This single was always a personal favorite in the Elliott Smith canon. It dropped during the long draught between the Figure 8 and Basement albums, and not only are these two songs awesome as a stand-alone single, but the versions here are even better than the ones that eventually landed on Basement On The Hill. "Pretty(1)" begins with an ethereal organ intro, before quickly making way for gentle guitar strums and Smith's always harmonious vocals. Just when you're tricked into thinking it's an acoustic throwback, the band launches into a swaggering groove, replete with honky-tonk pianos and Beatles-y guitars. On the flip, the alternate version of "Distorted Reality(2)" features a way more gentle intro than the album version, as well as the original lyrics. Comes in a nice, illustrated pic sleeve, too.

reviewed by Chris Lemon-Red