Eels – Meet The Eels: Essential Eels, Volume 1 (Universal/Polydor)
January 21st, 2008
6.0/6.0
I think it is the perfect time for Mark ‘E’ Everett to release a greatest hits compilation. The album and its partner Useless Trinkets go hand in hand with his new book, Things The Grandchildren Should Know.
E has spent the past few years looking back on his life, and it’s not exactly been a pretty sight. I mean, who could possibly have a positive outlook after having had possibly life’s worst scenarios launched at you one after another? Think of anyone? I can.
Essential Eels contains what one could argue are the best songs from E’s back catalogue of albums. Laid out chronologically from Beautiful Freak to Blinking Lights And Other Revelations, this album contains some of the most sublime tracks any songwriter can only dream of. It’s the way these songs are delivered which make E stand out as a musician and songwriter.
Although some of the stories he tells on his songs are dark and disturbing, he always manages to deliver them with shimmering happiness, which in turn makes you see anything and everything in a positive light. Nestled lightly inbetween original songs is a cover of Missy Eliott’s Get Your Freak On. It certainly stands out, and proves to be an enjoyable if not sinister cover…you’ll have to listen.
The last five songs on this compilation come from Eels’ 2005 album Blinking Lights And Other Revelations. Apart from this double album being an absolute masterpiece, it is the five tracks E has included on this compilation from this album that I couldn’t have agreed more with. Amongst the five is Trouble With Dreams. E sings “# Trouble with dreams is, they don’t come true/And when they do they can catch up to you #” – but this writer disagrees; I think we should all have a dream, and it’s that Eels make music for eternity.
Losing Streak is the final track, and any listener trying to get their small heads round what E is actually conveying on this compilation and through any song on any album can get a clue to their answer here. Blissful, vibrant, morbid, ecstatic, this is essential.
words: Mike Woodward
Things The Grandchildren Should Know is published in the UK by Little, Brown.
Authors bio is coming up shortly.