Eels
Useless Trinkets; Essential Eels

[DreamWorks; 2008]
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Styles: alternative pop, singer-songwriter, post-grunge
Others: Cake, Beck, Alfie, Ben Folds, Graham Coxon
Links: Eels - DreamWorks

Following hot on the heels of Beck, with a vaguely similar hybrid of alternative rock and folky hip-hop, all but guaranteed that Mark "E" Everett’s roving band of Eels project would be underappreciated in its time. And, lo, while Beck is now an international superstar, the Eels are basically on par with Badly Draw Boy in North American eyes as distinguishable, but not all that recognizable. Though that has led to some struggle in the band (with longtime drummer Butch Norton being forced to walk away in 2003 after filing for bankruptcy), it has probably made E’s craft that much stronger and more honest in the long run. The art speaks for itself.

The story of Eels starts in 1992 with the release of Everett’s first solo album as E and its ‘93 follow-up, Broken Toy Shop. Neither of them sold particularly well, and he was dropped from Polydor shortly thereafter, but the latter album saw E’s first collaboration with Butch, who, along with Tommy Walter, would together form the first incarnation of Eels for their 1996 debut. As one of the first bands to sign with DreamWorks, the melancholy pop record Beautiful Freak would set the bar for their label and the tone for the Eels catalogue. Freak achieved adequate respect in Britain, and supporting tours would see their live reputation grow in Europe and North America. However, Walter would leave the group in late ‘97, under circumstances similarly vague to Butch’s departure some years later. Essential Eels, their first greatest hits compilation, collects three singles from their debut as well as "My Beloved Monster," which was also released on the Shrek soundtrack.

E wouldn’t be able to immediately embrace his newfound success, though. Shortly after Beautiful Freak was released, his sister committed suicide and a vicious form of cancer claimed his mother’s life. Thus, the subject matter of 1998’s Electro-Shock Blues dealt mostly with death and both mental and physical varieties of disease. The supporting tours saw Eels maintain a trio with Butch and some guy who replaced Walter but would leave before the next record came out. Sadly, the general public doesn’t tend to care all that much for being bummed out, so Blues did not fare quite as positively as its predecessor. As such, only two cuts from the album made the greatest hits and neither of them are the glorious "My Decent Into Madness," but the rich, elegant, previously unreleased Jon Brion remix of "Climbing To The Moon" easily makes up for that oversight.

Daisies Of The Galaxy from 2000 rekindled popular interest with his most thoroughly upbeat and solid record to date. Included as a bonus track after label pressure, "Mr. E’s Beautiful Blues" became one of his biggest hits, landing on the soundtrack to Road Trip (whose cast, in turn, appeared in the video that was strangely left off the greatest hits DVD). Quickly following Daisies with Souljacker, the next year saw the slightly darker, Unabomber-jacketed record propelled critically. Souljacker earned him album-of-the-year nods from Time and London’s Sunday Times. Those two releases represented a new peak in his popularity, with seven tracks making Essential. During this time, his live band swelled to a sextet counting the likes of Lisa Germano, Koool G. Murder, and PJ Harvey’s John Parrish (who co-wrote most of Souljacker). Sadly, this was also the time of Butch’s bitter departure.

The next four years, though less on the radar, would be E’s most fulfilling as an artist. 2003’s Shootenany! was a more stripped-back, bluesy rock album. Recorded live in the studio as a proper rock quartet over a mere 10 days, it showed a whole new side of Eels as a real touring, recording act, as opposed to the glossy production tweaks, samples, and drum machines that ran the bulk of their catalogue to date. Released with little press, the album was later admitted to be just a little distraction for Everett, a break from adding more pieces to his future masterwork and what would be his first album for Vagrant. Blinking Lights And Other Revelations would finally hit the shelves in 2005 as a sprawling 33-track epic, one of the few double-rock albums seen since vinyl fizzled out of mainstream esteem. Featuring contributions from Tom Waits, John Sebastian (Lovin’ Spoonful), and Peter Buck of R.E.M., buzz circulated in the wake of his well-liked Eels With Strings tour (which would result in their first real live album), and recognition for the opus saw it achieve the highest chart position E had yet to receive. Five of Blinking Lights’ songs appear on the hits as well as the strings version of "Dirty Girl."

"I Need Some Sleep" from the Shrek 2 soundtrack and a non-essential but undeniably quirky cover of Missy Elliot’s "Get Ur Freak On" round out the best of ‘96 to ‘06 collection. As usual, most fans will already own the majority of his original albums. The two exclusives aren’t gonna be enough to push them over the edge, not in our internet age, but the bonus DVD of 12 videos will surely win over the unacquainted and completists who can look past the old "unreleased tracks on a greatest hits" cash-grab. The tracklisting is ordered chronologically, which is a nice touch for the newbies likely targeted by this release.

For the rest of us, Universal has got us covered with a 2CD, 50-track compilation of B-sides, rarities, soundtrack, and unreleased material called Useless Trinkets, which has amazingly few throwaways. In fact, if you don’t know ahead of time, it’s next to impossible to tell the rarities from the greatest hits. There are a couple of fine Xmas songs there, on par with The Flaming Lips’ "A Change At Christmas (Say It Isn’t So)," and the remixes and live cuts all do an amazing job of honoring the spirit of the originals while completely reimagining them. The live version of Prince’s "If I Was Your Girlfriend" has more balls than a pool table with a massive amount of post-grunge distortion leading into a liquid-smooth groove and some of E’s most melodic singing, while "Susan’s Apartment" drags "Susan’s House" down to the jiving back alley where gritty Blaxploitation funk meets spoken-word hip-hop. As such, Useless Trinkets is vital for any fan. And yet, the consistent, undeniable quality of the selection would lend itself to do just as good a job as an introduction to Everett’s material as Essential. Either way, this is all the Eels you can handle.

Useless Trinkets

Disc one: 1. Novocaine for the soul (Live from Hell) 2. Fucker 3. My Beloved Monster (Live from Tennessee) 4. Dog’s Life 5. Susan’s Apartment 6. Manchester Girl (Live on the BBC) 7. Flower (Live on the BBC) 8. My Beloved Mad Monster Party (Live on the BBC) 9. Animal 10. Stepmother 11. Everything’s Gonna Be Cool This Christmas 12. Your Lucky Day in Hell (Michael Simpson remix) 13. Altar Boy 14. Novocaine for the Soul (Moog Cookbook remix) 15. If I Was Your Girlfriend (Live) 16. Bad News 17. Funeral Parlor 18. Hospital Food (Live on the BBC) 19. Open the Door (BBC) 20. Birdgirl on a Cell Phone 21. Vice President Fruitley 22. My Beloved Monstrosity 23. The Dark End of the Street (Live) (previously unreleased) 24. The Cheater’s Guide to Your Heart (Live) (previously unreleased) 25. Useless Trinkets (previously unreleased)

Disc two: 1. Mr. E’s Beautiful Remix 2. Souljacker Part I (Alternate version) (previously unreleased) 3. Dog Faced Boy (Alternate version) (previously unreleased) 4. Jennifer Eccles 5. Rotten World Blues 6. Can’t Help Falling in Love 7. Christmas Is Going to the Dogs 8. Mighty Fine Blues 9. Eyes Down 10. Skywriting 11. Taking a Bath in Rust 12. Estranged Friends (previously unreleased) 13. Her 14. Waltz of the Naked Clowns 15. I Like Birds (Live) (previously unreleased) 16. Sad Foot Sign 17. Living Life 18. The Bright Side 19. After the Operation 20. Jelly Dancers 21. I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man (Live at Town Hall) 22. Mr. E’s Beautiful Blues (Live at Town Hall) 23. I Want to Protect You 24. I Put a Spell on You (Live) (previously unreleased) 25. Saw a UFO (previously unreleased)

DVD: 1. Saturday Morning 2. Eyes Down 3. My Beloved Monster 4. A Magic World 5. Not Ready Yet 6. Souljacker Part I

Meet the Eels: Essential Eels Vol. I

CD: 1. Novocaine for the Soul 2. Susan’s House 3. My Beloved Monster 4. Your Lucky Day in Hell 5. 3 Speed 6. Last Stop: This Town 7. Climbing to the Moon (Jon Brion Remix) (previously unreleased) 8. Flyswatter 9. I Like Birds 10. Mr. E’s Beautiful Blues 11. It’s a Motherfucker 12. Souljacker Part I 13. That’s Not Really Funny 14. Fresh Feeling 15. Get Ur Freak On (previously unreleased) 16. Saturday Morning 17. Love of the Loveless 18. Dirty Girl (Live at Town Hall) 19. I Need Some Sleep 20. Hey Man (Now You’re Really Living) 21. I’m Going to Stop Pretending That I Didn’t Break Your Heart 22. Trouble with Dreams 23. Railroad Man 24. Losing Streak

DVD: 1. Novocaine for the Soul 2. Susan’s House 3. Rags to Rags 4. Your Lucky Day in Hell 5. Last Stop: This Town 6. Cancer for the Cure 7. Flyswatter 8. Souljacker Part I 9. Saturday Morning 10. Hey Man (Now You’re Really Living) 11. Trouble with Dreams 12. Dirty Girl (Live at Town Hall)