“I Figured You Out”, meanwhile, is a critical discovery, dating from 1995: Smith’s demo for a song he gifted to another Kill Rock Stars artist, Mary Lou Lord, for her “Martian Saints” EP (1997). Recorded at the Heatmiser house, with that band’s Neil Gust on drums, it still sounds like a fully-arranged, finished piece of work, notable for a wheezing organ carrying the lovely melody rather than the acoustic guitar. There is also a first stab at “Bottle Up And Explode”, which eventually appeared on XO (1998), featuring an unlikely synth line, a slightly wobbly pace and completely different lyrics in which the theme of frustration seems to be targeted at the cold, claustrophobic environs of Portland: “Everything around here happens so slow.” Once “Bottle Up And Explode” finishes, the album ends with a brief reprise of “Pictures Of Me”, rescored for fairground organ. How should we understand such a version, after all that has gone before, and after?

Cimatron e12 license. Domino reissues a remastered edition of Roman Candle, the debut solo album by the late and very great Elliott Smith. Originally released back in 1994, Roman Candle has always sounded conspicuously lo-fi, and while nothing has been done to alter Smith's original mixes, some delicate mastering has.

As a sarcastically jaunty way for Smith to articulate his hatred for showbusiness? Skin winamp keren 3d tuning. Or as a cute, goofy exploration of musical possibilities – an innocent pleasure, from a man whose legend would mitigate against him having such things? The true answer, perhaps, lies not behind either/or, but ahead of it.