Playlist 20.09.10

It's the final moments of the film Good Will Hunting. Matt Damon is in the dumps. Minnie Driver has gone off with the wrong guy and a tender refrain is raised from the rubble. Introducing 'Miss Misery', written by Elliott Smith, a wisp of a guy, full of dysfunction and heartache. The song will earn Elliott an Oscar nomination in 1998 and it will cause him too much attention, too soon. However, he will manage to write some more heroically doomed tunes before taking his own life in 2003.

It's only a matter of time before some caterwauling dunce in a talent show gets to bleating an Elliott tune and trashing the legacy. Until then, he is still outside of the mainstream, forlorn and ours.

A month from now, Domino Records are releasing 'An Introduction To Elliott Smith', a compilation of his short career, including an early version of 'Miss Misery'. Give it to your friends and make them cry.

BBC Radio Ulster, 92-95 FM

Online: www.bbc.co.uk/radioulster

Mondays, ten - midnight

Playlist 20.09.10

Lloyd Price - Lawdy Miss Clawdy (Jasmine)

Badly Drawn Boy - Too Many Miracles (One Last Fruit)

Manic Street Preachers - All We Make Is Entertainment (Sony)

Holy Innocents - Epistle To Home (white)

Holy Innocents - Lonely Woman (white)

Robert Plant - You Can't Buy My Love (Decca)

Blind Willie Johnston - It's Nobody's Fault But Mine (Snapper)

The 1930s - I'm A Vapour (white)

Manic Street Preachers - Hazleton Avenue (Sony)

Frazey Ford - Bird Of Paradise (Nettwerk)

Wings - Helen Wheels (Parlophone)

Paul Shevlin - Lift Up Your Head (white)

Badly Drawn Boy - This Electric (One Last Fruit)

Robert Plant - Central Two O Nine (Decca)

Jimmy Webb - PF Sloan (WEA)

Manic Street Preachers - The Descent (Sony)

Anna Calvi - Jezebel (Domino)

Robert Plant - Falling In Love Again (Decca)

Delta Spirit - Devil Knows You're Dead (Rounder)

Robyn G Shiels - When We Were Brothers (No Dancing)

Badly Drawn Boy - A Pure Accident (One Last Fruit)

Elliott Smith - Miss Misery (early version) (Domino)

Kelly Joe Phelps, Corrine West - Road To No Compromise (Tin Angel)

Afghan Whigs - Moon River (Mute)