Friday, May 05, 2006

Perhaps daily was a little optimistic

After all, I'm a man, not a machine.

So I think I have failed spectacularly to keep this blog updated on a daily basis. Honestly, I had the best intentions in the world, but my actual job coupled with lack of internet access outside of work, has sort of got in the way of keeping the four of you who actually read this updated on my inner monologue. Plus, much as I love you guys, there is someone out there who deserves my time even more. And they don't even get to choose if they listen to me or not, so you should probably consider yourselves lucky

In not at all breaking and entirely unconfirmed news, myself and Marcus (or Electrichead to his friends) are planning on unleashing a new night on a possibly unprepared Leeds. I don't want to write anymore about it, because it's really Marcus's baby, and I don't want to steal any of his thunder. But in going through my albums to pick out potential dance floor rockers, I remember how much I love this group.

I was fifteen when I discovered the Eels. I can't remember if I saw them on television, but I was immeditatly hooked on their debut single Novocaine For The Soul , a perfect slice of post grunge pop. I picked up their album on a trip to the States for a couple of dollars, and listened to it until the CD would no longer play (literally). Ever since I have rushed out and picked up every album that E (Mark Everett) and his loose collection of musicians have put out.

Eels are not, and have never been, a party band. Their debut album Beautiful Freak covers such topics as disillusionment with life, the decline of society and coping with the death of his sister. This is an underlieing tone of insecurity and fear. And yet these difficult topics are married to catchy, upbeat melodies occasionally interspersed with noise. The follow up Electroshock Blues is even harder work, having been written around the time of the death of E's mum, just a year after his sister passed away. It still contains some gems of tracks, but I have to be in the right mood to listen to it. It's not a summer album.

As the albums have passed, however, Eels have got somehow more positive. E seems happier with the world, and more importantly, his life. It's not the idle boastings of a man who makes a comfortable living out of doing something that he loves. Instead, it is songs about enjoying the sunshine and discovering that life can be okay after all. The third album Daisies Of The Galaxy is just (manly alert!!) a very pretty album and is reassuring optimistic throughout. In a charactistically perverse mood, the hidden track Mr E's Beautiful Blues was the lead single from the album and carries the refrain "goddamn right it's a beautiful day".

Now five albums into his career, an ambitious double album by the name of Blinking Lights, plus multiple side projects, live albums and EPs, E is nothing if not prolific. But as these videos show, the quality rarely dips below superlative

To sum up, I love Eels. And my life is richer to having them in my world.

Eels - Novocaine For The Soul



Eels - Susan's House



Eels - Flyswatter


Eels - Souljacker

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