Reviews
Eels
Blinking Lights And Other Revelations (Disc 2)
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Add to del.ico.us.Review Date: 2005-08-08
Now were on to the second disc of this two disc saga. I mean I shouldn't complain because I do like Eels, they aren't my everyday band but they are something I do like to hear every once and a while. After hearing the first disc and thinking it was below average I am renewing my thoughts and getting a clear head so that I can be unbiased to the second half. Understand that I would like to enjoy the album, I don't want to hear music and distaste it, well some I do, but not the Eels, I like the Eels. What I would like to have happen is that this album just is a bit more upbeat and even a tad happier, I doubt the happy will happen so I'll just hope for the first one. Oh right, some of you may have noticed that Terri was supposed to be doing this second half of this CD, and for someone who claims to love the band and the album you'd think they would have jumped at the opportunity to say how good it was. But instead she leaves the task to me, so instead of having a column full of educated material and wonderfully structured sentences that include grammar and such. I realise I've likely committed a grammar nightmare in that sentence and Terri is probably thinking its funny. Anyways I just thought I'd mention that in case there was any confusion, I apologize also for not having as big of breasts as Terri in advance, I'm taking my estrogen though.
Easily my favourite track on the CD, spanning both discs, is number four, "Hey Man (Now You're Really Living)". This song is really good, this is a bit more of a uplift song, like a resolution song. I guess I mean that E maybe realised that his live wasn't so bad for a second and somehow got inspired to write this kickass uplift song. The chorus where they say the song title is the best part to me, but another neat add-on is near the end when they have some random dude in the background singing like a crazy asshole, but thats ok because its actually pretty good for the overall song. It'd odd that this song goes from this to track five which is ultra sad sounding, its "I'm Going To Stop Pretending That I Didn't Break Your Heart". That is one long ass name for a song, and it is rather dreary and down sounding, it relies heavily on the sound that you get fromt he guitar as its light and hollow. Then theres the keyboards and such mixed in so I think you get a good song in the end, I mean its pretty sad because clearly E has broken some girls heart, but don't feel bad E you have money and girls love that shit a lot more then they'll love you.
I always like Eels instrumental songs, at least I usually do, and thank christ this is one I like, its track nine, "Dusk: A Peach In The Orchard". Its just a light tune that contains some guitar that almost sounds like a banjo and then theres some keyboards in there. They don't really use percussion I find that much at all, which is ok because I still enjoy them, I just never really paid that close of attention to it until now. This song however is the shortest on this disc, its about a minute and twenty seconds so its not that long at all and thats probably the idea as the whole song is themed around the idea of dusk and what happens I guess to a peach in an orchard. What I believe is that the music video associated with this would be kinda neat, because it would have to be animated otherwise how else could it be cool?
Another really wicked song on the CD is "Old Shit/New Shit", which is track two. I think it was the single, if it wasn't it should be because this song is hoppin. Well I mean as far as Eels go this song is pretty up in tempo, and in it E says "I'm tired of the old shit, let the new shit begin." So maybe he's saying a number of things there, theres obviously a very complex answer there and I don't think that I want to get into any of them. Theres also this really neat interlude towards the end of the song that has use of backup singers or something that sounds like singing anyways, I suppose it could be some weird manipulation of an instrument that I've never heard of....or its a keyboard. I don't really know, but thats fine because I still like the sound and its a really catchy song, it reminds me most of a song you'd find off the "Daisies of The Galaxy" album, it kinda reminds me specifically of the secret song on the disc, the one in the Road Trip movie. It's a great song and its definitely part of the reason I like the second disc more then the first one, which is good because I really didn't think that the first one was that tremendous.
They have another instrumental track on the disc, its the fourteenth one, "Last Days Of My Bitter Heart". The song is essentially keyboard but its only single piano keys that are clearly pressed individually, its almost kinda creepy, but it sounds like victory music you'd get in an RPG game for original Nintendo. It's neat to me for that nostalgia reason alone, but the song overall doesn't have much kick to it as it really only contains that piano without very much variation, it does build itself up as the song moves on, but never really increasing pace too much. I think this song just keeps it real, its simple and its not supposed to be anything else, I guess its kinda lazy, but I think that it serves its purpose.
The last song I'm going to talk about is number thirteen which is called "Losing Streak". This song is totally alright, of the songs that are more upbeat I would think its one of the ones I would listen to first. The pace is good, but I think that has something to do with the fact that E is singing about his losing streak being done, which I guess means his streak of bad luck has finally come to an end, at least in his eyes it would seem. Theres a lot of piano and horns that are used in the song, and actually the have the drums worked into this song which is good to see. The whole mix is really impressive and I think thats a lot of the reason that I like the song, sometimes good production can just make a song good. Anyways I think thats about all that I can tell you about this song, but its clear to me that I like this CD more then I like the first one, the styles on it are more to what I like in the band, a mix of stuff from the "Daisies of The Galaxy" album and the "Beautiful Freak" album, that one is my favourite Eels album.
Tracks to Steal: "Losing Streak", "Old Shit/New Shit", "Hey Man (Now You're Really Living)", "Dusk: A Peach In The Orchard"
Were the Eels able to battle back in the second half?
Does E seem to be a bit happier now that he isn't getting shit one anymore?
Judgment Passed:
Score: 8.1
I like this album better, actually quite a bit better, I think theres generally a different feel to this album then there was in the first disc. In a way I'm almost glad that Terri got lazy and didn't review this so that I could have a chance for them to redeem themselves, maybe I was more in the mood for this album? But I think that it has more to do with the fact that it is a better album to me overall.
- Brandon