搬运译Pitchfork评Elliott Smith 1997年专辑《Either/Or》: Expanded Edition
搬运自：网易云音乐专栏【Music Online Zine Courier】（在原文基础上添加了英语原文与排版调整）
翻译：豆目豆科
The 20th anniversary remaster of Smith's final solo album before his major label debut highlights its inimitable sound and style: a magical, alchemical mix of intimacy and bombast.
这是Smith在大厂牌发行专辑前的最后一张个人专辑，而如今也迎来了它的20周年纪念再版，其独特的声音和风格依旧闪耀：亲密感与浮华感间奇妙、如同炼金术般的融合。
About two minutes into Either/Or opener “Speed Trials,” Elliott Smith’s seamlessly double-tracked lead vocal splits into a two-part harmony. It’s a very subtle gesture, and only lasts for a few seconds—but contrasted with the tight, hushed unison of Smith’s prior solo output, it feels as dramatic as The Wizard of Oz shifting from sepia to technicolor. This moment plays out like a microcosm of Either/Or at large, the sound of Smith conjuring something far bigger than himself and coming into his own as a songwriter, arranger, and performer. The final album in Smith’s catalog before the major label-backed XO and Figure 8, Either/Or marks the last time Smith’s instincts would outpace the studio resources to execute them. It's extraordinary how he embodies a magical, alchemical mix of intimacy and bombast.
在《Either/Or》的第一首歌“Speed Trials”进行了大约两分钟后，Elliott Smith将双轨主音悄无声息地分割成两部分和声。这是个异常微妙的手笔，虽然只持续了几秒钟——但与Smith以往独唱作品中紧凑、宁静的和谐相比，这感觉就像《绿野仙踪》从深褐到多彩的戏剧性转变。这一时刻宛如整张《Either/Or》的缩影，Smith用他的声音召唤出一些远比他自身更强大的东西，坚实了一个词曲作家、编曲人和演唱者的多重身份。这是Smith在大厂牌旗下发行《XO》和《Figure 8》前的最后一张专辑，《Either/Or》标志着Smith的创作本能最后一次盖过工作室管制去执行这有关音乐的一切。更为非凡的是他如何将亲密与浮华奇妙、如同炼金术般的融汇在一起的。
By the time Either/Or was released in 1997, Smith was no stranger to the cynical machinations of the post-grunge major label gold rush. A year prior, his former band Heatmiser had been put through that very ringer, an experience captured in Either/Or standouts “Pictures of Me” and “Angeles.” Either/Or sounds like the work of somebody who has zero interest in either conforming to or directly transgressing the “commercial” sounds of the day. It’s too ambitious to read as “lo-fi” and too gritty to read as straightforward pop classicism. Thankfully, this 20th anniversary remaster doesn't smooth out too many of those rough edges—if anything, it brings the unique sound of the record into even clearer focus.
1997年在《Either/Or》刚刚发行时，Smith对主流唱片公司所钟爱的post-grunge圈钱浪潮并不陌生。一年前，他还在乐队Heatmiser担任主唱时做了类似的尝试，这一经历在《Either/Or》中的代表作“Pictures of Me”和“Angeles”中有所体现。《Either/Or》听起来像发自那种对顺应或直接超越当时的“商业”声音毫无兴趣的厌世者的声音。它的野心极大，与“摆烂”毫不相关，又太过晦涩，不像是通常意义上直白的流行经典。值得庆幸的是，在这个20周年的重制版中这些棱角并没有被磨平——如果有的话，也只是让唱片中独特的声音变得更加清晰。
The sounds and words of Either/Or often conjure very specific images, textures, and situations. And yet, Smith—as with many truly great songwriters—used this specificity as a way to explore emotional themes that resonate both deeply and broadly. Nowhere is this clearer than “Between the Bars,” the closest thing to a modern-day standard Smith ever wrote and covered by everyone from Metric to Madonna. It’s not a love song, exactly, and it’s not a song about addiction, exactly. “Between the Bars” is about the ways in which protecting somebody you love turns into the need to control that person. The fact that Smith was able to build this much emotional complexity into a song that sounds at home in a stadium or at a Starbucks speaks to his irreplaceable gift as a songwriter.
《Either/Or》中的声音和文字往往能令人联想到非常具体的图像、纹理亦或情境。然而，Smith——同许多真正伟大的作曲家一样——将这一特性视作探索情感主旋律的一种方式，广而深地引起共鸣。这一点在“Between the Bars”中体现得淋漓尽致，这也是Smith笔下最接近现代审美标准的歌曲，无论是Metric还是麦当娜都曾翻唱过。确切地说，这并不是一首情歌，也不是一首讲述迷恋情愫的歌。“Between the Bars”是对你所爱之人的保护欲慢慢演变为控制欲的过程。事实上，Smith能够将如此复杂的情感建立在一首适合在各种场景中演绎的歌曲上，也印证了他有着作为一个作曲家不可或缺的天赋。
Elsewhere, Smith amplifies his well-honed songwriting chops with more fleshed-out arrangements. “Ballad of Big Nothing” propels itself forward with bubbly McCartney-esque bass lines and background vocals that sound like they might have been string arrangements if there were an orchestra handy. “Angeles” and “Cupid’s Trick” provide a back-to-back study in Smith’s versatility as a guitarist, going from intricate fingerpicked pattern to lopey electric riffs. By the time album closer “Say Yes” rolls around, it’s clear that the solo acoustic approach is a specific and purposeful choice, and no longer Smith’s default mode.
在专辑的其他曲目中，Smith运用更丰富的编曲来为他娴熟的歌曲创作技巧增色。“Ballad of Big Nothing”以McCartney式的轻快低音和背景人声向前推进，倘若手边就是管弦乐队的话，相较而言这些声音听起来同弦乐编曲也没什么不同。“Angeles”和“Cupid 's Trick”让我们对Smith吉他手的身份有了进一步的了解，他从复杂的指弹旋律到极速的电吉他riff无所不能。来到专辑的尾声“Say Yes”，很明显，独唱，这一声学表现方法是一个特定且“有所图”的选择，而非Smith歌曲的默认模式。
This reissue is framed as an “expanded” edition, and the bonus materials included fit the bill nicely. Rather than aiming for comprehensiveness or definitiveness, the bonus tracks provide interesting glimpses into Smith’s growing strength as a live solo performer (some excellent live recordings of album and non-album cuts), sense of humor (a sketch of New Moon track “New Monkey” that sounds like it was played on a baseball organ), and where he would go with his next record (a formative version of XO cut “Bottle Up and Explode!” that shows just how much thoughtful editing and revision went into the final version). And then there’s “I Figured You Out,” a longtime fan favorite that Smith gave to his friend Mary Lou Lord to record because it “sounds like the fuckin’ Eagles.” “I Figured You Out” would have been the most straightforward and polished song on Either/Or, and its omission speaks volumes about how determined Smith was to find his own voice and chart his own path.
这次是以“扩展”版的形式再发行的，其中囊括的附赠加曲很好地满足了这一噱头。加曲并非以全面或“敲定成品”为目标，而是提供了那些创作过程中有趣的“灵光一现”，让人们了解到Smith作为即兴独唱表演者日益增长的实力（一些来自专辑或其他辑子里曲目的现场录音）、幽默感（《New Moon》中的曲目“New Monkey”的小样，听起来像是用体育场风琴演奏的），甚至还有他下张专辑的影子（《XO》中“Bottle Up and Explode!”的最终版本，也可见它的诞生进行了多么深思熟虑的编辑和修改）。还有“I Figured You Out”，这是歌迷多年以来的口碑之作，Smith因为它“听起来像特么的老鹰乐队”而将之交给朋友Mary Lou Lord来录制。“I Figured You Out”原先是《Either/Or》收录的最直白、最精炼的歌曲，它多年的遗漏充分说明了Smith多么坚定地寻找自己的声音、规划自己的道路。
In the years that followed the release of Either/Or, Smith managed to do just that, performing “Miss Misery” at the Academy Awards and releasing an uncompromising major label debut. For some of his fans, Either/Or marked the end of Smith’s career as a direct and intimate folk singer-songwriter. For others, Either/Or marked the beginning of Smith’s career as a one-man classic pop band. In truth, Either/Or marks the one moment in Smith’s career when he was truly both.
在《Either/Or》发行的后几年里，Smith走上奥斯卡颁奖典礼的舞台上表演“Miss Misery”，并在主流唱片公司名下发行了毫不妥协主流的首张专辑。对于他的一部分歌迷而言，《Either/Or》标志着Smith作为一个直白而亲民的民谣歌手兼词曲作家的职业生涯的结束；而对其他人来说，《Either/Or》标志着Smith单人经典流行乐队生涯的开始。无论如何，《Either/Or》标志着Smith在音乐生涯中的一个重要时刻，他真正做到了非此即彼、二者兼得。
