Mark Everett has always overcome the depression of life through his music. In the dim and distant past, Eels were a band. Now it is a showcase for the Everett family troubles with stories of death, sadness, suicidal thoughts and bleak optimism. Ever since the band's debut Beautiful Freak, a stunning collection of edgy melancholy songs about society and fitting in (or not), Eels have been a band worthy of attention. The follow-up 'difficult' second album 'Electro-Shock Blues' sees Everett in the depths of grief and coping for the death of his family. And now Everett (or E as he likes and dislikes to be known) is ready to finally unveil his ultimate masterwork, thirty three tracks of just about everything...The best of the first half is the more 'complete' songs, that is those over three minutes. The distorted vocals and country rock guitars of 'From Which I Came/A Magic World' is short and sweet. 'The Trouble With Dreams' is trademark Eels, with Everett's voice effortlessly switching from one mode to the other while the tinkling piano and fuzzy organ keyboards play out in the background. Lyrically this is familiar despairing territory - 'this is the life that I must lead now, crossing fingers and wiping brow...'. The organ solo is incredibly cool. The imagery an epic sound of 'In The Yard, Behind The Church' is reminiscent of Mercury Rev with E's gravelly delivery sending it somewhere new. The vocal free chorus is a work of beauty. Definitely one of the man's happier, more reflective, moments. Even better is the following song 'Railroad Man'. Everett sings 'the times that I live in are not made for a railroad man' with such heart stopping ease.
The second half is a collection of two minute vignettes. Starting with 'The Other Side', an intense and deeply absorbing outlet for some bottled anger. Everett uses the oldest trick in the book with the opening line 'it's a beautiful day. The sky is black as ink' - a man of contradictions often sings about them like he's ready to piss on anyones fire. 'Mother Mary' sees E gigging with The Bad Seeds, the insane keyboards are fantastic. In contrast, 'Going Fetal' is a perfect slice of upbeat pop which would be an instant hit if it wasn't do disturbing. The bizarre musical arrangement of brass, space aged keyboards, shouting, car horns and fake crows noises add to the mayhem. This flicks over to 'Understanding Salesman' which again couldn't be more different - a soft beautiful bleak look inside a mind: 'daddy don't let me down this time. I'm all alone inside my mind' is right from the heart.
Elsewhere there are three instrumentals in the first half: opener 'Theme From Blinking Lights' (with some pleasant wordless vocals and great guitars), 'Marie Floating Over The Backyard' (delicate piano and choral/string arrangement) and 'Theme For A Pretty Girl That Makes You Believe God Exists' (soft guitars). They are all interesting interludes, the first sets the scene and mood. Two songs directly approach the subject of suicide: 'Suicide Life' (predictably) and 'Checkout Blues'. The former is more rehabilitation than promise - 'I'm so tired of living the suicide life. that ain't no reason to live...'. The latter is a song about the
cloud which hangs permanently over his family: 'is the curse stronger than me?', Everett asks, 'or am i stronger than the curse?'.
The second half of the album continues a similar path with the three minute songs (mainly) stealing the show. 'Old Shit/New Shit' combines Everett's depressed vocals ('the psychic pain of living in this world is overwhelming me') with an amazing instrumental arrangement. It is ghostly and magical. 'Hey Man (Now You're Really Living)' threatens to take things too far in the 'Yes I am happy, really' department. The lyrics are great, mixing the good with the bad, building you up then knocking you down - but the whole experience leaves you empty and hollow. One exception to the rule is the slow plodding ballad 'I'm Going To Stop Pretending That
I Didn't Break Your Heart'. It is wonderfully arranged but horribly limited and never builds to a solid ending. 'To Lick Your Boots' on the other hand brings in a great turn from Peter Buck. It even sounds like an early REM album track with a beautiful vocal and guitar melody. On 'If You See Natalie', E delivers one of his best vocal (and musical) performances but the song feels like a fragment. This leads into the artificial drum beat love song of 'Sweet Li'l Thing'. This seems far removed from the depressed / angry / jaded Everett from Souljacker and parts of Shootenanny! He actually sounds stable and free from cynical distractions. It is a simple wonderful love song.
The piano, which plays such a great part on this album, is never better than on 'Ugly Love'. Everett opens his soul once more to declare ''my kind of love is an ugly love, but it's real and it lasts a long long time'. Time for another slice of kitsch pie with the rock n roll piano and brass section of 'Losing Streak'. The underused string arrangement of penultimate track 'The Stars Shine In The Sky Tonight' is almost eclipsed by more great piano. Again, there are a handful of delicate instrumentals here and more hit than miss. The minute and a half 'God's Silence' is easily the best whereas the stylophonic 'Last Days Of My Bitter Heart' is the strangest.
Album closer 'Things The Grandchildren Should Know' is another brilliant vocal arrangement. E lets us into his head one last time with stories of agoraphobia, sociopathic tendencies, paternal contradiction ('I'm turning out just like my father, i swore i never would') and an ending that sounds like it will be the last pen Mark Everett puts to paper. He finishes up reversing the cliche of 'if i had to do it all again'. Instead of the usual 'i wouldn't change a thing', we get 'well, it's something I'd like to do'. Sublime.
Blinking Lights And Other Revelations is an album which should have been released nearly a decade ago. It is a huge family album of inner secrets, dark depression and hope. Given all that has come before it, the stories and the characters seem hopelessly diluted and it's like listening to an old war hero who is running out of new tales to tell. But Everett understands his work and he understands it very well - the sadness is thick and when he gets upbeat, it is with a touch of irony and a pinch of sarcastic charm. And the ideas flow nearly as freely as the hapless sense that maybe the world is not such a bad place after all. If these stories help to purge the Everett family curse and keep this man in the world which beats him down at every opportunity, then long may they continue...
-- This review was first published on the Underwurld Music website in May 2005
(c) Underwurld Music 2005-2008
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