Pros Lyrics, vocals, guitars...it's all wonderful!
Cons Probably a bit depressing for most people.
The Bottom Line Great music from a highly under-rated artist, Electro-Shock Blues is one of the better albums from 1998.
Full Review
To refer to the “band” the Eels as dark is a major understatement. The incredibly bleak nature of Mark Everett’s (known simply by E) compositions is rooted in his equally depressing past. E has in the course of just a few years felt the loss of both his sister and mother. These difficult experiences have of course found a home in his music and his lyrics and came to a head on the 1998 release Electro-Shock Blues.
E began his career in the early 1990’s after dropping out of school and eventually deciding to pursue a music career. Before ultimately forming the Eels, E performed on a more solo basis with his first label, Polydor. Despite the release of two positively reviewed albums (1992’s A Man Called (E) and 1993’s Broken Toy Shop) the album dropped E because of bad sales. Not long thereafter he regrouped as the Eels.
And it was the first album as the Eels that I first heard a taste of E. Beautiful Freak (1996) wasn’t nearly as dark as subsequent releases and as a result even mainstream media embraced the album playing songs like Novocaine For The Soul time and time again. But as a whole the album lacked the desperate emotion more readily embraced on later releases.
The most airtight of the consequent albums was 1998’s Electro-Shock Blues. A Prozac-inducing romp through the darkest corridors of the soul, the album is also incredibly fascinating with creatively aligned guitars and vocals. And rather than settling on a monotonous tone, E injects even the most depressing songs with his own sly, wry humor and even the occasional funky beat. Electro-Shock Blues is obviously an intensely personal album to E…one that details the darkest days of his life. But the thing that separates the Eels release from other similarly dour acts is that it is intelligently written and not even slightly trite.
It’s hard not to enjoy every crevice of Electro-Shock Blues. Listeners will find themselves tapping toes to the lyrically depressing though musically upbeat Cancer For The Cure while at the same time not quite forgetting E’s immense pain as presented on Elizabeth on the Bathroom Floor. And it is this irony that makes this album one of the most mesmerizing of 1998. But be warned…this is a strange, dark, imaginative album teetering on the edge of sanity.
Electro-Shock Blues should be heard as a whole. E meant it to be a complete piece rather than sixteen individual mini-adventures. But with that said, there are some exceptional songs…ones that most every alternative rock artist would have loved to record. The aforementioned Elizabeth on the Bathroom Floor kicks off this disc on a high note. Little explanation is necessary regarding the content. Suffice it to say that it is one of the lowest key offerings and is just as sorrowful as the title would seem to suggest.
Even more lovely is Going to Your Funeral, Pt. 1, a light and trippy track driven by E’s vocals paired with a thumping bass guitar and the occasional xylophone. The combination works well and leaves a strange feeling in the heart. Of course the lyrics are about death…there’s little question there. But what makes this ditty worthwhile is the melody that is insanely upbeat and leaves the listener feeling somehow good even while E laments:
look at all the people with the flowers in their hands
they put the flower on the box
that’s holding all the sand that was...
that was once...
that was once you
Cancer for the Cure sounds like something from Beck. And probably on a sonic level, it is Beck with whom E has the most in common. But even casual listening to the lyrics from the Eels will reveal a sadder, more intense soul less consumed with entertaining than he is with simply getting words to paper and constructing the perfect song.
The album continues and other songs strike me as near masterpieces. My Descent into Madness is a light, fluid track with more grit than most contemporaries. 3 Speed is also a lovely little song with an extremely light melody paired with E’s understated vocals. Again, the lyrics are striking:
life is funny
but not ha ha funny
peculiar I guess
you think I got it going my way
then why am I such a f*ckin’ mess?
Continuing on and past a few less perfect tracks (Hospital Food, Electro-Shock Blues, Efil’s God and the instrumental Going to Your Funeral, Pt. 2), the album again hits a high point with Last Stop: This Town. Funky beats are paired nicely with E’s sparkly pop-rock vocals. But don’t ever mistake the Eels for anything that would appeal to a mass audience. Electro-Shock Blues is a much too depressing album for most mainstream listeners.
As the album progresses a few other songs are less than perfect…Baby Genius is rather strange and a bit too unfocused as are a few songs that follow. With The Medication Is Wearing Off listeners will be reminded of the earlier My Descent into Madness. Once again E’s work is uniquely understated and at the same time as he is dark and twisted the song is somehow also shimmering and charming.
Electro-Shock Blues is a wonderful album…a must-own for any fan of alternative and indie rock. If you’re prone to depression it might be best to avoid anything from the Eels. The subsequent Daisies of the Galaxy is somewhat more upbeat but unexpected. It’s also not quite as creatively jarring as Electro-Shock Blues. Not even the most recent Souljacker can rival the power of this sophomore release. I highly recommend Electro-Shock Blues.
Rating: 5/5 stars
Track Listing:
01. Elizabeth on the Bathroom Floor
02. Going to Your Funeral, Pt. 1
03. Cancer for the Cure
04. My Descent into Madness
05. 3 Speed
06. Hospital Food
07. Electro-Shock Blues
08. Efil’s God
09. Going to Your Funeral, Pt. 2
10. Last Stop: This Town
11. Baby Genius
12. Climbing to the Moon
13. Ant Farm
14. Dead of Winter
15. The Medication Is Wearing Off
16. P.S. You Rock My World
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