So then onto the music Mark Oliver Everett (we know him as E) is Eels, and lets make it clear it's Eels not The Eels. This is a joyous sprawling masterpiece of an album 33 tracks spread of 2 CD's and ninety minutes of music that beg to be listened to.
If you are unfamiliar with the work of Eels then this is a great place to start, with albums of this length I often worry about the quality when artists decide to put out double albums but this works you don't get bored with this release there is a real calmness to this album which is unusually when you understand the life the E has had to date. One of the tracks is called Things The Grandchildren Should Know and if you every have the urge to read a truly amazing book get the book of the same name, whether a lover of Eels or not the book is a beautiful written transcript of a tragic life and an artists battle to get his music listened to. I'm not going to go into detail about his life but, cancer, death, and suicide all feature and that's all I will say.
I'm not going to single out tracks on this album as it is all of the up most quality and very tragic subjects are dealt with in such a manner that you don't want to jump off a bridge after listening to it. Although the lyrical content is sometimes tough, the music is at times very uplifting. Guests include Tom Waits and Pete Buck and when you get musicians of that quality guesting on your album you know things are going to be good.
Eels seem to release albums at a rapid pace at the moment, and E is always trying to push himself musically however the quality doesn't suffer such is the talent of the guy.
This album has been a delight to listen to and I would recommend that if you don't have any music by Eels yet that you rectify that situation soon.
Mark 10/10
For some reason I have missed this one by Eels, that will be rectified soon.
ReplyDeleteCheers