FEATURE: A Buyer’s Guide: Part Thirty-Four: Eels

FEATURE:

 

 

A Buyer’s Guide

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PHOTO CREDIT: Gus Black 

Part Thirty-Four: Eels

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I have been a fan of Eels….

 PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images/Ringer illustration

since the debut album, Beautiful Freak, arrived in 1996. Eels was formed in Los Angeles in 1991 by singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mark Oliver Everett, known by the stage name E. Band members have changed across the years, both in the studio and on stage, making Everett the only official member for most of the band's work. The latest album, Earth to Dora, was released earlier this year and is fantastic. In this edition, I am recommending the four essential albums of Eels; an underrated album that is worth checking out; the latest studio album, in addition to a book that is a useful companion. If you need some guidance to the work of Eels, then I hope that you get some…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Gus Black 

GOOD guidance below.

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The Four Essential Albums

 

Beautiful Freak

Release Date: 13th August, 1996

Label: DreamWorks

Producers: Jon Brion/E/Mark Goldenberg/Michael Simpson

Standout Tracks: Susan’s House/Beautiful Freak/Your Lucky Day in Hell

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=111487&ev=mb

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/7sqwuxORaCogFGgygafdSt

Review:

“Beautiful Freak”, the album’s title song, features electric piano and very somber vocals by Everett, While the lyrics are a little weak on this track, the surreal and sad mood makes up for this deficiency. Co-written by guest guitarist Jon Brion, “Not Ready Yet” is a sad tune about recovering from disaster and feeling the isolation of that situation. The longest track on the album, this song leaves plenty of room for musical grooves as it is bass and rhythm-driven with several guitar overdubs. “My Beloved Monster” with a very slight banjo before the electric guitar-driven song proper begins and, during the second verse and beyond a bouncy bass and feedback effects add a real edge to the sonic qualities of this song. Co-written by Keyboardist Jim Jacobsen who provides a cool  synthesized choir, “Flower” may be the highlight of the entire album. Melodically and lyrically this track works very well as a sad slacker creed with the clever refrain; “everyone is trying to bum me out…”

The later part of the album has more solid tracks which remain within the spirit of the overall album while also introducing some nice new methods. “Guest List” is built on funky, descending bass while “Mental” features an upbeat bass/key riff by Walter and some hard rock chording in the choruses. “Spunky” has a lyrical sense of reserved enthusiasm which matches the song’s title as “Your Lucky Day in Hell” is soulful with cool rhythms, effects and high-registered vocals. The album wraps “Manchild”, the most traditional, “lover’s lament” ballad on the album, co-written by Jill Sobule, with a long, surreal fade-out with sound effects to usher out the album” – Classic Rock Review

Choice Cut: Novocaine for the Soul

Electro-Shock Blues

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Release Date: 21st September, 1998

Label: DreamWorks

Producers: E/Jim Jacobsen/Mickey Petralia/Michael Simpson

Standout Tracks: 3 Speed/Last Stop: This Town/Climbing to the Moon

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/Eels-Electro-Shock-Blues/master/111500

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/6SZeOhypPklZ2oLywHluyS

Review:

The Eels' second release, Electro-Shock Blues, is a much darker album than their underrated debut, 1996's Beautiful Freak, but just as rewarding. Singer/guitarist/songwriter E experienced many upheavals in his personal life between albums (the passing of several family members and close friends), and decided to work his way through life's tribulations via his music. The result is a spectacular epic work, easily on par with such classic albums cut from the same cloth -- Neil Young's Tonight's the Night, Lou Reed's Magic and Loss. For some of the most introspective and haunting tunes of recent times, look no further than the title track, "Last Stop: This Town," and "Elizabeth on the Bathroom Floor." And although the lyrics deal almost entirely with mortality, the music for "Hospital Food," "Cancer for the Cure," and "Going to Your Funeral, Pt. 1" is comparable to Beck's funky noise, while "Efils' God," "The Medication Is Wearing Off," and "My Descent Into Madness" are all ethereal, soothing compositions. One of the finest and fully realized records of 1998, a must-hear” – AllMusic

Choice Cut: Cancer for the Cure

Daisies of the Galaxy

Release Date: 28th February, 2000

Label: DreamWorks

Producer: E

Standout Tracks: Grace Kelly Blues/Flyswatter/Jeannie’s Diary

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=111503&ev=mb

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/1myZZzfBVfMo7t4yvgAXte?si=WULEaFkQQU-gykPLPUgHXg

Review:

This would be wonderful, life-enriching stuff even as it stands, but the psychodrama that underlies it all is even more compelling. So while 'Electro-Shock Blues' was the sound of raw wounds, 'Daisies...' is a more profound rumination upon beauty and mortality. There's a song called 'It's A Motherfucker', which, in the kind of deadpan twist that E relishes, is a beautifully restrained shrug of the shoulders at the nature of loss. It could be dedicated to a former lover or to the memory of his recently deceased mother (E's a lucky fellow) - it doesn't matter. 'Selective Memory' is much more explicit, as E effects a childlike falsetto and intones, "If I lay my head down I will see you in my dream". He is racking his brains, reaching for one defining conscious memory of his mum that will compensate for her death. It doesn't come; it won't come. Time to leave that love behind and carry on.

The stellar NME Single Of The Week, 'Mr E's Beautiful Blues', is casually dumped as a hidden track right at the end and thus 'Daisies Of The Galaxy' peters out. Only in such illustrious company could the song fail to shine. For here is an album that, in its wit, humility and calmness in the face of a firing squad of terrors, justifies the existence of pop albums. In almost every respect a masterpiece” – NME

Choice Cut: Mr. E’s Beautiful Blues

Blinking Lights and Other Revelations

Release Date: 26th April, 2005

Label: Vagrant

Producer: E

Standout Tracks: Blinking Lights (For Me)/Theme for a Pretty Girl That Makes You Believe God Exists/I'm Going to Stop Pretending That I Didn't Break Your Heart

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/Eels-Blinking-Lights-And-Other-Revelations/master/117734

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/4wDi8zECGQLpG8PlyB250b

Review:

The backdrop to Eels' sixth album lies in the suicide of frontman E's sister, parents' deaths and a cousin's role as a flight attendant on a fatal 9/11 aeroplane. The record company must have similarly feared for the band's career when E spent eight years between projects working on a hefty 33 tracks, but this may be one of the best albums to have arisen out of grief.

Resisting the urge to wallow, he has had the insight to weld some harrowing lyrics to tunes which recall the childlike, hallucinogenic melodies of Brian Wilson at his peak. Contrarily, the singer's voice has been ravaged to a Tom Waits-style croak. In between lie pianos, strings, desolation, drama and revelation.

The first disc of this double CD jangles nerves with pop songs which dissect personal issues through wider problems facing America, but the stunning second finds meaning to it all in a series of supernaturally beautiful ballads. By then, E is insisting: "If I had to do it all again, well, it's something I'd like to do" - perfect advice for the listener” – The Guardian

Choice Cut: Hey Man (Now You're Really Living)

The Underrated Gem

 

Hombre Lobo (12 Songs of Desire)

Release Date: 2nd June, 2009

Labels: E Works/Vagrant

Producer: E

Standout Tracks: Prizefighter/Tremendous Dynamite/All the Beautiful Things

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/Eels-Hombre-Lobo-12-Songs-Of-Desire/master/121214

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/5qbb1FBWnws45S6eMUvo2D

Review:

Mark Oliver Everett takes his latest album title quite literally, unleashing predatory howls over distortion-ridden stompers like “Fresh Blood,” only to awake as an innocent mensch. The gentler E distances himself from his lycanthropic alter ego, searching for Ms. Right backed by a familiar arsenal of winsome melodies and elegant string arrangements. The album doesn’t declare an outright winner in the “hopeless romantic versus beast” showdown, but its catchiest track is a bouncy marriage proposal (“Beginner’s Luck”) complete with church bells” – SPIN

Choice Cut: Fresh Blood

The Latest Album

 

Earth to Dora

Release Date: 30th October, 2020

Label: E Works/PIAS

Producer: E

Standout Tracks: Earth to Dora/The Gentle Souls/I Got Hurt

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/Eels-Earth-To-Dora/master/1831199

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/2PtZABAnPwyVF8KquMWPnG

Review:

Revisiting the fertile emotional ground of Eels’ earliest albums, where naive simplicity met life-worn melancholy, ‘Earth To Dora’ is structured to trace the rise and fall of a relationship (but not, E has been at pains to point out, as an open diary of his recent, short-lived marriage). Opener ‘Anything For Boo’ finds this renowned romantic punchbag sidling cautiously and reluctantly into love, laying such winning lines on his new partner as “I learned the hard way to be prepared” and “given the options, I’d rather be alone”.

Predictably, it doesn’t work out. On the gorgeously deflated ‘Dark And Dramatic’, he notes: “She’s beautiful, but she doesn’t fight fair… Maybe something in her past makes her sure it won’t last”. The bluesy ‘Are You Fucking Your Ex’ finds them at the relationship crunch point, while collegiate soft rock of ‘The Gentle Souls’ soundtracks the final collapse. The comes a glimmer of hope: ‘Baby Let’s Make It Real’ and ‘Waking Up’ begin the romantic cycle back at its first tentative, cynical steps again; he’s even harder-bitten but helpless to resist another round.

All of which makes for Eels’ most complete and self-contained record, arguably the epitome of their ouvre and a record that places E – in his own gruff, xylophone-toting way –alongside the great downtrodden romantics: Cohen; Rufus Wainwright; Stephin Merritt of Magnetic Fields; Nick Cave. Just the sort of bullheaded optimism we need, in fact, to see us through the cold winter ahead” – NME

Choice Cut: Baby Let’s Make It Real

The Eels Book

 

Things the Grandchildren Should Know

Author: Mark Oliver Everett

Publication Date: 2nd July, 2009

Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group

Synopsis:

How does one young man survive the deaths of his entire family and manage to make something worthwhile of his life? In Things The Grandchildren Should Know Mark Oliver Everett tells the story of what it's like to grow up the insecure son of a genius in a wacky Virginia Ice Storm-like family. Left to run wild with his sister, his father off in some parallel universe of his own invention, Everett's upbringing was 'ridiculous, sometimes tragic and always unsteady'. But somehow he manages to not only survive his crazy upbringing and ensuing tragedies; he makes something of his life, striking out on a journey to find himself by channelling his experiences into his, eventually, critically acclaimed music with the Eels. But it's not an easy path. Told with surprising candour, Things The Grandchildren Should Know is an inspiring and remarkable story, full of hope, humour and wry wisdom” – Waterstones

Order: https://www.waterstones.com/book/things-the-grandchildren-should-know/mark-oliver-everett/9780349120843