Sleeve: As plain as the album title; the late Nebraskan singer-songwriter in moody, reluctant pose in T-shirt against white relief.
Sleevenotes: Further introduction to 1994 to 2003 solo career.
Content: Belated career appraisal lifts 14 tracks in higgledy-piggledy order from the seven Smith albums released in troubled lifetime and posthumously after he took his life in October 2003. Oscar-nominated Miss Misery from soundtrack to Gus Van Sant’s Good Will Hunting appears in early version from the New Moon double album’s reactivation of songs from 1994 to 1997.
High point: Closing this retrospective with Happiness’s rare ray of sunshine.
Low point: October 21, 2003.
Any glaring omissions? Cover of The Beatles’ Because from American Beauty soundtrack.
Anything new? No, but this is the first Smith compilation.
Cheerful or tearful excuse for release? Both. Domino are keeping his flame alight but Smith’s demise haunts these often lonesome songs.
Where might this end up at Christmas? Hidden away for a blue day.
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