlin
  Chamberlin
  The Chamberlin is an electro-mechanical keyboard instrument that was a precursor to the Mellotron. It was developed and patented by Iowa, Wisconsin inventor Harry Chamberlin from 1949 to 1956, when the first model was introduced. Various models and versions of these Chamberlin music instruments...
  
   and vibraphone
  Vibraphone
  The vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family....
  
   on "Waltz #1", "Bottle Up and Explode!", and "Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands".
• 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....
  
   – drum loop
  Music loop
  In electroacoustic music, a loop is a repeating section of sound material. Short sections of material can be repeated to create ostinato patterns...
  
   on "Independence Day"
• 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...
  
   – guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
   on "Baby Britain"
• Paul Pulvirenti - drum
  Drum
  The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
  
  s on "Baby Britain"http://www.blamonet.com/vb/showthread.php?t=194356
• Joey Waronker
  Joey Waronker
  Joseph "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...
  
   – drum
  Drum
  The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
  
  s on "Bled White" and "Bottle Up and Explode!"
• Bruce Eskovitz – Bass saxophone
  Bass saxophone
  The bass saxophone is the second largest member of the saxophone family. Its design is similar to that of the baritone saxophone, with a loop of tubing near the mouthpiece. It was the first type of saxophone presented to the public, when Adolphe Sax exhibited a bass saxophone in C at an exhibition...
  
  , Baritone saxophone
  Baritone saxophone
  The baritone saxophone, often called "bari sax" , is one of the largest and lowest pitched members of the saxophone family. It was invented by Adolphe Sax. The baritone is distinguished from smaller sizes of saxophone by the extra loop near its mouthpiece...
  
  , and flute
  Flute
  The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
  
  
• Ray Poper – Trumpet
  Trumpet
  The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
  
  
• R. James Atkinson – French Horn
• 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...
  
   – everything else

Outtakes, B-sides, and non-album tracks

The following tracks were recorded during the XO sessions but ultimately did not make the album:

Officially released

• "Miss Misery" - Featured on the Good Will Hunting
  Good Will Hunting
  Good Will Hunting is a 1997 drama film directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Matt Damon, Robin Williams, Ben Affleck, Minnie Driver, and Stellan Skarsgård...
  
  soundtrack.
• "Our Thing" - Featured on the "Waltz #2 (XO)" single. According to Larry Crane, "I'm pretty sure Quasi
  Quasi
  Quasi is an American indie rock band formed in Portland, Oregon in 1993 by ex-husband and wife Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss . Since 2007 the group has been a trio, following the addition of bassist Joanna Bolme.-History:In 1990 , Coomes, Weiss, and Brad Pedinov formed the band Motorgoat...
  
   backs him on this."
• "Division Day / No Name #6" - Released as a single in 1998.
• "Waltz #1" (Demo) - According to Larry Crane, "the version released is same as the Jackpot! demos version. There were no rough or final mixes, just the one! Never titled 'I Wish'! It did have a temp title as 'Bushmills'!"

Posthumously released

• "First Timer" - Featured on New Moon
  New Moon (Elliott Smith album)
  New Moon is a 2-CD/2-LP posthumous compilation album by Elliott Smith, released on May 8, 2007 by Kill Rock Stars.It contains 24 previously unreleased songs recorded between 1994 and 1997, when Smith recorded his albums Elliott Smith and Either/Or, both also released by Kill Rock Stars. It peaked...
  
  (later renamed and re-recorded as "From a Poisoned Well").
• "Miss Misery" (early version) - Featured on New Moon
  New Moon (Elliott Smith album)
  New Moon is a 2-CD/2-LP posthumous compilation album by Elliott Smith, released on May 8, 2007 by Kill Rock Stars.It contains 24 previously unreleased songs recorded between 1994 and 1997, when Smith recorded his albums Elliott Smith and Either/Or, both also released by Kill Rock Stars. It peaked...
  
  .
• "Cecilia/Amanda" (Jackpot! version) - Released by Kill Rock Stars as a free download on occasion of Roman Candle
  Roman candle
  Roman candle is a traditional type of firework, that ejects one or more stars or exploding shells.Roman candles come in a variety of sizes, from small 6 mm diameter for consumers, and up to 8 cm diameter in professional fireworks displays.Roman candles are banned in some countries due...
  
   and From a Basement on a Hill being added to their catalog on April 6, 2010. Recorded at Jackpot! Recording Studio in 1997 by Larry Crane. An earlier version of this song was initially written and recorded by Elliott's high school band, Stranger Than Fiction, and was known as "Time is Ours Now". "Cecilia/Amanda" is a reworking of that song with almost completely different lyrics.

Unofficially released

• "A Silver Chain" - instrumental version; no vocals were ever recorded on the master from Jackpot!, although the song was played live with vocals.
• "A Question Mark" - alternate instrumental version.
• "Bled White" - alternate version.
• "Brand New Game" – the process of recording this song at Jackpot! Studios after XO was recorded can be seen briefly in Strange Parallel. This song would be attempted again during the Figure 8 and From a Basement on the Hill sessions.
• "Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands" - alternate version.
• "Division Day" - alternate version.
• "I Didn't Understand" - alternate version.
• "Taking a Fall"
• "Instrumental No. 2 (Waltz)"
• "Grand Mal" (two versions appear to have been recorded; at the end of this surfaced version, Smith comments that it is too fast)

Unreleased

• "Cecilia/Amanda" (XO version) - The XO sessions version of this song remains unreleased.
• "Rock #1" (may be a working title for another XO-era song)
• "Echo Park" (mentioned in Autumn DeWilde's Elliott Smith book)
• "Grand Mal" (two versions appear to have been recorded; the reel of this recording has "slow version" written on it)
• "Piano Thing" (may be a working title for another XO-era song)
• "Sweet Adeline" - alternate version, featuring Paul Pulvirenti on drums. According to Larry Crane: "As far as we know, it has no vocals. It's on the same reel as 'Baby Britain', which is Interscope's property."
• "Tom's Start" (also known as "Back in the Day") - Later renamed as "Happiness" (with added instrumentation and tracking), which was included on Smith's next album, Figure 8
  Figure 8 (album)
  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...
  
  .
• "True Believer" - instrumental