Crazy Love (Crazy Music) from EELS LIVE AND IN PERSON LONDON 2006 DVD
3 NEW EELS CD+DVD COLLECTIONS!
Sounds Like
EELS SONG OF THE DAY! Hear a different EELS song -- spanning the entire EELS catalogue -- every day, right here at the EELS MySpace page. Track 1 of the player changes daily (if there are no MySpace glitches that day). Dig today's tune along with a couple more from the brand new and highly acclaimed BLINKING LIGHTS CD.
Watch "HEY MAN (NOW YOU'RE REALLY LIVING)" from Blinking Lights and Other Revelations
MEETING THE EELS
by Mark Edwards, The Sunday Times
Opposites attract. And I think it's the opposites in Mark Oliver Everett's songs that attracted me. I think it's the opposites that make his work so special.
They're not merely opposites. Some of them are heart-wrenchingly irreconcilable conflicts - the "damned if you do, damned if you don't" decisions that bedevil our lives, those moments when you suddenly realize that you want X but you need Y, and you can't have both, and you beat yourself up so much over the choice that you end up with neither.
But perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself. Perhaps you've only recently discovered the Eels and you've decided to find out more, and so here you are with an album called Meet The Eels which will allow you to do just that. And I'm going on about the opposites and conflicts and paradoxes at the heart of the man's work as if you're already au fait with his oeuvre. And you're thinking "uh-oh, I just wanted some nice songs."
Don't let me put you off. All I'm saying is that there's a tension in Everett's songs that gives them a strength and a resonance that most other songwriters couldn't ever equal. Sometimes the tension exists in the title. Your Lucky Day in Hell. Just how lucky can that be? I suppose it sounds better than an unlucky day in Hell. Although I'm not sure that we should rush out and get T-shirts made, saying "Better a good day in Hell than a bad day in Heaven."
Sometimes the tension is between the lyric and Everett's delivery. "Goddam right, it's a beautiful day," he sings on Mr. E's Beautiful Blues. But he sure doesn't sound like he believes it. Although he does sound as though he's decided that if he says it often enough, he might start to believe it. Mr. E's Beautiful Blues was the big hit single off Daisies of the Galaxy, and yet it only appeared bolted on the end of the album as a "hidden" track. (Sometimes the tension is between the art and the marketplace.)
Sometimes the tension is between the lyrics and the music. Go and put on track 11 without looking to see what it's called. Gee, that piano is pretty isn't it? What kind of sweet, tender lyric would go well with that loveliness. Oh, well, he's ruined it, hasn't he with his foul language? Imagine what a smooth love lyric Paul McCartney might have put in there. Or Elton John.
Except that he hasn't ruined anything. (Goddam right) It's a beautiful song, and it's even more beautiful because he made it a little ugly too. Read more...
hi eels! many thanks for the add ... i really love your music and it's great that you've uploaded my favourite song - "fresh feeling" ... this song cheers me up!
hello just finished reading "things the grandchildren should now" and its one of the best books i have read in a while and i would recommend it to any fan of mr everett and his music, that guy is a survivor and a legend!
Looking forward to the doc airing on PBS, although that doesn't compete with on a giant screen/curtain at a show. Plus, no the Chet on PBS...unless you send him over to watch with me.
Heard the story of Dr. Hugh Everett III on the swedish radio show "Sommar" (Summer), where one person (different every day during whole summer) has 90 minutes to talk about whatever they want and play the music of their choice. The Swedish astro physicist Max Tegmark told the fascinating story and played “SUICIDE LIFE” and that was my ticket into the world of the Eels. Glad to be your SpaceFriend, I will check you out further…
