The Eels Last Stop: This Town/ Funeral Parlor/ Novocaine For The Soul by Moog Cookbook (Dreamworks, 1998)
The Eels Mr. E's Beautiful Blues/ Birdgirl On A Cell Phone/ Hospital Food (Live) (Dreamworks, 1999)
The background to the album Electro-Shock Blues (where these first two songs come from) is really harrowing.
After three deaths (father,mother and sister) E found himself the only member of his family.
His decision to write and sing about his situation on Electro-Shock Blues means much of the album is pretty bleak. But he's a very gifted writer and his black humour and way with a tune makes these songs not only heartfelt but highly listenable (go figure).
Cancer For The Cure clearly targets his mother's death but in an oblique way (if that makes sense). The weird metallic machine effects soundtrack what the Big Chief in Ken Kesey's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest hears. Then the song gets into its rhythm and some wild organ. All up - an unlikely, but effective singalong!
Last Stop: This Town is a jaunty number musically while the lyrics are another matter - You're dead but the world keeps spinning.
The third single in this set is from the third album (and I think their best): Daisies Of The Galaxy. E is still crafting superb songs - always catchy and pithy (full to the brim of pith), but now more playful and sunnier in tone. Mr. E's Beautiful Blues is a case in point - a fine rock song; E's vocals are brilliant.
Hidden gems: This time all the B sides are non album tracks (or live). Of them Funeral Parlor is a real hidden gem - second track on a CD single! It's only short but it punches above its weight. Likewise Birdgirl On A Cell Phone.
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