EELS

The Eels almost but ultimately failed to break through into mainstream pop music with their debut album, 1996's Beautiful Freak, thanks to the popular singles "Novocaine for the Soul" and "Susan's House". Thankfully they've managed to operate beneath the radar of chart music and radio air-play quite healthfully and the seven years since have seen a steady flow of consistently good album releases and a niche of sorts secured with quirky yet sensitive melody-orientated alternative rock. As it happens, it is almost entirely a good thing that they have remained bubbling under as Beautiful Freak turned out to be something of a false start and, instead, inspired by a tragic set of circumstances including the suicide of his sister main-man E turned his attentions away from pseudo-grunge self-absorbed musings to far more emotionally honest lyrics and unpredictable, intriguing but always melodic alternative rock. It is unlikely they will ever be regarded as a classic band of their era or be responsible for a masterpiece of an album (although Electro-Shock Blues comes as close as any album released in the barren late-nineties). Indeed, I doubt they are even regarded by many people as a favourite band but one thing I certainly don't doubt is that they are one of the most underrated contemporary rock bands.

To tell the truth all this talk of "they" is a little misleading as the Eels are, more or less, made up of just one man - the mercurial 'E' (known to the CIA as Mark Oliver Everett). They did start out as a three piece but bassist Tommy was ousted/quit after the debut and whilst the drummer Butch has stuck around since he was never anything more than the drummer (even if E did like to cast him as a Ringo-esque figure) and, to tell the truth, I'm not even sure if he's still a member anymore. Actually, it is convenient that I should have referred to the Beatles as the Eels are perhaps the contemporary band that are most obviously influenced by the Beatles (in a good sense). I've always regarded E as one of the best songwriters around in terms of pure melody and he also curiously possesses both Lennon's sardonic wit and Paul McCartney's tweeness. Of course, such fandom is given the usual post-modern twist and comparisons come easy to the similarly styled ironic alternative darlings Pavement and Beck. Although probably not as good as either the Eels do manage to capture both Stephen Malkmus' sense of melody and Beck's clever post-modern stylings. Of course the fact that they are somewhat caught in the middle, at least in the critic's eyes, is pretty much indicative of their legacy. They (or he) deserve more than that, though, and I hope any readers unfamiliar with the Eels will at least seek out the excellent Electro-Shock Blues even if there is very little variation in the quality of the albums.

I don't have the statistics to hand but it seems reasonable to suggest that the Eels' debut was probably their biggest selling and the one to figure most prominently within the realms of popular music. As I said in the introduction, the singles "Susan's House" and particularly "Novocaine for the Soul" were quite well known for their time and helped market the Eels as standard alt-rockers with a bleak outlook and grunge leanings. Indeed, it is funny to think of the number of people who believe that is all the Eels ever were and that the reason they fell from the public's view is down to a sharp decrease in the quality of their output. As it happens, along with a lot of bands, a big-selling commercial debut proved to be a false indication as the Eels actually turned out to be a far happier and better band away from the glare of mainstream music. In retrospect this debut is almost certainly the least representative of their output with E's brilliantly sardonic sense of humour hidden in favour of unoriginal angsty wallowing and standard post-grunge arrangements taking centre-stage instead of the clever post-modern twists of his subsequent releases. It is also revealed in hindsight that the overall theme of this album almost certainly concerns E's ailing sister through the title and cover art and a great number of songs that concern a person self-consciously out of place in the world - the title track, "Flower" and "Spunky" ("one day the world will be ready for you and wonder how they didn't see"). Still, at the time the Eels were presented to the world as pretenders to Radiohead's throne (when OK Computer was still just a glint in Thom Yorke's eyes) as angsty alternative rockers with a keen sense of melody. Indeed, the one constant from this album to the rest of their career (as well as E's throaty vocals) is in the naturally melodic songwriting. Even if many of the songs are just painfully obvious wallowings designed to ensnare the right crowd they are still unremorsefully melodic and essentially every song on here contains a decent hook somewhere. Actually, despite the insincere image this album is probably, at a push, the Eels' second best album as not only is it typically consistent but it also contains some of their very highest highlights. Opening the album with the smash hit "Novocaine for the Soul" was an obvious choice and, of course, it works perfectly. It is the strongest song on the album but then it was always a brilliant single and I think we can easily forgive the grunge overtones. Thankfully, the secondary single and track-on-the-album, "Susan's House", is almost as brilliant and also more intriguing, musically speaking. In an interesting twist the verses consist only of spoken word to a thudding drum-beat with lyrics narrating a trip to Susan's house, observing the terrible situation the world is in. Sure, it is a little cliched (and future albums suggest E is hardly much of a social champion) but the contrast with the dinky chorus gives the song a fascinating charm. Another stand-out track, "Your Lucky Day in Hell", continues in a similar vein with a self-consciously lounge-core arrangement and the wittiest set of lyrics on the album; proving that he could be humorously self-depreciative as well as dourly self-obsessed. Indeed, it is the latter attitude that means songs like "Guest List" leave a bitter taste in the mouth whilst it is the unoriginal grunge dynamics of "Rags to Rags" that makes it somewhat irksome. Indeed, the only time the grunge stuff really works is on the lengthy "Not Ready Yet" which features enough guitar overdubs to hold one's interest throughout. Of course, I'm not saying E was some kind of faker, trying to cash in on Cobain's mourning fans, but his persona on here was a one-off and this was probably most down to the immense personal tragedy he suffered the year after this was released. I'm not suggesting he went mad or anything but to be so deeply affected inevitably means one changes one's outlook on life and moaning about not being on the rich people's "guest list" seems rather shallow and self-absorbed in hindsight. Funnily enough, it is the very last track, "Manchild", that is most indicative of the subsequent albums as it is an affecting child-like ballad that clearly echoes the likes of "3 Speed" or "Daisies of the Galaxy". As it is, the rest of the album, despite being severed from the rest of the catalogue in terms of style, image and arrangements, is still an admirably strong album and, when is all said and done, perhaps second best to date. It is also amusing to contrast the pictures of E trying to look cool and alternative with bleached hair in the sleeve-notes with the Souljacker cover of him impersonating the Unabomber. Certainly something had changed.

On Beautiful Freak, clearly concerned by his sister's deteriorating mental condition, E penned many songs for her, sympathising with her feelings of depression but trying to paint an ultimately optimistic scenario. On the debut's poignant title track he sang "you're too good for this world, but I hope you will stay and I'll be here to see that you don't fade away". Tragically, E's plea failed, and in 1996 his sister committed suicide. A few months earlier he had learned that his mother had been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and, given that his father had already died a few years previously, E was forced to face up to being the last surviving family member, being barely in his mid-twenties. Clearly, he could not have written another collection of self-obsessed faux-grunge numbers designed to build upon Beautiful Freak's success so, instead, he documented his problems and emotions in a painfully stark manner. He has since tried to claim Electro-Shock Blues is his most positive album and there is certainly some light in all the gloom, with a promise of redemption and I'm sure E came out a stronger man afterwards, but there is simply no avoiding the pain, despair and bleakness of this album. Part of the sickening strength of it all lies in the fascinating balance between irony and sincerity with song titles such as "Going to Your Funeral", "My Descent into Madness" and "The Medication Is Wearing Off". Furthermore, unlike Beck's serious stab at confronting troubled emotions with the recent "Sea Change", the music on this album is actually at its most diverse and intriguing. Some of the songs, mainly on the second half, are simple acoustic ballads (and, presumably as a result, the weakest tracks) but the majority make for the Eels most musically adventurous album to date. Therefore, it isn't just the emotionally stark nature of the lyrics and themes that elevates this release above the rest of the Eels' cannon but also the relentlessly clever and excellently intriguing musical compositions. Of course, like every Eels album there is the odd filler-ish number and, despite the authenticity, the whole exercise is not quite impressive enough to warrant the 10/10 seal of approval. The acoustic ballads "Climbing to the Moon" and "Ant Farm" do not hold one's attention as well as the rest of the material and the Tom Waits-esque "Hospital Food" is best left to the likes of Tom Waits. The rest and best of the material perfectly strikes a balance between maudlin balladry and up-beat post-modern pop songs whilst still maintaining the tragic but ultimately redeeming atmosphere. In the case of the former there are the painfully and unambiguously stark tributes to his sister - album opener "Elizabeth on the Bathroom Floor" and the title track. Both narrate her depressed, suicidal state of mind, with the latter apparently containing excerpts from her letters, backed only by minimalist keyboard lines. The brute honesty combined with the starkness of the arrangements certainly makes for an exceptionally tragic listen. Furthermore, the acoustic + strings "3 Speed" is one of E's very finest songs with a child-like ambience, culminating with the cry-for-help "why am I such a fucking mess?". On the other hand, the closest to genuine greatest hits on here are also two classic Eels' compositions - the clever alternative rock of "Cancer for the Cure" (which is the closest E came to apeing Beck) and the ingenious pop song "Last Stop: This Town" with a brilliantly post-modern arrangement and a pop melody most chart-successes could only dream of. It also features for the only time the vocal "talents" of drummer Butch, as well as guest star Elton Jones (whoever he is). It is an interesting song in that it was clearly written about E's sister but yet sounds like the happiest song in the world. The album reaches its lowest ebb, emotionally, with the penultimate dark duo "Dead of Winter" and "The Medication Is Wearing Off" which are stark acoustic ballads with unambiguously bleak lyrics ("strangers break their promises - you won't feel any pain"). Thankfully, there is hope yet as in a clearly deliberate move E ends the album with the only truly optimistic song in the whole set - "PS. You Rock My World". Against a rousing string arrangement E sings lyrics of redemption opening with the line "I was at a funeral" and revolving around the punch-line "maybe it's time to live". Clearly tragedy resonates throughout this album but it is not just the final denouement that shows signs of optimism (although it is the clearest indication) as there is a touch of light shining through most of the numbers. Indeed, listening to the album you wouldn't necessary assume the tragic circumstances that it was made in. Overall, it is the ambiguity of the situation, in finding redemption at the depths of despair, combined with the plain ol' fact that it contains the Eels' strongest set of tunes to date, lyrically, musically and melodically, that ensures it stands out as Mr. E's greatest artistic achievement. A flawed masterpiece and the Tonight's the Night of the nineties.

After the post-traumatic therapy of Electro-Shock Blues and, of course, the surrounding circumstances the Eels moved into the twenty-first century as a slightly different band from how they'd begun and certainly any initial fans hoping for a return to the alt-rock dynamics of Beautiful Freak were in for a disappointment. As it happens, we shouldn't read too much into E's artistic re-direction as this album was apparently written and recorded only six months after its predecessor had hit the shops but through a variety of factors (mostly probably down to marketing decisions concerning over-saturation and promotional allocation) its release was delayed until the following year. Certainly E's sister's suicide still hangs over this album with the brilliant ballads "Daisies of the Galaxy" and "It's a Motherfucker" reflecting on his personal loss and the overall theme concentrating on his childhood memories of his sister with the child-like innocence of "Packing Blankets" and "Tiger in My Tank" and concluding with the emotional climax of "Selective Memory" which beautifully and unambiguously reminisces over his shared childhood with his sister. Unfortunately, the overall quality of the album is noticeably lower than the career high of Electro-Shock Blues as most of the material tends to vary from quite good to very good, rather than from really good to excellent. Certainly, though, this album is further evidence of the Eels' solid consistency, not just between albums but also within them. I'd imagine the number of actual poor Eels songs over the five albums to date must be less than five. And, funnily enough, one of them was actually a single from this album - the contrived "Flyswatter". One imagines it is intended as some kind of jovial light relief, particularly coming after the aching title track, but it ain't funny and the grunge dynamics are something that were rightly left behind on the debut. Certainly it seems like a rare example of E attempting to sell-out for some chart success (particularly as the record company must have been disappointed with the sales of Electro-Shock Blues compared to the debut's commercial success). Still, the Eels were evidently developing a niche with this album as a popular underground act, paradoxically making mature pop music mostly out of sight of the immature pop market. The tweeness of this album can also become a touch overbearing at times as E over-exploits the child-like ambience on the likes of "I Like Birds" and "Jeannie's Diary". Although I do like the post-modern pop of "Tiger in My Tank" most of the highlights on the album, for my money, are the more mature ballads concerning, of course, E's dearly departed sister. The title track narrates enjoying the simple pleasures in life while trying but ultimately failing to put the weight of depression to one side, and "It's a Motherfucker" puts it as bluntly as possible with coarse language used to frame such deep emotional despair. The instrumental "Estate Sale" only really achieves poignancy when one realises it was written about E having to sell his family home after the death of his parents and the album closer "Selective Memory" is even more heart-breaking as E uses his rough falsetto to devastating effect, aided by an emotional string arrangement. Strictly speaking, it is not actually the album closer as my version also includes the single "Mr. E's Beautiful Blues" as an unlisted bonus track. It is an excellent song, and had a wee bit of chart success in the UK, and one suspects it was probably written and recorded sometime after the rest of the album due to its exclusion from the standard track-listing and, also, the genuinely upbeat overtones - the chorus exclaims "Goddamn right, it's a beautiful day!". Of course it may just have been thrown in as an unlisted encore as its reflective optimism serves to reassure the listener that everything is alright after the bitter-sweet nature of the rest of the album. It also mirrors the opener, "Grace Kelly Blues", which reflects on the problems and difficulties in life but ends with the reaffirming "Sun melting the fake smile away/I think, you know, I'll be OK", in the sense that you can't just pretend that you're happy all the time but being sad is just the first step towards properly appreciating life for what it is. Such sentiments sum up the entire album as, with the raw despair of Electro-Shock Blues somewhat numbed if not forgotten, what is left is the daunting but ultimately necessary task of facing up to life without your loved ones and getting on with things the best you can. You won't wake up tomorrow and find everything's great but neither will it take forever, and every day is a new step towards redemption. Despite its occasional tweeness this album perfectly sums up the ups and downs, highs and lows, and bitter-sweet never-ending progression of life.

From: Philippe

Hi, First : sorry for my english (I'm french). Nice review about the Eels ! (and I coudn't find another one on the web, can you believe that !)
I think Daisies of the Galaxy is somewhat underrated by most critics and I can't see why : it has more diversity than the 2 previous albums, great melodies, far less artificial effects (low-fi, hip hop and all this stuff), it's just more sincere, more evident, more essential. I can't find any "average material" here (I easily can on the 2 others).

Every review of this album I've read starts off by mentioning the fact that this album was co-written with PJ Harvey's collaborator John Parish, so this one won't. Oh... Well, at least it is out the way. To be honest, it isn't that noticeable that the songs were co-written apart from the fact the album sounds different. It is hard to explain, but it does sound like an Eels album without sounding like the rest of their albums. If you heard the album you would know it was by the Eels but, at the same time, you would notice that it sounds different from the rest of their material. Obviously E fancied a change in direction and the child-like pop about his sister has been all but moved on. A few songs still deal with it and a few more sound a little similar to previous albums but the overriding theme of this album is one that has not previously been dealt with. Firstly, musically, as the author of the inlay notes - DJ Killingspree, tells us E opts to rock us more than before with heavily distorted guitars and more feedback and riffs and other hard rock tricks of the trade. Secondly, lyrically, E has developed a fascination with serial killers (the title tracks) and social misfits. "Now hang on there", you're telling me, "Beautiful Freak is all about social misfits." Yeah, but this time it's serious. Well, not really, but it is at least a different type of misfit. The opening "Dog Faced Boy", for instance, is about a boy with a furry face. The screaming guitar to accompany the war-cry of "you little punks think you own this town" certainly makes good on E's promise to "rock us". That said, I'm not entirely comfortable with E's new rock direction. I don't think it is one that completely befits him. "That's Not Really Funny" could have been a nice, if unsettling, pop song but the hard rock direction drowns it a bit. And whilst the riff to "Souljacker Part I" is certainly a good one, it isn't one you'd necessarily expect to find on an Eels album. "Fresh Feeling" and "Woman Driving, Man Sleeping" are certainly songs you would expect to find on an Eels album, though. "Fresh Feeling", a standard love song, samples the (great) string arrangement from "Selective Memory" from the last album which, we are told, is not the first time he's done that trick (Electro-Shock Blues' "Efil's God" apparently uses a string sample from E's previous effort "Dog's Life"). It seems proper to compare "Fresh Feeling" with its relative, "Selective Memory", and I got to say, maybe because of the lyrics, that I prefer the original. Which isn't to say "Fresh Feeling" isn't a good song as most of the Eels' songs are going to suffer in comparison to "Selective Memory". "Woman Driving, Man Sleeping" is an oddity with the minimalist arrangement of just a strummed guitar and the lyrics simply paint the portrait of a woman driving a car whilst her husband is asleep in the passenger seat, dreaming about a large apartment block. Maybe there is more to it than that but I'm not one for in-depth lyrical analysis. To yet again contradict myself within the same review, this time about the childish pop songs, it is clear that Children's TV was some inspiration to E with the song titles "Friendly Ghost" and "Teenage Witch". "Friendly Ghost" actually could have fitted onto Beautiful Freak, whilst, lyrically, it doesn't stray too far from Daisies of the Galaxy or even Electro-Shock Blues with its documenting of E's dream of meeting his sister again, as the eponymous friendly ghost. It is a nice song but maybe a bit of an anachronism on here. "Teenage Witch" is probably the cleverest song overall with a sort of electro beat and a haunting chorus. Speaking of which, a haunting chorus is probably what saves the otherwise forgettable "Bus Stop Boxer". The second half of the album (beginning with "Teenage Witch") is not what you'd actually expect after the first half. That is to say the mood set on the first half, both musically and lyrically, doesn't seem to match the one on the second part. "Jungle Telegraph" is probably the worst song. And what is that rhythm? Samba? Definitely something too clever by half. I like the sentiments of "World of Shit" ("in this world of shit, baby you are it") but they have been done better on other Eels' albums. Bizarrely, my highlight on the second half is the understated "Souljacker Part II". With just a quiet organ E sings what seems almost like a nursery rhyme about how the serial killer Souljacker won't get his soul. It certainly comes across as very affecting for what is just a mere snippet of a song. The final "What is this Note?" ends the album as uncomfortably as you might expect with perhaps the most rock-heavy song on the album with screaming feedback and a pummelling riff. The acoustic play-out, though, is unsettling and impressive. My copy is the special edition with four bonus tracks (one a remix of "Mr. E's Beautiful Blues") which were obviously too lo-fi to include on the album. If you're a fan the special edition is worth a look but don't trouble yourself over it. As for the album itself, another very good album from such a consistent band. It might be a little more aggressive than usual at places and it is probably, at a push, the weakest release so far but E's sardonic persona is far cleverer than the angsty alt-rocker on the debut and most of the songs are typically good.

From: Philippe

A huge disappointment this one. They changed of universe and you're not gonna like this one! all the emotion's gone with "eels'touch" (and the childish covers) and instead you've got noisy guitars everywhere (and the ugly picture of a bearded E). DJ Killingspree explains the thing : this is the type of sound that personnifies the urban experience! You tell me : what have these guys to do with a DJ Killingspree!
What about the songs? "Souljacker 1", "Dog Faced Boy" and "Teenage Witch" (really awful this one) have been done millions of times, "What is This Note?" is just noise, "Jungle Telegraph" is terrible. "Fresh Feeling" can hardly be compared with the excellent "Selective Memory", "World of Shit" could figure on the previous albums but you wouldn't like that because the song is not good! "Woman Driving, Man Sleeping" is rather nice, "Friendly Ghost" and "Bus Stop Boxer" are catchy tunes though going nowhere, and I don't know why but I like "That's Not Really Funny". I forgot, "Souljacker Part 2" is the best song here, so you've got 1'58 of really great eels music on this CD.
I guess this is the difficult problem of every creator : they have to move not to sclerose and the risk is to lose their identity and what made them "different".

See what I mean about the consistency? To be fair, of all my artist reviews this page is the one that most demands an introduction of half-points. If so, out of a theoretical scale of twenty, I would probably opt for 8.5/9/8/7.5/8 but, as it is, you'll just have to take my word for it that Beautiful Freak is the second best album and almost a nine whilst Souljacker is their worst to date and a low eight. Thankfully this album represents a slight improvement over the patchiness of Souljacker although it repeats Daisies of the Galaxy's purgatory of containing consistently good material rather than wowing us with a handful of amazingly great songs. The aggressive diversity of Souljacker also appears to have been judged a one-off (if not quite a mistake) and this album pretty much re-runs the quaint, melodic alternative rock of the first two albums. I don't mean to accuse E of any kind of selling out, even if he might have been a little pissed off at the increasing consumer apathy towards his band, but this can easily be imagined as the follow-up to Electro-Shock Blues (maybe even Beautiful Freak) and certainly it could be construed as suggesting the possibility that Souljacker never even existed. As opposed to the "angry loner" lyrics of the predecessor E has shaved off his scary beard and instead returns to the child-like ambience of Daisies of the Galaxy ("Saturday Morning", "The Good Old Days", "Fashion Awards") and the perceived alienation of Beautiful Freak ("Agony", "Restraining Order Blues") whilst the deaths that so devastated him on Electro-Shock Blues still remain in the background on here even if, for the first time since, there are few if any direct references to the tragic events. As always it is left ambiguous as to whether the suffering protagonists in the songs are real reflections of his current emotional state or songs dedicated to and written for his deceased sister. If they are sincere songs, though, then it is clear that the promise of redemption identified on Daisies of the Galaxy has not yet been reached. "The Good Old Days" does not suggest someone at ease with the world - "I like waking up after a bad dream/Makes it feel like life ain't bad/Little kids go out to play/They're just happy it's another day" - whilst "Agony" reflects the likes of "Your Lucky Day in Hell" on the debut with a keyboard driven arrangement and unambiguously depressing lyrics - "Am I gonna be alright?/No, I'm not gonna be alright/Nothin' is alright now". One suspects, though, that both (the latter in particular) are written from the point of view of his sister. The main reason that this album does represent a slight improvement over Souljacker is in the fact that E flexes his melodic rock muscles as impressively as he's ever done. The arrangements are not as clever as any of the previous albums (bar the debut) but the single "Saturday Morning", "Rock Hard Times" and "Wrong About Bobby" clearly reflect the Eels back to their melodic best. My two favourite songs on the album are two child-like love songs that brilliantly show E's gift for making witty and self-depreciative numbers about deceptively deep emotional alienation. "Dirty Girl" is a beautifully jaunty number about loneliness and longing and the superb "Restraining Order Blues" manages to achieve the impossible in being both laugh-out-loud funny and deeply sad at exactly the same time. The album ends at its most obviously indebted to previous releases with "Fashion Awards" being a falsetto-sung child-like ballad clearly echoing Daisies of the Galaxy (although it should be stressed that this album as a whole is far less twee) and the string-laden ballad "Somebody Loves You" surely being some sort of reply to or continuation of "PS. I Love You" - the redeeming climax of Electro-Shock Blues. As a whole, this album is undoubtedly strong and the fact that it does condense previous elements into one package means it is surely going to appeal to all Eels fans to some extent. It isn't as ambitious as Electro-Shock Blues or even Souljacker but why worry when it simply does what the Eels do best? It isn't a dazzling artistic statement but it is a collection of superbly melodic alternative rock tunes and, with that in mind, there is little to complain about.

If one is to be coy, the most perceptive thing that can be said about the Eels' first double album is that it sounds just like all their other albums but it goes on for twice as long. As I have already lamented, the Eels are a frustratingly consistent band, forever producing good albums that are never quite great enough to see them break through into the highest tier of artists. Of the thirty-three tracks on here the great majority simply sound like Eels songs and could have been on any of their other albums, bar the debut and possibly Souljacker. The only noticeable differences arising from E opting for a double album format are that the same instrumental theme recurs throughout the set list and that he links the set with a slight conceptual theme. The theme is, of course, a familiar one with E dwelling on being a loser, how he finds it hard to relate to people and therefore form meaningful relationships, but still underlined with a restrained optimism that prevents him from wallowing in the deepest pits of despair. The only real change, then, is that this theme is refined somewhat by the album sporadically documenting the course of his life, beginning with his birth and childhood ("From Which I Came/A Magic World" and "Son of a Bitch") and ending with the reflective "Things the Grandchildren Should Know" which, like many of his album closers, offers an optimistic glimpse of redemption. In between tracks 1-3 and 33, though, the narrative gets somewhat lost amid E's usual tragi-comic introspection. Musically, it is less adventurous than Souljacker so therefore again repeats Shootenanny's trick of condensing all of his musical tricks over the previous albums into one nice package. The orchestrated pop of "Trouble With Dreams", for instance, coulda come straight outta Electro-Shock Blues, whilst the bombast of "The Other Shoe" even slips into unintentional self-parody when E growls about 'the garbage trucks coming to take your shit to the dump'. Similarly, some of the piano ballads are just too sparse, maudlin, and self-pitying to really improve the set list, and CD1 ends weakly with too many morose ballads after the comic jubilance of "Going Fetal". Speaking of which, my delight at reading that Tom Waits contributes to this album was somewhat tempered when it turned out he merely provides the grunts to the chorus of said number. Still, it must have been cool for E to hang out with a musical legend he is so obviously inspired by. The more upbeat material generally appears on the second disc with "Old Shit/New Shit", "Hey Man (Now You're Really Living)", and "Losing Streak" all framing E's sardonic wit within gloriously upbeat melodies. The ballads are more mixed, although the desolate "If You See Natalie" is the pick of the bunch, with E delivering a tortured narrative with sufficient gravitas. The best track over the two discs is probably the wistful "Railroad Man", which is a delightful country ballad. Much as I admire the Eels it does seem like the only distinguishing feature of this release is its length. There is nothing wrong with churning out material of such a consistently high quality but it would appear that the niche E has made for himself is a place he is perfectly happy staying in.

• Return to the main page

Email me at: jackfeeny@yahoo.co.uk