This paint-by-numbers life Is fucking with my head (The Eels) #463 - 467

The Eels Novocaine For The Soul/Guest List/Fucker (Dreamworks, 1996)
The Eels Rags To Rags/Spunky/Animal (Dreamworks, 1996)
The Eels Susan's House/ Stepmother/ Manchester Girl (Dreamworks, 1997)
The Eels Your Lucky Day In Hell/ Susan's Apartment/ Mental/ Altar Boy (Dreamworks, 1997)
The Eels Novocaine For The Soul (live from hell)/ Manchester Girl/ My Beloved Mad Monster Party/ Flower (Dreamworks, 1997)

According to E, main man of The Eels, "Rather than sound like The Beatles I wanted to do as The Beatles did. They soaked up everything around them at the time, and then put their own stink on it". Great aspirations and job done on these four singles + EP off the debut album - Beautiful Freak..

Having said that, it was Beatle inventiveness, melody and spirit that is most definitely present and correct and what drew me to the band in the first place. 

The A side in each case is a standout from the album (yet still doesn't include my favourite all time Eels song - Flower).

Novocaine was an early favourite. E is a brilliant lyricist - Jesus and his lawyer are coming back!

Rags to Rags is a terrific fuzz tone rocker.

Susan's House is a flat out unbelievable song with a great set of stories on the way to Susan's house, and Butch on drums is superb.

Your Lucky Day In Hell keeps the quality control on high. Effortlessly, E crafts a great 10cc style pop song!

Finally in this set - The Novocaine...Flower CD single came with my copy of the album. They are all BBC Radio 1 versions. It's a great version of Novocaine - spoken rather than sung and pretty damn awesome!

Hidden gems: ...everywhere you turn on these CD singles. E was mining a rich vein during the Beautiful Freak sessions. Guest List, Spunky, Mental are standout album tracks. 

Fucker was not on the album but could easily have been (hey it could have been a double!). Great pay off line - I hate you - fucker, is delivered full of nuance (think Billy Bragg and his version of Walk Away Renee).

Animal ditto! Haunting piano and close miked E get inside your head.

Stepmother and the live version of Manchester Girl pull no punches - by now E's fearlessness has been well proven.

The BBC live version of Flower strips away the choral synth part (which I adore) and goes for a stripped back version. Makes it sound like a field recording from the 19th century - superb!