My head is a little muddled this morning. Mostly it is on account of not getting much sleep after getting wired watching the Red Sox advance to the World Series, but anyway, I kind of feel half conscious right now. It is funny that I got “2:45 AM” for my spin today considering I was up at 2:45 AM this morning. I would venture to guess that when Elliott Smith was up at that time in the middle of the night, he was not up because of his enthusiasm towards a sporting team. That does not seem like very Elliott Smith-like to me, call me crazy (“you’re crazy!”) Either/Or is hands-down my favorite of the Elliott Smith oeuvre, with Elliott laid bare and putting down the most consistent and gut-wrenching collection of songs he ever did get a chance to record. That being said, Either/Or is also a very difficult album to listen to because of that same emotional access. I’m sure we all have albums that we know are great and when needed, you can pop them in and be reminded how excellent they are, but they just are a little too intense for your casual listening pleasure. This record is just that for me.