Eels- Blinking Lights and Other Revelations

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I may be wrong, as I've only listened to this twice, but... I think the Eels are no longer shit! That was a scary couple of albums, huh?

This has leaked. It's kind of a "Electro Shock Blues" devoid of any anger, lots of songs about lost childhoods and dead industries and God pops his head around the corner on a number of tracks. There's guest appearances by Tom Waits and John Sebastian from Lovin' Spoonful, and there's also a song about why E hates the "Soy Bomb" dude. A lot of the tracks sound like "Ant Farm", and the best song has the name "Theme for a Pretty Girl That Makes You Believe God Exists".

Anyway, yes, they're great again.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 20:14 (twenty-one years ago)

i dunno if I'll ever get past the rasp (I love "Last Stop: This Town" though).

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 20:37 (twenty-one years ago)

I loved (now LOVED) Beautiful Freak. The other albums I didn't care for.

― nathalie barefoot in the head (stevie nixed), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 20:39 (twenty-one years ago)

wah? even the _vastly_ superior 'electro-shock blues'?

― chris andrews (fraew), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 20:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Love the first CD.. Dom is right, it certainly pisses over the last two..

I've actually put off listening to the second CD for the moment.. I'm waiting until the first one wears off...

― Jack Battery-Pack (Jack Battery-Pack), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 20:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, and, um... they've signed to Vagrant. Home of Dashboard Confessional, Get Up Kids, and Alkaline Trio. Wussupwitdat?

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 20:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Good, I'm looking forward to this now. I wasn't as dismissive as Dom about the last two, but they'd definitely lost the plot. Having John Sebastia piques my interest rather more than Tom Waits.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 21:11 (twenty-one years ago)

also home of Paul Westerberg and Rocket From The Crypt, Dom. They're following the Epitaph "Anti" blueprint a bit.

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 21:11 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm harsh on "Souljacker" because I over-valued it desperately when it came out (I thought it was better than "Daisies of the Galaxy", which it quite clearly isn't). "Shootenany" can go eat a dick, though.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 21:12 (twenty-one years ago)

I still say this Tricky needs a Topley-Bird bad.

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 21:15 (twenty-one years ago)

too true

― chris andrews (fraew), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 21:23 (twenty-one years ago)

one of those bands that I never bought an album by or felt strongly about, but have ended falling into hand-me-downs or promos of almost every album. I could probably fill a mix with songs I like, though. the last one was terrible but "Numbered Days" was great.

― Al (sitcom), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 21:27 (twenty-one years ago)

wah? even the _vastly_ superior 'electro-shock blues'?

I know, I just didn't care. Didn't really bother listening to it properly.

― nathalie barefoot in the head (stevie nixed), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 21:48 (twenty-one years ago)

It's about 65% very good, which is a fabulous ratio if you consider the last two albums and the massive number of tracks.

― Simon H. (Simon H.), Thursday, 17 March 2005 00:45 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/eels/blinkinglights

First nine reviews to make it to Metacritic make it the most critically acclaimed album of the year.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 09:47 (twenty-one years ago)

people realize this is a double-CD, right? e struggled to fill his previous albums with a solid 40 minutes, and now this!?

i like "hey man" but there's WAAAAY too much fat on these babies. nowhere near the highs of "beautiful freak" or "daisies of the galaxy" (or, even, the lows of "electroshock blues"). i think the only reason i rank it higher than the last two is b/c i'm happy to see them go back to glockenspiel alt-pop, instead of that nonsense rawk.

― Sean M (Sean M), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 11:23 (twenty-one years ago)

I like "I like Birds".

― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 11:47 (twenty-one years ago)

fuckin' Pitchfork gave the album the lowest mark today...
I only listened it twice, there are a few fillers, but overall a pleasant surprise, though still Daisies Of The Galaxy is my favourite.
maybe a few more listens after this album will be the winner... who knows?

― zeus, Thursday, 28 April 2005 16:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Listened to the first disc once and was never annoyed. This is new for the dude.

― miccio (miccio), Thursday, 28 April 2005 18:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Hey!
I still love this album! Cca 75% of the songs are truly great.
Maybe this has been really the best album this year so far...

― zeus, Thursday, 5 May 2005 20:19 (twenty-one years ago)

twelve years pass...

Underrated band? First three albums are classic and Souljacker too

― Week of Wonders (Ross), Saturday, 2 September 2017 20:45 (eight years ago)

Not at all. They're perfectly rated by their white indie kid audience, even though their profile has been a lot lower since Blinking Lights and Other Revelations. Except for their second album, which remains criminally overrated.

― more Allegro-like (Turrican), Saturday, 2 September 2017 22:22 (eight years ago)

oh man that's insanely off the money

electro shock blues is justly rated

― Week of Wonders (Ross), Saturday, 2 September 2017 22:44 (eight years ago)

It has its moments like all Eels albums, but I think the back story behind the record has generally led folks to become blind to the fact that the album is riddled with filler, particularly the second half.

― more Allegro-like (Turrican), Saturday, 2 September 2017 22:46 (eight years ago)

i appreciate your passion, Turrican. Totally disagree, Medication Is Wearing Off is one of the best Eels songs ever

― Week of Wonders (Ross), Saturday, 2 September 2017 22:58 (eight years ago)

That's one of the ones I like, yes.

― more Allegro-like (Turrican), Saturday, 2 September 2017 22:59 (eight years ago)

Haha, cheers mate.

― Week of Wonders (Ross), Saturday, 2 September 2017 23:00 (eight years ago)

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