A collection of previously unreleased Elliott Smith tracks has surfaced on the internet, dubbed 'From A Basement On The Hill II'. The emergence of the songs comes as the second anniversary of the artist's death from apparent suicide approaches. As was widely reported at the time, the 34 year old Smith died from a knife wound to the heart on 21 Oct 2003.
The twenty two song collection purport to be tracks dropped from Smith's final LP, although a great deal of the material is believed to date back as far as the mid nineties. According to a publicist 34 songs were recorded for the singer's last album, but it's thought by some that there were closer to 50, based on the evidence of various interviews and accounts.
Charlie Ramirez, of official Smith site SweetAdeline.net, told MTV, "I think some of them might have been considered for 'Basement', but not necessarily," though she confirmed that two of the tracks are definitely outtakes from the sessions for that album - 'Abused' and 'The Worst Part Is Almost Over', whilst other leaked tracks date from 1996-97 and the recording of 'Either/Or'. 'Abused' is one of three tracks which were allegedly removed from 'From A Basement On The Hill' by his family, reportedly on account of the lyrical content.