Pros Susan's House, My Beautiful Monster, Flower, Your Lucky Day in Hell, Spunky
Cons Rags to Rags, Not Ready Yet, Guest List, Mental.
The Bottom Line While not the best thing from E and the Eels by far, Beautiful Freak has some things worth hearing (not including Novocaine for the Soul).
Full Review
There are innumerable things about the Eels that I adore. Sadly debut album Beautiful Freak isn’t one of them.
Beautiful Freak was released when it was assumed that the “band” was indeed band. Of course subsequent discs dropped the façade and revealed the truth…that Mark Everett (better known simply as E) is a one-man show. He writes lyrics, plays instruments, sings, and even acts as a producer on his albums. But in the case of Beautiful Freak, DreamWorks marketed the “band” as a threesome consisting most notably of E but also bassist Tommy Walter and drummer Butch Norton. Walter lasted for just the debut album while Norton still plays drums on all Eels recordings.
Formed by “former” solo artist E in 1995, the Eels have since released four studio albums in addition to a number of EPs and two live discs. The albums, discounting the comparatively shallow Beautiful Freak, parallel E’s life struggles and his drastic mood swings. Electro-Shock Blues (1998) is a black, yet witty, album that talks directly about his mother and sister’s deaths. The songs are beautiful, thought provoking, and incredibly strange. Of the completely other end of the spectrum the Eels returned with the 2000 Daisies of the Galaxy. Deceptively chipper, the LP features such brilliantly bizarre tracks as Birds, Grace Kelly Blues, and Flyswatter.
Most recently, the Eels returned with Souljacker. Once again showcasing the talents of E, the album shimmers delightfully with insightful lyrics contrasted by offbeat production. Ironically, none of the three more recent albums would have probably been possible had it not been for the “band’s” success with 1996’s fairly sub par Beautiful Freak.
Beautiful Freak actually features the closest brush with fame that the Eels ever experienced. Each subsequent album was awarded some success on certain charts, but because of Novocaine For The Soul the debut actually crossed over onto mainstream charts…for better or for worse. While Beautiful Freak pulled together an audience for the LA-formed “trio,” the album itself ranks at the bottom of the Eels discography in terms of creative juice and overall quality. But with that nasty little tidbit out of the way, it is important to note that even the worst of the Eels is oodles better than anything from most modern artists. You might call that a pessimistic observation, but you would also be correct in that assumption.
Consisting of twelve songs, Beautiful Freak dabbles in the incredibly dark themes later expounded on for Electro-Shock Blues. On the surface it seems as though the “band” is a clean pop rock. But the strange nuances make them clearly different than the vastest majority of acts. Beautiful Freak flashes forward on occasion to the brilliance that the Eels would later develop and nurture but also lacks consistency and motivation. And these latter problems are the ones that cause the decently appealing album to lose ground.
As mentioned, Novocaine For The Soul was a minor hit. It even landed in the number one position on the Modern Rock chart. Does that mean it is a great song? No, not necessarily, but it does mean that at least it appeals to a wider audience than would normally enjoy such a unique act. The track crackles with distortion and purposefully low-key production from the start. With a xylophone mixed with traditional guitars and drums the song has elements of both the normal and extreme. E of course sparkles with his sharp wit and equally sharp vocals. And it is this that usually saves any song from the Eels. In nearly every example, E sounds wonderful and his personally written material is usually complex just beneath the thin layers of simplicity. Novocaine For The Soul is a fun enough track, but it isn’t representative of the album or for that matter the Eels. Though if people have heard just one song from the band, they’ve heard this one:
Life is hard
And so am I
You'd better give me something
So I don't die
There are some sparks of true inspiration in the form of the sly, dry, and gloomy Susan’s House. The beautiful organ combined with spoken word and softly sung lyrics works nicely with the distinctive production. While the song isn’t nearly up to par with some of the later releases it does manage to resonate nicely. And there are other similarly fascinating offerings, most notably My Beautiful Monster, Flower, Your Lucky Day in Hell, and Spunky. My Beautiful Monster is a nifty track that probably ranks among E’s best overall. Sure it’s the slightest bit more “rock” than on subsequent releases, but the modest vocals and unique instrumentation combined neatly with dark imagery make for a truly memorable track. Much the same thing applies to the other three mentioned songs. It is with these that listeners will feel, experience, even know what direction the Eels would later turn.
As mentioned though Beautiful Freak isn’t on the whole any better than average. Songs like Rags To Rags, Not Ready Yet, Guest List, and Mental cannot are boring at best and just plain awful at worst. Rags To Rags unfortunately appears toward the end of the disc thus causing a break in flow. Not Ready Yet boasts trite guitar licks not at all different from those presented in some of the slower songs by Bush. Those few songs not even named here are absolutely forgettable and certainly not worth investigation.
Beautiful Freak is an average album. Admirable are the attempts made by the Eels and E to explore emotions, soundscapes, and various instruments. But they seemed stifled in 1996, as though DreamWorks had the relative unknowns tucked beneath their thumb. Later releases are truer to E’s creatively gifted nature and are much more highly recommended than this merely run of the mill release.
Rating: 3/5 stars
Track Listing:
01. Novocaine for the Soul | 02. Susan’s House | 03. Rags to Rags | 04. Beautiful Freak | 05. Not Ready Yet | 06. My Beloved Monster | 07. Flower | 08. Guest List | 09. Mental | 10. Spunky | 11. Your Lucky Day in Hell | 12. Manchild
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