The least comfortable of rock stars, Elliott Smith never thrived in the spotlight, but his gift for tender and melodic alternative rock repeatedly pushed him there. For many, their introduction to Smith and his predicament came at the 1998 Academy Awards. His song Miss Misery had been featured in the film Good Will Hunting, and now here he was, nominated for Best Original Song: taking a bow with Celine Dion, with unwashed hair, performing in a white suit.
Miss Misery (contemporary with, if not featured on, the current release) was a fine example of Smith's art. Self-evidently melancholic, folky, it isolated a desolate emotional state and gave it a female name.
The musicians of five years previously – like say, Nirvana – had vocalised their issues of low self-esteem in a cathartic grunge rock. Smith’s previous band Heatmiser had flirted with this mode but his solo material was more melodically searching and candid, the gaze of his music turned inwards, his worst criticisms reserved for himself.
Heatmiser, he felt, had been burned by the corporate rock business, and clearly Smith retained his suspicions, his first two solo albums being home-recorded, low profile affairs. Either/Or, which was initially released on the indie label Kill Rock Stars, was comparatively big-budget, being in part studio-recorded, and with a producer other than himself.
This 20th anniversary reissue adds some punch to the original sound and presents some complimentary, if not essential, extras (a few live tracks), but it’s the 31-minute original album which still commands attention.
At the time it was made, Smith could feel the heat of music business interest rising around him. There were lines round the block when he played New York's CMJ Music Marathon in 1996. He found this kind of development absurd and, in an oblique way, inspiring. It's fair to say that the album finds Smith on his guard about it all. On Angeles he references a slick, possibly music biz, professional "trailing a new kill". Even the sweet-sounding, previously unreleased I Figured You Out mentions dollar signs.
The idea of money as a corrupting influence, leading the musician off course, is seeded eloquently throughout the album. Early on, in Ballad Of Big Nothing, Smith presents the image of someone throwing sweets out into the crowd, sweets which by the time of Rose Parade have become "shaped like money".
Rose Parade is one of the album's best songs and finds the singer observing a shambolic civic event where the band is hobbled by its self-medicating trumpet player. The supposedly dignified event descends into absurd chaos.
This, we’re not left in much doubt, is precisely how Smith saw the music business. “A ridiculous marching band started playing,” he sings. “And got me singing along with some half-hearted victory song…”
Vulnerable and suspicious, Smith was on the lookout for the undercover cop in everyone, and had exactingly high standards for himself. This could yield extraordinary results – this album isn’t only self-composed, it’s also entirely self-played, Smith arranging sympathetically his intricate fingerstyle guitar with drums and the occasional deadly guitar solo.
It also meant he was his own sternest critic, viewing with disdain the shuffling character of Alameda, unable to connect emotionally ("You broke your own heart/You can't finish what you start…"). Between the Bars mercilessly unpicks dreams and ambitions as self-delusion – and how the reality of mediocrity will present itself, like an alarm call, with the morning's sobriety. The ironically jaunty Pictures Of Me develops the idea more explicitly, with the singer finding himself in the spotlight but it being "completely wrong". Cupid's Trick is the album's immediately-killer rock song, haunting and mean, but also the one whose lyrics remain enigmatically unprinted on the sleeve.
It should all be an agonising listen, and when Smith died in 2003 (an apparent suicide), his catalogue offered up self-lacerating couplets and tales of self-medication. Those alone miss the point and underplay the magnificent delicacy and power of this music.
Smith wrote about depression and numbness, and falling short artistically, but his music was no documentary. His real subject was romantic: how to do justice to music, to love and to passing time.
Opening the envelope in 1998, Madonna expressed no surprise that the award for Best Original Song had been awarded to the writers of Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On, theme from the movie Titanic. "What a shocker," she said, utterly deadpan.
You suspect the outcome won't have surprised Elliott Smith much, either. In spite of everything, Either/Or, remains a resounding victory for someone who didn't much believe in them.
John Robinson is associate editor of Uncut and the Guardian Guide’s rock critic. He lives in London.
Employment lawyer Meriel Schindler of Withers Worldwide shares her tips on achieving equal pay
Do your homework
Make sure that you are being offered a fair salary. There is lots of industry data available, and you can always talk to people who have come out of the organisation. Where I see people coming a cropper is where they haven’t done their homework.
Don’t be afraid to negotiate
It’s quite standard to negotiate if you think an offer is on the low side. The job is unlikely to be withdrawn if you ask for money, and if that did happen I’d question whether you want to work for an employer who is so hypersensitive.
Know your worth
Women tend to be a bit more reticent to talk about their achievements. In my experience they need to have more confidence in their own abilities – men will big up what they’ve done to get a pay rise, and to compete women need to turn up the volume.
Work together
If you suspect men in your organisation are being paid more, look your boss in the eye and say, “I want you to assure me that I’m paid equivalent to my peers”. If you’re not getting a straight answer, talk to your peer group and consider taking direct action to fix inequality.
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
How do Sim card scams work?
Sim swap frauds are a form of identity theft.
They involve criminals conning mobile phone operators into issuing them with replacement Sim cards by claiming to be the victim, often pretending their phone has been lost or stolen in order to secure a new Sim.
They use the victim's personal details - obtained through criminal methods - to convince such companies of their identity.
The criminal can then access any online service that requires security codes to be sent to a user's mobile phone, such as banking services.
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
Six tips to secure your smart home
Most smart home devices are controlled via the owner's smartphone. Therefore, if you are using public wi-fi on your phone, always use a VPN (virtual private network) that offers strong security features and anonymises your internet connection.
Keep your smart home devices’ software up-to-date. Device makers often send regular updates - follow them without fail as they could provide protection from a new security risk.
Use two-factor authentication so that in addition to a password, your identity is authenticated by a second sign-in step like a code sent to your mobile number.
Set up a separate guest network for acquaintances and visitors to ensure the privacy of your IoT devices’ network.
Change the default privacy and security settings of your IoT devices to take extra steps to secure yourself and your home.
Always give your router a unique name, replacing the one generated by the manufacturer, to ensure a hacker cannot ascertain its make or model number.
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Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
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Petrarch: Everywhere a Wanderer
Christopher Celenza,
Reaktion Books
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
If you go
The flights
There are direct flights from Dubai to Sofia with FlyDubai (www.flydubai.com) and Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com), from Dh1,164 and Dh822 return including taxes, respectively.
The trip
Plovdiv is 150km from Sofia, with an hourly bus service taking around 2 hours and costing $16 (Dh58). The Rhodopes can be reached from Sofia in between 2-4hours.
The trip was organised by Bulguides (www.bulguides.com), which organises guided trips throughout Bulgaria. Guiding, accommodation, food and transfers from Plovdiv to the mountains and back costs around 170 USD for a four-day, three-night trip.
RESULT
Esperance de Tunis 1 Guadalajara 1
(Esperance won 6-5 on penalties)
Esperance: Belaili 38’
Guadalajara: Sandoval 5’
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
ENGLAND SQUAD
Goalkeepers Henderson, Johnstone, Pickford, Ramsdale
Defenders Alexander-Arnold, Chilwell, Coady, Godfrey, James, Maguire, Mings, Shaw, Stones, Trippier, Walker, White
Midfielders Bellingham, Henderson, Lingard, Mount, Phillips, Rice, Ward-Prowse
Forwards Calvert-Lewin, Foden, Grealish, Greenwood, Kane, Rashford, Saka, Sancho, Sterling, Watkins
Britain's travel restrictions
- A negative test 2 days before flying
- Complete passenger locator form
- Book a post-arrival PCR test
- Double-vaccinated must self-isolate
- 11 countries on red list quarantine
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
