Eels - Electro-Shock Blues

The sound of Eels' Electro-Shock Blues, the follow-up to the band's intriguing Beautiful Freak, reflects a year in which leader Mark "E" Everett suffered the loss of his sister to suicide as well as the illness of his mother and other tragedies. The music's hushed, sometimes dark sound and Everett's earnest vocals are often more convincing than his diary-entry lyrics, despite the power and daring inherent in describing illness in alt-pop settings that recall everything from hip-hop to Tom Waits. --Rickey Wright Amazon.com

Shockingly Powerful!

This is one powerful album! Considering the inspiration for much of it comes from the suicide of E's sister and the personal turmoil that resulted, how could it not be?

Track 1, with its wistful melancholy and deceptively gentle tone immediately punches us in the stomach with lyrics like "my name is Elizabeth my life is shit and piss." This sets the tone for an album that batters us with its heartbreaking revelations. For anyone who loves Eels, this is a must, for those of you who have yet to hear the genius of E, this is a must. The third track, "Cancer for the Cure" sounds like a bunch of deranged monsters jamming out bleakness. With its hypnotic bass line and trademark E synth, you will find yourself being sucked into wanting more, more, more! Tracks 4 is reminiscent of Daisies of the Galaxy--a brief departure from the brutal beats of the previous song--delivering us welcome relief with E's signature upbeat sarcasm. The music sounds sane, but the lyrics reveal otherwise.

"Going to your Funeral Part 2" is an instrumental that again reminds me of Daisies of the Galaxy. "Last Stop" is a psychedelic sounding song that takes one on a trippy ride through vocal experimentation. It is layered with a secondary voice--as if the conscience is speaking to us. It coaxes the singer along with a line like "I'm gonna fly on down for the last stop to this town." E lets it all hang out with this album--with its occasional distortion (Efil's God) and contradictory mellow interludes. But the mellow acoustic songs are no less seeped in turmoil than the harder, shocking sounds of the album. Rather, they make us wonder what constitutes insanity---with what seems like very lucid descriptions of the absurd.

"Ant Farm" has a country vibe, exemplifying the versatility of the Eels. One of the last tracks, "The Medication Is Wearing Off" has a Souljacker feel to it--it's as if we're coming down from a bad trip, realizing that we that we never went anywhere. It winds down with lyrics like, "Watch the day disintegrate so I can stay up late and wait."

This album is unrelenting in its darkness--and satisfies the soul in ways that only an Eels album can.
One of their best! February 14, 2008

5 stars

I have a rule. I dont give reviews 5 stars.
This one being the exception.
January 9, 2008

Takes several listens

Electro-shock blues has a much darker content and tone than more recent (although still dark) releases. Cancer, death and suffering are common themes. However as with all eels releases there are moments of optimism , particularly with 3 speed and PS You rock my world. If you give it enough time it may become one of your favorite cd's. December 1, 2007

E announces to world that a new musical genius is on the scene

Electro-Shock Blues was the first Eels album I bought. I'd heard a song off of it on Pandora, so thought I'd check them out. Little did I know that I was about to be indoctrinated into the cult of E! I was literally blown away from what I heard.

From the opening lines of this album, "Laying on the bathroom floor/kitty licks my cheek once more/And I could try/ But waking up is harder when you wanna die" you know you are hearing a "rock" album like none you've ever heard before. Sometimes Electro-Shock Blues is sad beyond belief, sometimes it is rocking hard and loud, and there's even beautiful fantasies to come along on--"Last Stop This Town" in which we can all join E and his sister for a flight away from all of the pain of this world. It's a beautiful and joyous fantasy, typical of E to be able to take tragedy and find hope and beauty in it.

In my other reviews of Eels albums, and other folks reviews up here, most people should know E's story by now. At the time of this album, his sister had just committed suicide. Shortly later, he found out his mother had terminal cancer. At the age of 19 E found his father, one of the 20th century's most famous physicists (and apparently not a very nice man) dead in the family's hallway. He had, at the time of this album, lived through more tragedy in a young life than most people go through in a lifetime.

So it's hard to imagine, even though "Beautiful Freak" was such a hit and he could have ridden that gravy train for awhile, how he could not have dealt with these tragedies that were happening to him, just as he achieved his first musical success w/Beautiful Freak. Fans of Beautiful Freak may have been put off that this album is such a "downer," but it won E a whole new trove of fans who could appreciate his nuanced outlook on life, his beautiful talent for turning a phrase and making us feel what he's feeling, and overall, an important and mature album examining the human condition. If it sounds like pretty heavy stuff, it is, but in the very best possible way.

If you're looking for bubblegum pop, this is going to be a huge disappointment. But if you like your music (and your art in general) to delve deeply into the why's and wherefore's of life--to ask the question "what's it all about?" and then make the brave attempt to answer it, then this album will blow you away. Like the album that E released in 2005, which in many ways seems like a sequel to this album, "Blinking Lights and Other Revelations," this is a work of genius. If E had wanted to hang up a calling card letting the world know that there's a new kid on the block ready to claim the title of best singer/songwriter of his generation, he couldn't have done any better than this album.

For anyone who has a heart, and has ever experienced profound loss, and the healing that follows, go along on the journey that this album will take you. In the end, the feeling is catharsis. Or to quote E, in the last song on the album, "P.S. You Rock My World":

"Laying in bed tonight i was thinking
And listening to all the dogs
And the sirens and the shots
And how a careful man tries
To dodge the bullets
While a happy man takes a walk

And maybe it is time to live"

That in a nutshell is the E philosophy: acknowledge the pain, but fight on, determined to make it to the day when you put the past behind you, and find happiness. Apparently, our E is now a happily married man, and so he is the proof of his own philosophy. And with all he's survived, E has earned his happiness many times over!

August 7, 2007

The best Eels album

Electro-Shock blues is my favorite Eels album. I can't help thinking of it as the bastard son of the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds. The son, because musically it is some of the most perfect chamber pop ever concocted. Bastard, because lyrically it is the opposite end of the universe from Brian Wilson: instead of fun 'n' sun, it's cancer 'n' suicide. Actually, the song titles are so morbid that for a long time I was hesitant to buy it, despite the fact that I already owned and liked several other Eels albums. But there's no need to worry---no subject matter in the world could ruin these kinds of melodies. It's kind of like Wes Anderson's movies. Objectively speaking, don't they all have sad endings? But you leave the theater feeling happy, or at worst bittersweet. Life has two sides, and I'm grateful for artists like E and Wes Anderson, who can present the bitter side but somehow manage to make it go down easy. Arguably, that takes much more talent than what the Beach Boys did. August 5, 2007

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