Disco de Eels: “Blinking Lights and Other Revelations [Digipak]”

I have been on the fence about Eels for many years. The raspy voice of frontman Mark Everett has kept me from buying their albums. I was torn, because I think the songwriting has been quite good, but I can only take so much of his harsh vocals.

Everything changed for me with the release of "Blinking Lights and Other Revelations." The stark and honest material is complemented by Everett's emotive singing. The listener joins Everett through his melancholy journey through life. The trip is broken up with several "rest stops" with reprises of the "Blinking Lights Theme," always presented in a slightly different form. This helps the double disc album hold together as one cohesive piece of work.

Their current sound reminds me a lot of older Wilco, alt.-country/folk/pop, hard to categorize. Everett is like Bob Dylan without the metaphors, his feelings are presented in a plain and concise manner. I don't mean to imply that it's simplistic stuff, just not flowery.

This album is the uncorking of raw emotion without any trace of pretense. Although the band experiments with many unusual timbres, the album does not feel over-produced or self-indulgent. Could this have been cut down to one fantastic disc? Sure. But the passing of time is an important part of the experience. Plug your headphones into your stereo or iPod and take this trip with Eels. It's worth it.

This album is brilliant. I bought it on a whim yesterday, seeing it on sale. It is gorgeous. Hold onto those heart strings. This little monster is going at them with everything it has.

It was Van Gogh who said that one must suffer for art. If that is true, then the loss of several family members explains how the Eels turned out an album like "Blinking Lights and Other Revelations." Their sixth album breaks away from their past work, into a two-disc album saturated with death, God, questions and desolate grandeur.

"Blinking Lights and Other Revelations" has been worked on, on and off, throughout the past decade, which makes it a bit uneven in places. Every band grows and changes, and so do the songs included here. But after a quiet, twinkly intro, the Eels launch into expansive folk-rock, country, explosive rock'n'roll, hallucinogenic music-box music, delicate piano pop, and melancholy songs dripping with whiskey and depression.

The first disc is a hodgepodge of styles, veering without rhyme or reason from one style to another. The second is a bit softer and milder -- despite the odd rock song like "Losing Streak," it relies more heavily on the poignant acoustic tunes, bits of experimental music, and delicate piano tunes.

Mark "E" Everett's voice has been worn to a croak in places, but he can still emote with the best of them."The stars shine in the sky tonight/like a path beyond the grave/when you wish upon that star/there's two of us you need to see," he sings mournfully over piano and swelling strings. He sounds tired and a bit croaky, but he pulls through on most songs.

There's no such unsteadiness in the Eels' music -- in fact, they sound more confident than ever before. It's rooted in guitar, drums and other typical rock instruments. But the Eels have spiced it up with piano, strings, eerie sound effects, bells, electric organ, xylophone and creaking hinges. Yes, creaking hinges -- at least that's what it sounds like.

But in virtually every album, there's a flaw, and there is here too. "Blinking Lights and Other Revelations" is a bit too big for its own good -- E lets his eccentric tastes run wild, and the result has no continuity. On the second disc, for example, there's a stretch of quiet songs interrupted by an uptempo rocker. And it could have used a little pruning here and there, with one or two songs that don't measure up, and could have been clipped out with no harm to the overall album.

Despite being a bit too big for its own good, "Blinking Lights and Other Revelations" is a slow, unsteady, beautifully overblown experience, a little bit wacky and a lot poignant.

I'd never heard of the Eels before and I can't even remember where I read a glowing review of Blinking Lights... but this music is incredible. For someone just discovering this band, I'm dumbstruck. For everyone who discovered these guys before me, lucky you.

I've been a huge fan of the Eels ever since it was just Mark Everett as E. They have consistently released incredible albums that I can listen to over and over again. The Eels have always and always will be one of my top three bands and this incredible CD reinforces that fact. Blinking Lights and Other Revelations has taken over Electro-shock Blues in my opinion as the Eels masterpiece album. From start to finish, this two-disc album will never cease to amaze the listener. It hooks in and doesn't let go. Plus it's two discs. Two discs!!!. Enough to make any Eels fan rejoice. I only wish it was more than two discs, since I can never get enough of the Eels unbelievable music.

With E's music there's always been a story and theme running through the bleeding heart lyrics. From Beautiful Freak to Electro-shock Blue and on to Daisies of the Galaxy. Souljacker and Shootenanny didn't have quite the same themes but they were still great albums. But I've always enjoyed it so much more when E puts it all on the line like the first three Eel albums, and luckily this album connects to that again. I haven't lived quite the life that E has, but there are some parallels and his music has always connected on a deep level with me. And this CD is full of varying emotions. Sadness, depression, hope, depression, happiness and that feeling that down the line things are going to get better. The Eels have never been more commanding in their music and this album doesn't have a single song that I would consider filler, and that's pretty great for a double album.

Sad songs are here, like Last Days of My Bitter Heart, I'm Going to Stop Pretending, Son of a Bi@#h, Suicide Life and Railroad men. There's also those trademark Eel songs that are witty and fun little numbers that make you laugh to yourself, like the upbeat tap your feet number Hey Man(Now You're Really Living), Whatever happened to Soy Bomb and the Daisies of the Galaxay themed song Trouble with Dreams. This CD also has lots of nice musical interludes where there's no real singing, like Theme From Blinking Lights, Marie Floating Over The Backyard and Bride of Theme From Blinking Lights. It's a CD filled with new directions for the Eels as will as past inspiration from some of their other CD's, which considering this album took about 10 years to create makes sense. E's voice also takes on an even more heartbroken sound on this album, raspy and gravelly at times but always beautiful and wrenching. Also including are the standard weird noises that E likes to throw in, which somehow always bring the songs to new incredible levels.

This is a must for all Eels fans and I hope it will catch the ear of people who might never have heard of the Eels and turn them into fans. It's two discs of incredible music that will have you hooked throughout the course of both CD's and leave you actually thinking about what you've listened to afterwards, something most records never give you. This is my favorite record of the year and I have the feeling nothing will take its place for a long time to come.