Eels - Electro-Shock Blues (1998)

I plan to do some album reviews, kinda Pitchfork-esque an rate them out of 10 in decimals, with 10 being godlike perfection. Not necessarily new releases, just stuff I am listening to atm, and I'll try to do a mixture of obscure and mainstream stuff :P I'll start with an album I give the full whack of 10.0, OK, here goes:

Most, if not all of my favourite albums are usually albums which I don't really like at first, but then they just grow on me like mad, one of the few exceptions to this rule however, was E and the gang's 2nd album Electro-Shock Blues. Having already built a good cornerstone for their career with their debut Beautiful Freak the Eels matured both musically and lyrically to create one of the best albums of the 90's. People may argue that tracks such as "Baby Genius" and "Going To Your Funeral Part II" are fillers, but to me they are essential to the flow of the album and almost act like breathers from the heart-thumping rip-roar of the rest of it.

Perhaps the best thing about this album though are lyrics, although not known as the most upbeat of wordsmiths, E has a knack of putting in lyrics are truth and honesty and even the odd laugh out loud funny line. The name references are so subtle that I didn't even notice them at first, but they are brilliantly done: "Springfield's looking pretty Dusty today" and "Courtney needs Love, and so do I" there are probably even more in there that I didn't notice.

Highlights for me are the opener "Elizabeth On The Bathroom Floor" - a simple, short anthem for the more suicidal of us: "Life is so much harder when you wanna die" "My name's Elizabeth, my life is shit and piss." "Climbing Up The Moon" - an acoustic track of subtlety and "P.S. You Rock My World" - an amazing end to an amazing album.

The Eels really outdid themselves here, an instant classic that 9 years on hasn't seemed to date in the slightest and still sounds as relevant today as ever. Without doubt one of the best albums of the 1990's.

Key Tracks: "Elizabeth On The Bathroom Floor" "Climbing To The Moon" "P.S. You Rock My World"

Rating: 10.0