Eels : Classic or Dud

Classic. In the sense of me wanting to beat E about the head with a fragment of the Winged Victory of Samothrace.

Wow. That's about the most hurtful thing I've heard anyone say about the Eels. If I was a musician and some described me, not as "a", but "THE male Vonda Shepherd", I don't think I'd ever stop crying.

Now, if an artist is faking 'deep and meaningful' I'm right at the front of the queue to shoot 'em down. The only proviso is that if they sound fantastic, I'll let 'em off because I'm not much bothered about lyrics anyway. However in the case of Eels, I don't think he's a fake. I'm not that interested in E's wretched personal life and family tragedies, but he saw fit to bring them into his music, and I happen to think they make interesting and often funny listening. 'Electro-shock Blues' is ultimately a triumph of humanity over all the crappy things that can happen.

I haven't expressed this well, but I will later.

http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=Bpq9nn0q880pp

I idly note he once did a duet with...Vonda Shepherd. FUCK.

I don't doubt the man's pain or his desire to turn it into art -- a reasonable enough thing to do under the circumstances. I just find his work and his band to be tedious smarm for the soul. In a word, boring. I don't so much hate the results as to find them vacuous.

I watched a performance by the band Eels on TOTP and felt impelled to put pen to paper. Onstage were not the performing eels I had been led to expect but instead a number of rough-looking people burbling meaningless nonsense over a rhythm which sounded like it had been cynically designed to pass some absolute mininum EU 'beat' guideline so as to get indie disco play. To pile lie upon lie, the song in question was neither "blues" nor "beautiful" yet claimed to be both. Dud dud dud dud dud dud dud dud dud. Who can I seek redress from for this?

Yours

Tom"

I need to know if I'm part of the "adult album alternative" generation. NOW. Ned - only you can tell me this - what other albums do these people like. I won't rest until I know if I'm one of them or not. Also what DON'T they like? I might have something that they COULDN'T POSSIBLY like, and that would mean I'm not one, wouldn't it?

Let me try. Hang on... Erm, I used to have an AR Kane album..... Oh, and Hip-Hop is quite good..... I know... I like early Mercury Rev better than Deserter's Songs, it's crap the way they sold out isn't it. Ooh what about Outkast... and I like Atomic Kitten...

If there's a pantheon of 'adult album alternative,' it would include:

Hootie and the Blowfish, _Cracked Rear View_ Moby, _Play_ Alanis Morrissette, _Jagged Little Pill_ the _Ally McBeal_ soundtrack that fucking Joan Osborne album with the stupid god song

Oh, and Sheryl Crow by default. Sorry Tom. ;-)

I know I'm missing a few here. Creed probably just slips under the wire now that the Gen X crowd is old enough to feel some nostalgia. You know, grunge but all cleaned up and made shiny and 'tasteful' about the joys of fatherhood. ARRRRR.

What confuses me is how anyone can consider Eels to be REMOTELY in the same ballpart as this lot. I think you're way off the mark. Way off.

Sigh. Dan:Placebo :: Ned:Eels. Oh well.

Well, maybe the same amount.

Which is a lot.

"Cancer for the Cure" from Electro-Shock Blues is the most cringeworthy in the latter respect. That line about "Grandpa's in the Bedroom watching video porn" or something...no E, your grandpa is not watching video porn and the concept is a not all that provocative. More often than not what I get from E are these really shallow, or mid 90-ish attempts toward conveying cynicism.

Of course, all this has context behind it--Blinking Lights means things to me that most likely aren't felt by others, so I doubt I could engage in any kind of academic discussion over it.

Also, "Get Ur Freak On"!

So yeah End Times is sounding great on first listen, huge improvement over the last one.

That song (from Hombre Lobo) and video is world class:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNtlGwYJCUQ

Can't remember which review site, but one of them was complaining about E's lyrics. Maybe it's just me, but I thought his lyrics always sucked. And I like the Eels, too. It's just that every once in awhile I hear something that makes me want to roll my eyes.

But yeah, End Times sounds better than the last one.

I really like the opening 30 seconds of Flyswatter. It sounds like the opening credits to a really great sci-fi TV show.

apparently they're releasing another album in August -- 7 months after the last one -- and they're all part of a trilogy. dude needs to chill imo.

new album, anyone care of hear it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6CNDk4yJnU

I heard half, it was okay

about right, he's been on auto-pilot in the songwriting department for awhile - a formula that seems to have originated on Daisies (which is great).

Classic up until Tomorrow Morning and diminishing returns afterwards, the eels orchestra show remains one of the finest performances i've seen to date tho

Haven't heard the new one yet, but man was his brief talk with Marc Maron was depressing even though E sounded in good spirits.

I enjoyed the first six or seven Eels albums, but at some point it became a case of "how many Eels albums do I actually need?"

^^ this is fair.

I went back to check out Cautionary Tales and I think I'd just keep the last two songs from that one.

tomorrow morning is really good, new styles of production etc

how man Eels albums does anyone need: one, Electro-Shock Blues

I mean I am a fan of Beauitful Freak in a nostalgic way but it doesn't even come close

I disagree. I prefer Daisies of the Galaxy and Blinking Lights and Other Revelations to either Beautiful Freak or Electro-Shock Blues (which has some great stuff on it but is supremely overrated, IMO)

Daisies is pretty much on par with electro shock for me.
Blinking lights and souljacker also classic

Electro-Shock Blues and Daisies Of The Galaxy are the only essential Eels albums for me. Beautiful Freak and Blinking Lights are decent too, but not in the same league. Everything since Blinking Lights has passed me by completely. Sounds like he's on autopilot no matter what style he tries. Not sure I can be bothered with the new one.

Souljacker is underrated, I think... 'Fresh Feeling' is one of my favourite Eels songs, and 'Bus Stop Boxer' and 'That's Not Really Funny' rule.

Blinking Lights... has 'Trouble With Dreams', 'In the Yard, Behind the Church', 'The Other Shoe', 'Old Shit/New Shit', 'To Lick Your Boots', 'I'm Going to Stop Pretending that I Didn't Break Your Heart', 'Losing Streak' etc. - it's completely in the same league as Daisies, IMO.

souljacker is absolutely underrated - parish brought a lot to that record to make it wild and wacky in the best way

also blinking lights is totally solid.

I bought ‘Cautionary Tales’ but can’t remember what it actually sounded like. Based on the single from the new one I think I’ll pass.

Another vote for ‘Souljacker’ being very good. I think ‘Blinking Lights...’ was the last Eels record I found properly engaging.

i feel like there is an alternate timeline, very similar to ours but a little different, where this band is a bigger deal

bigger than 1.7m monthly listeners on spotify?

is that seriously the stat? surprised. i know they have a few singles but i never hear people talk about eels. for me, electro shock blues and blinking lights are classics.

they have a substantial cult following even though no one seems to rate the last bunch of records

I do think he's written at least, like, at least 12 perfect songs, which is 12 more than most

pitchfork has always given his albums really egregious scores, like 4's or 5's. they gave blinking lights 6.5, which is the highest. what is up with that?

in the first paragraph of the review of souljacker, the reviewer compares him to prince but in a bad way. lol.

I've never been a big fan of artists who play it cool on record: that is, appear to toss off musical ideas when their fans, their press releases and even signs hidden in their own music suggest they should be doing a lot more. Take someone like Prince: a guy with talent to burn, and without the pressure of having to establish himself or compromise his art to appease a greedy record label-- so why am I lucky to get even two decent jams per album from him since about 1987? Similarly, artists like Eels, led by frontman E (Mark Oliver Everett) seem like they have a wealth of raw material to work with, yet are often content to settle for middle-of-the-road filler-pop.

dorky major label (back in the days when that meant real $$$$) singer songwriter thing that's not elliott smith basically gets a demerit

My guess is that they weren't cool enough for Pfork, back when Pfork cared more about that - i.e. songs on The O.C. soundtracks, major label signing, etc.

ha xpost

also they were a bit cooler on elliott smith when he was alive iirc?

seems like unfair grade deflation. i can understand mid-7's for these records if they really didn't think the songwriting was up to par with the indie acts of the era they championed. but 4's, even 3's in some cases!

looking back at elliott smith reviews and you're right. figure 8 got a 6.9 which isn't terrible but that album is a dream pop classic now.

I know it's been a lazy shorthand for dismissing the site completely, but it isn't a lie to say that the "cool vs uncool" factor def played a part in score inflation/deflation back in the first half of the 2000s.

i don't think E is as gifted a songwriter as elliott smith but that is a high bar. but the ramshackle, tacked together quality of eels' music is part of what makes it affection -- he doesn't write these liquid melodies that sound like they've always existed. but he does tackle grief and depression in a way that feels authentic and generous which should be worth more than a 4

Electro-Shock Blues is a certified classic, enough to merit combing through the other albums for the gems

an extraordinary album.

i was scared of it, when i first heard it (age 15 or so). i think the frankness with which he approaches his sister's suicide -- "my name's elizabeth / my life is shit and piss" -- as well as the dissociation of the grieving process... i knew when i heard it that this was honest stuff.

there's relief in the album too, though, of course, which is probably the most honest part of all. this guy should never be getting 4's no matter how lazy the latter output was, and the truth is there are always a few good songs on his records.

wow me mentioning them in the "they really weren't very good" thread struck a nerve eh

i was obsessed with electro-shock blues when i was a teenager. i would still rep for many of the songs on the first three records. but i don't think i'll ever get over my disappointment that the rest of the album don't amount to very much, beyond blinking lights, which has several great songs but my lingering impression of it is that it's kinda monotonous for a double album

lol i didn't see that, sorry brad

my revive was disconnected from any ilx post. i just started revisiting "blinking lights" and wanted to see what people thought of them now

even better that it was unconscious! i should go back to electro-shock and daisies anyway

yep, still have every lyric on electro-shock blues memorized

voices tell me i'm the shit

I need to relisten to ESB in full soon...I guess its emotional arc is a little "tidy" given what he'd been through, but it's always come across as genuine and earned to me anyway

was not expecting the songs where he sings from his sister's perspective to be a root for me but there you go

damn I never even thought about that aspect!

I notice the clunky lines more than I used to ("Courtney needs love", ick) but the sonics have held up really well - the sparse, simple arrangements almost predict certain strands of future pop. like "royals" always kinda made me think of Eels?

i do not think e is a particularly like... rich lyricist, everything's a little too obvious and wry, though he can be very funny in an overwhelmingly macabre context which is not easy

there's a simplicity to his worldview as he presents it that can work really well in some contexts and grate in others...I think when he's dealing with genuine trauma and grief that simplicity can be a huge asset, just as it's a major liability elsewhere

like that's both how you get all the goofy nonsense on later albums but also "3 speed"

blinking lights is one of my favorite indie records from its era. double album and almost every song hits. never got into ESB as much but maybe i should revisit

Blinking Lights kinda the epitome of "shoulda been a single LP" type of deal. that would be a really good single LP though

i don't think i'd be able to get it under 20 tracks personally

just put on daisies of the galaxy and wow i forgot how beautiful this album is

it has a few enh songs here and there but it's such a pastoral relief after ESB without being a retreat. hard to imagine anyone else pulling off "it's a motherfucker"

the sonics have held up really well - the sparse, simple arrangements almost predict certain strands of future pop. like "royals" always kinda made me think of Eels?

― intern at pelican brief consulting (Simon H.), Wednesday, May 19, 2021 2:04 PM (thirty-three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah, ESB doesn't sound like 1998 to me at all.

"pastoral" is not quite right. xp

I will say it "sounds 1998" in the sense that E sounds like he was in thrall to Odelay but had no interest in layering loads of samples, so he ended up with a much more sparse and skeletal sound, which works very well with his lyrical approach, which is basically the opposite of Beck's

jon brion's work on electro-shock blues also ties it directly to 1998 in my mind

Simon otm, I think ESB is a testament to E's songwriting because some of those instrumental loops would have resulted in a much more boring record in lesser hands.

one thing i love about daisies is that it pretty much jettisons all of the postdelay collage stuff, even the track harkening back to that ("flyswatter") sounds much more organic and uh played

it's a neat effect on electro-shock but it's mostly the framing device for all the weakest songs imo (cf. "hospital food"). "last stop: this town" is a miracle tho

I cannot stand "Hospital Food", really stands out like a sore thumb on that record.

oh i guess jon brion only plays organ on "climbing to the moon" but i'd say electro-shock generally kinda has his *swarm of bass clarinets appears out of nowhere* thing going on, which i associate pretty heavily with the late '90s aka the span of time between tidal and when the pawn

ok yeah blinking lights is awesome

That could be me in a couple years
Suckin' fumes under the highway pass

On a rainy day
While I wear newspapers for pants
And a T-shirt that says
"Damn, I'm Good."

I love these early singles, really looking forward to the debut album, oh it's mostly a bunch of dreary underbite shit like this title track I'm walking away in disgust and ignoring them, but now he's popping up on the BBC singing Mr E's Beautiful Blues, I'll check out the new album, it's great! Should I go back and check out the one I missed Electroshock Blues, hmmm, everything I've read about it makes it sound like doubling down on the navelgazing self pity, well turns out I'm the dumdum, this is their masterpiece! Souljacker is the perfect soundtrack to nodding your head as you descend further into substance abuse, John Parish, right? Blinking Lights, meant to be a return to form, FROM WHAT, I ASK YOU? With a double album you expect overlong songs, but this is mostly stuff that peters out after any half formed idea, fucksake it's still going on? Oh Ok, they're putting out another album, I'll maybe get around to that at some point (repeat last line to fade)

That is "My Story Of Eels, From Sketchy Memory"

ESB is the greatest album that I never ever want to listen to

I had hit a point of diminishing returns with recent Eels albums to the point that I never even checked out Earth to Dora. Gotta say that the new one, Extreme Witchcraft, has a lot of charm even if it's not a patch on his best work. This is the most I've enjoyed an Eels record since probably Hombre Lobo.

I will say it "sounds 1998" in the sense that E sounds like he was in thrall to Odelay but had no interest in layering loads of samples, so he ended up with a much more sparse and skeletal sound, which works very well with his lyrical approach, which is basically the opposite of Beck's

― intern at pelican brief consulting (Simon H.), Wednesday, May 19, 2021 7:47 PM (nine months ago) bookmarkflaglink

I don't it sounds like Odelay so much as it does the more introspective acoustic stuff Beck was doing on Mutations, "Dead Melodies", "We Live Again", etc. I think mistook the latter song for Eels when I first heard it