Announced less than a week following what would have been the late, great Elliott Smith’s 41st birthday, An Introduction to… Elliott Smith, a 14-track compilation that includes cuts from my favorite singer-songwriter’s full 5-album solo catalog, an early version of his Oscar-nominated song “Miss Misery,” and tunes off the posthumously released New Moon double-disc and From a Basement on the Hill LP will hit shelves on November 2 via Kill Rock Stars.

Though longtime — or even casual — fans won’t find anything particularly exciting about this release (important songs from Smith’s inimitable career are notably absent due to presumed contractual issues), KRS and Co. are merely hoping to acquaint a new generation of future fans with one of the best songwriters of all time. (An honorable undertaking, I’d say. If you’ve never heard Smith before, this is a fine introduction.)

Download one track off the comp, Either/Or’s “Between the Bars,” here, and check out the full tracklist below:

Two new Elliott Smith reissues are on the way next month, so now is as good a time as any to point to a rare, recently-unearthed interview from a pivotal time in the late singer-songwriter’s career. Dead Melodies posted this Q&A and music video feature with Smith’s first post-High School rock band, Heatmiser, which they believe was filmed on January 1, 1996 in Portland, Oregon.

Though I’m not entirely sure their date is correct, the year is what makes this most compelling: Smith had already released two solo albums on indie labels, at this point, while Heatmiser were prepping their Virgin Records debut, Mic City Sons (an album that was ultimately released on Caroline Records). As subsequent interviews suggest, Smith’s solo success was causing some tensions between he and co-frontman Neil Gust during this time, which contributed to the band’s demise. None of those tensions are apparent in this interview, however, as all three bandmates appear in good spirits throughout the clips featured.

Kill Rock Stars will reissue Elliott Smith’s first and last albums, Roman Candle and From A Basement On The Hill, respectively, on April 6, and to whet your appetite, founder Slim Moon and current label head Portia Sabin are offering two free MP3s of Larry Crane’s remastered Smith classics.

Download “Last Call” here and “Twilight” here.

Here are a few of today’s bookmarked links worth noting…

• After being rejected seven times, the Stooges will finally be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, alongside Genesis and ABBA. “Am I still cool? Or is that over now?” Pop asked himself after hearing the news.
• Elliott Smith’s first solo LP, Roman Candle, and posthumous album From a Basement on the Hill will be reissued by Kill Rock Stars this spring (the former has been remastered by Larry Crane as well). For more info and a free MP3 of unreleased gem “Cecilia/Amanda” go thataway.
• Ex-R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry came out of retirement to record protest song “Crazy Like a Fox” on R.E.M.’s annual holiday single. The bad news: Michael Stipe and Peter Buck aren’t on the track. Slicing Up Eyeballs has the scoop.
• Brendan Benson sounded off a bit on how he felt “underappreciated” by the press for his role in the Raconteurs. “Jack [White] was the most publicized thing about The Raconteurs,” he said. “And I think, unfortunately, he sort of eclipsed the other guys in the band.”

I first heard about Gil Reyes’ documentary Searching For Elliott Smith after stumbling upon an early IMDB page that listed the likes of Mary Lou Lord, Gus Van Sant, producer Larry Crane, Heatmiser’s Tony Lash, Smith’s friend Sean Croghan, and many more as “credited cast” members. It was intriguing to see that some of the people closest to Smith had agreed to appear in a film that was presumably about his life, but time went by and the project didn’t appear to be happening.

Perhaps it was the addition of Smith’s former girlfriend (and witness to his mysterious death), Jennifer Chiba, that spurred the project forward, however, as Searching For Elliott Smith made its world premiere at a recent CMJ screening and is slated to screen at Argentina’s Mar del Plata International Film Festival next week.