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Beautiful Freak (1996, 43.59) ***/T |
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| Novocaine For the Soul Susan's House Rags to Rags Beautiful Freak Not Ready Yet My Beloved Monster Flower Guest List |
Mental Spunky Your Lucky Day in Hell Manchild |
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CDS (1996) ***/T Rags to Rags Spunky Animal |
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7"/CDS (1998) ***/½ Last Stop: This Town Funeral Parlor Novocaine for the Soul (Moog Cookbook remix) |
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Electro-Shock Blues (1998, 48.18) ***/T |
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| Elizabeth on the Bathroom Floor Going to Your Funeral Part I Cancer for the Cure My Descent Into Madness 3 Speed Hospital Food Electro-Shock Blues Efil's God |
Going to Your Funeral Part II Last Stop: This Town Baby Genius Climbing to the Moon Ant Farm Dead of Winter The Medication is Wearing Off P.S. You Rock My World |
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Daisies of the Galaxy (2000, 44.18) ***/TTT |
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| Grace Kelly Blues Packing Blankets The Sound of Fear I Like Birds Daises of the Galaxy Flyswatter It's a Motherf#&!@r Estate Sale |
Tiger in My Tank A Daisy Through Concrete Jeannie's Diary Wooden Nickels Something is Sacred Selective Memory |
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CDS (2001) ***½/T Souljacker Part I Jennifer Eccles My Beloved Monstrosity |
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Souljacker (2001, 40.34) ***/TT |
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| Dog Faced Boy That's Not Really Funny Fresh Feeling Woman Driving, Man Sleeping Souljacker Part I Friendly Ghost Teenage Witch Bus Stop Boxer |
Jungle Telegraph World of Shit Souljacker Part II What is This Note? |
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Blinking Lights and Other Revelations (2005, 93.43) ***½/TT½ |
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| Theme From Blinking Lights From Which I Came/A Magic World Son of a Bitch Blinking Lights (for Me) Trouble With Dreams Marie Floating Over the Backyard Suicide Life In the Yard, Behind the Church Railroad Man The Other Shoe Last Time We Spoke Mother Mary |
Going Fetal Understanding Salesmen Theme for a Pretty Girl That Makes You Believe God Exists Checkout Blues Blinking Lights (for You) Dust of Ages Old Shit/New Shit Bride of Theme From Blinking Lights Hey Man (Now You're Really Living) I'm Going to Stop Pretending That I Didn't Break Your Heart |
To Lick Your Boots If You See Natalie Sweet Li'l Thing Dusk: a Peach in the Orchard Whatever Happened to Soy Bomb Ugly Love God's Silence Losing Streak Last Days of My Bitter Heart The Stars Shine in the Sky Tonight Things the Grandchildren Should Know |
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Useless Trinkets: B-Sides, Soundtracks, Rarities & Unreleased, 1996-2006 (2008, 150.38) ***½/T |
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| Novocaine for the Soul F#&!@r My Beloved Monster Dog's Life Susan's Apartment Manchester Girl Flower My Beloved Mad Monster Party Animal Stepmother Everything's Gonna Be Cool This Christmas Your Lucky Day in Hell (remix) |
Altar Boy Novocaine for the Soul (remix) If I Was Your Girlfriend Bad News Funeral Parlor Hospital Food Open the Door Birdgirl on a Cell Phone Vice President Fruitley My Beloved Monstrosity Dark End of the Street The Cheater's Guide to Your Heart Useless Trinkets |
Mr. E's Beautiful Remix Souljacker Part I (alt.) Dog Faced Boy (alt.) Jennifer Eccles Rotten World Blues Can't Help Falling in Love Christmas is Going to the Dogs Mighty Fine Blues Eyes Down Skywriting Taking a Bath in Rust Estranged Friends Her |
Waltz of the Naked Clowns I Like Birds Sad Foot Sign Living Life The Bright Side After the Operation Jelly Dancers I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man Mr. E's Beautiful Blues I Want to Protect You I Put a Spell on You Saw a UFO |
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Mellotrons used:
I've got several friends who love The Eels to bits; while their appeal has largely passed me by so far, I'm beginning to understand why their following is so fanatical. For those not in the know, the Eels, led by Mark Oliver "E" Everett, specialise in short, bittersweet, Americana-tinged quirky pop, with a fine line in terribly depressing lyrics.
Their debut, 1996's Beautiful Freak, sets out their stall with aplomb, laying down the template for most of their future releases, particularly on the lyrical front. Its sole Chamberlin track, My Beloved Monster, is very typical, with a flute line played by the ubiquitous Jon Brion and what sounds like 'Chamberlin noise', quite possibly produced by leaning on the keyboard on the strings patch, which is no bad thing. The track was used in the first Shrek film, in case you think the title sounds familiar, but aren't sure why. A contemporaneous b-side, Animal, adds a helping of Chamby cellos to the mix for good measure. Two years on, Electro-Shock Blues is more of the same, essentially, although there's a little more experimentation musically, with the odd sampled rhythm (note: not 'beat') finding its way in here and there. Climbing To The Moon has an excellent little Chamby flute part from Brion again, with Mellotron oboe (?) on b-side Funeral Parlor, but neither of these albums is actually worth it on the tape-replay front.
Third album in, Daisies of the Galaxy, is more of the same musically, but loads more Mellotron. They apparently used Chamberlin sounds on Mellotron tapes, so, given that it certainly sounds quite odd, that would make sense. For example, the choirs on I Like Birds and the actually quite good Flyswatter definitely aren't standard Mellotron, but have 'that sound' about them, ditto the strings on the title track. The heavy flute use on Tiger In My Tank works really well, actually, key click to the fore, though I'm afraid I find the song a tad irritating. Jeannie's Diary mixes Mellotron flutes with real strings, while Something Is Sacred has more flutes. It's distinctly possible that some of the other tracks feature the alleged Chamby/Mellotron hybrid, but without a better knowledge of the Chamberlin sound library, it's hard for me to say for certain. By the way, there's an uncredited fifteenth track on the CD, which may also possibly contain Mellotron, but it's hard to say for certain.
2001's Souljacker is a rather heavier proposition, while still retaining much of that Eels sound they've spent three albums refining. The only obvious Mellotron (this time clearly credited) is flute parts on Friendly Ghost, Teenage Witch and Souljacker Part II, the last-named being almost entirely Mellotron and vocal, making it one of the band's best uses of the instrument yet. Once again, not really a Mellotron album and less accessible than its predecessor. We also get Mellotron cello on the outrageously funereal version of The Hollies' Jennifer Eccles, found on the flip of Souljacker Part I and, credited merely to E, on 1995's Sing Hollies in Reverse tribute disc.
After 2003's Mellotronless Shootenanny! (***), Blinking Lights and Other Revelations is indeed a revelation, as E's songs finally match his reputation. It's a little overlong, but Everett practically redefines the word 'melancholy' on several tracks, most of which sound pretty much autobiographical. Mellotronically, opener Theme From Blinking Lights is the album's first Mellotron overload, being simply vocals and (real) strings over a lovely Mellotron flute part. More flutes on several other tracks on disc one, but nothing that matches up to the short instrumental Understanding Salesmen, effectively a Mellotron flute solo piece. No strings until disc two, on Dust Of Ages, the rest of the album's strings being real, although I'm not sure what's generating the female solo voices; a Chamberlin sound on Mellotron tapes? An Orchestron/Optigan? Something else entirely? Doesn't sound like a Mellotron, but you know how it is...
2008's Useless Trinkets: B-Sides, Soundtracks, Rarities & Unreleased, 1996-2006 is exactly the kind of archive set all bands should release: as far as I can work out, every previously-released non-album b-side and compilation appearance plus outtakes, in one easily-available package. Exclusivity? You can stick it, frankly. Of course, such a diverse collection lacks any kind of cohesiveness, but I'd say it's a small price to pay for the privilege of being able to hear two-and-a-half hours' worth of hard-to-find material. Highlights? Several of the live tracks and a handful of b-sides, not least Altar Boy, Birdgirl On A Cell Phone and Mr. E's Beautiful Remix. Tape-replay on four tracks (two of them referenced in the extensive booklet), with Chamberlin cellos on Animal, Mellotron oboe (?) on Funeral Parlor, Mellotron cello on Jennifer Eccles and flutes and flute fills all over Mighty Fine Blues (from the Holes soundtrack), although the flutey sound on Michael Simpson's remix of Your Lucky Day In Hell is probably something else.
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Broken Toy Shop (1993, 46.30) ***½/T½ |
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| Shine it All on Standing at the Gate The Only Thing I Care About Manchester Girl L.A. River A Most Unpleasant Man Mass Tomorrow I'll Be Nine |
The Day I Wrote You Off Someone to Break the Spell She Loves a Puppet My Old Raincoat Permanent Broken Heart Eight Lives Left |
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Chamberlin used:
Mark Oliver "E" Everett is best-known as head honcho of Eels, although he released a couple of solo albums before their formation, 1992's A Man Called E and the one that concerns us here, the following year's Broken Toy Shop. On a first listen, the most surprising thing about it is its relative 'commerciality' (I speak relatively, of course), with a distinctly early '90s glossy major-label sound to many tracks, although how you manage this trick with E's desolate lyrical imagery is beyond me. As a result, the album's possibly better lyrically than musically, with vicious little digs such as A Most Unpleasant Man or Tomorrow I'll Be Nine standing up well against his later material.
Broken Toy Shop is one of Patrick Warren's early Chamberlin session jobs. As so often with that blasted instrument, it's difficult to tell what's Chamberlin and what's generic sampled strings, or even real ones, but opener Shine It All On features brass, separate female and male voices and strings, with flutes on Mass and strings on Someone To Break The Spell, including a pitchbent part. There may well be more parts but etc. etc. So; one for Eels fans, without a doubt, although the rest of you should probably exercise caution. Three obvious Chamby tracks, but not enough to make it worth hearing for those alone, on the offchance that you were considering it.
