MTV is streaming the Elliott Smith album. It's really great, it really is. I read somewhere (okay, Entertainment Weekly) that he had become obsessed with the White Album, and you can hear that. It really does have a lot of different textures, tones, and moods. But it's creepy to hear him sing "I know how I began and how I'll end/ Strung out again" and "It's just a fond farewell to a friend/ Who couldn't get things right". It's hard to view this album unmoved by the past, but on it's own, it's really a tremendous piece of work. There may be some insight into who Elliott Smith was at the end, but you never can tell. I do know there's nothing on the album so far to shed light on the rumor of whether he killed himself in order to get Mary Lou Lord to stop calling.

And I have to say, I love this whole "streaming preview" thing. Brilliant. I don't even have to buy albums anymore. I can use all the money I'm saving on my two new passions: archery and aromatherapy. (Well, I have three new passions if you count robot erotic fiction, but that doesn't cost any money.)