Features Disc of the day
Eels
Beautiful Freak
(Dreamworks, 1996)
'E' finds his USP. OK?
While Mark Oliver Everett's life would turn darker soon enough - the death of his mother and the suicide of his sister lay in wait - his debut under the Eels moniker demonstrated clear signs of unsteadiness. With three albums already unleashed (one, Bad Dude In Love, under his own name, two more for Polydor as 'E'), all hinting at his emotional fragility (finding his quantum physicist father dead in E's teens can't have helped) Beautiful Freak was the first fully-formed glimpse inside his heartache and headfuck. But if MTV-endorsed lead-off single Novocaine For The Soul implied that here was another marketable loser-geek icon to rival Beck, the illusion was short-lived. Later albums would see E push away from the commercial expectations to forge his own unique path, but the signs were evident to anyone paying attention. In Beautiful Freak, post-grunge paranoia and eccentric flourishes (spooky glockenspiels, TV-theme pianos) combine to create a schizophrenic soundtrack, introverted and obsessed, but leavened by lyrical black humour and ironic distance. Susan's House, My Beloved Monster and the title track are all oddball love songs that celebrate imperfection and abnormality, while the grungy Rags To Rags and Mental channel their protagonists' dislocation ("it's like I dressed up in my momma's clothing," reflects the latter) into flurries of cathartic feedback. Still perfectly described by its title, 13 years on, Beautiful Freak remains a weird and wonderful ride into the darkness and out the other side.
Mischa Pearlman
Posted by Ross_Bennett at 6:00 AM GMT 19/11/2009
Further Listening
Eels - Blinking Lights And Other Revelations (Vagrant, 2005)
Beck - Mutations (DGC, 1998)
Sparklehorse - Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot (Parlophone, 1996)
Previous Disc of the day
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Boo Hooray - Haunted
Rumpled velvet pop from weary Scots romantics. Out on Monday!
6:00 AM GMT 04/02/2010
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The Pernice Brothers - Overcome By Happiness
"Prince Valium" leavens the badness with Bacharach/Fanclub tune gold.
6:00 AM GMT 03/02/2010
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The Walker Brothers - Nite Flights
Former pin-ups' last-gasp reinvention as art rock phantasms.
6:00 AM GMT 02/02/2010
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Chet Baker - Deep In A Dream
"The ultimate Chet Baker collection", they called it.
6:00 AM GMT 01/02/2010
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Comments
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Brilliant.
And true. A weird and wonderful record.
Posted by M.A.Melo at 5:39 PM GMT 26/11/2009 Report Abuse
Reply to this post
Brilliant.
And true. A weird and wonderful record.
Posted by M.A.Melo at 5:42 PM GMT 26/11/2009 Report Abuse
Reply to this post
Comment on this post