Album · Elliott Smith
Either/Or by Elliott Smith
Either/Or is an album by Elliott Smith, released in 1997. 3 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 8 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Between the Bars”, on 5 lists with a best position of #47.
Either/Or, Elliott Smith's third album, came out on Kill Rock Stars on February 25, 1997, though most of it was pieced together in Portland, Oregon, across 1995 and 1996, while he was still a member of Heatmiser. By the time it arrived the band was finished, and this record makes it plain where his heart had been. Smith produced it with Tom Rothrock and Rob Schnapf, and it's a hushed, intimate marvel: acoustic guitars, artful chord changes and that whispery murmur of a voice, songs that sound like confessions made at 3am.
"Speed Trials" and "Ballad of Big Nothing" were the singles, and the album never troubled the US charts, but critics fell hard. So did Gus Van Sant, who put "Between the Bars", "Angeles" and "Say Yes" into Good Will Hunting, and the quiet record made it to the big screen.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Either/Or on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Between the Bars | 5 | #47 | – | 2007–2023 | |
| 2 | Angeles | 2 | #334 | – | 2022–2023 | |
| 3 | Ballad of Big Nothing | 1 | #789 | – | 2023 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.