Eels - "Last Stop: This Town"

Are you missing the dearly bereft?

The Grierson & Leitch Podcast: Debating 'Quantumania,' Revisiting 'The Tree of Life' and 'Life Is Beautiful'

We disagree about the latest Ant-Man adventure, which opens the door to a larger discussion about the state of the MCU. Also in this episode, we have two Reboot segments. Has The Tree of Life lost a little of its stature over the years? And how would the world react to Life Is Beautiful if it came out today? We've got the answers below.

Tina Turner - "Better Be Good to Me"

Years ago when I interviewed Carter -- just Carter -- for my Eels book, I didn't have time to get into this, but I really wanted to ask him about working with Tina Turner for Private Dancer. Alas, he died soon after. 

In other news, I'm very curious to check out Tina.

Eels - "Sad Foot Sign"

"Los Angeles was delivered a body blow recently: Our most important sign is moving south. No, not the Hollywood sign; that’s faithfully waiting to be blown up in the next movie apocalypse. I’m talking about the hallowed Happy Foot Sad Foot Sign that has rotated at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Benton Way for nearly 40 years. The sign unofficially marks the border between Silver Lake and Echo Park and also serves as a podiatry-themed prognosticator for anxious TV writers, CBD oil masseuses, indie band bassists, nannies with strollers and whomever else passes its perch." -- Margaret Wappler, Los Angeles Times, July 12, 2019.

Father John Misty - "Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins)"

I've been thinking about Father John Misty's sophomore release I Love You, Honeybear ever since it came out, which is now almost exactly a year ago. A concept album about Mr. Misty (a.k.a. Josh Tillman) getting married, the record ought to be in my wheelhouse -- I'm unabashedly pro-love -- and yet Honeybear never quite clicked with me.

Why not? I gave the album a new bunch of spins lately after its strong showing in Pazz & Jop to maybe figure out why. Ultimately, I think Honeybear begins and ends beautifully, but the middle section sags under the weight of too many fussily-arranged tunes. It's a marriage album in which Tillman's cleverness sometimes outpaces his melodies or his insights. At its best, the record resembles something that Eels would do -- E has a penchant for utilizing concepts to give a collection of songs a structuring device -- but Honeybear's candid acknowledgment of the panic/excitement involved in saying "I do" is a bit too conceptual for my taste. Sentimentality can be wince-inducing, but so can manic, self-conscious irony.

That said, there are plenty of stunning tracks. "Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins)" is one of them, and this bit always, always, always kills me...

First time you let me stay the night despite your own rules 
You took off early to go cheat your way through film school 
You left a note in your perfect script
"Stay as long as you want"
And I haven’t left your bed since

Eels - "Gentlemen's Choice"

Eels have written a few songs that seem to pay homage to the part of E that adores Randy Newman: "Son of a Bitch," "I'm Going to Stop Pretending That I Didn't Break Your Heart." But "Gentlemen's Choice," off the new album The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett, is a different sort of Newman homage. It feels like the sort of song Randy would write for a Pixar movie: sad-eyed, heart-tugging, completely sincere. In the film, a female vocalist with an indelible voice would make it pretty, but if Newman sang it himself, the song would be piercing in its vulnerability. (Especially these days when Newman's voice is little more than a croak.) That's what E brings to "Gentlemen's Choice." It's a minor but really, really affecting tune.



(I suppose here is where I should say, "Hey, you should buy my Eels biography. It's good.")

Cannes Diary, Part 6: The Morning

For a while now, I've accepted the fact that I'm a morning person. That doesn't bother me, actually, my feelings summed up quite nicely by a certain Eels song. Have such a temperament is rather helpful at film festivals, especially here at Cannes where press screenings are often at 8:30am. For my latest Backstage diary entry, I talk about my morning routine at the festival.

(By the way, the above still is from the Competition film Borgman. I haven't seen it yet, but it seemed appropriate for this particular post.)

E Talks About My Eels Biography

With E out promoting Eels' fine new album, I was, of course, curious if anyone might ask him about my Eels biography. Happily, Dan Lucas, who's a fan of my book, did just that. Dan's profile of E at Drowned in Sound is great across the board, but here's the section where he asks E what he thought of Blinking Lights and Other Revelations: The Story of Eels...

Back in 2008 E received widespread acclaim for his literary prowess thanks to his fascinating memoir Things the Grandchildren Should Know. Now, just four years later, rock critic Tim Grierson has written the unauthorised biography Blinking Lights & Other Revelations which offers a welcome objectivity that the autobiography, by nature, lacked. I felt the book had its merits but, as its subject, E is less certain having been just about the only person closely associated with Eels who declined to be involved in Grierson’s project. “It’s very flattering that somebody wrote a book about me. I couldn’t really recognise myself in it though, I felt like I was reading about somebody else. I think it was odd that it would come out so soon. I think I did it better, but then I would think that! Maybe it’s odd to read a book about yourself? I mean, I’m happy to try anything once, so I just thought ‘let’s see what I’m like’ and so [when reading Grierson’s book] I was like ‘didn’t we do that already?’”

I thank Dan immensely, and I appreciate E's comments. My short response to his rhetorical question is that while Things the Grandchildren Should Know is indeed great, it skips over a lot of his life and musical adventures. For instance, he doesn't talk about I Am the Messiah, nor does he discuss the very-hard-to-find Bad Dude in Love, which he recorded while he was still living in Virginia. Plus, getting to hear other people's perspective on E's creative process, to my mind, makes my book a valuable companion piece to E's memoir.

With that said, I can't imagine what it must be like to read a book written by a complete stranger about you. I've been a fan of the man for more than 15 years, so I definitely approached this project with a lot of love and a huge sense of responsibility. As Dan mentions, E didn't participate in the book, but he was kind enough to let me interview those around him. (I've interviewed him twice in the past, though.) Someday, I hope to actually sit down with the man and chat about this book. Even if that doesn't happen, though, I'm proud of my effort to explain to the world what an undervalued talent he is. That's enough for me. (You can order the book here and judge for yourself.)

Eels - "Peach Blossom"

I'm not going to deny that I've been very curious what the first Eels album after my book came out would sound like. Not that I think that my biography would in any way influence E's work -- I was simply wondering how the book would influence how I approach his new stuff.

Hearing "Peach Blossom," the first single from Wonderful, Glorious, I dug it but wasn't wowed by it. I feared the worst: Perhaps after spending a year working on that book (and listening to Eels rather obsessively during that time), maybe I couldn't properly appreciate anything new he put out.

Well, I'm happy to say that after listening to the full album, I'm duly impressed. It keeps growing on me, in fact. I hope it does the same for you.

Eels - "That Look You Give That Guy"

A little more than two years after I conducted my first interview for it, my book on the Eels, Blinking Lights and Other Revelations: The Story of Eels, arrives today in stores in the U.S. (You can order it here from Amazon.) I can't believe it. After all the interviews and research and writing, I still can't quite come to terms with the fact that a book I've wanted to write for about 10 years is out there in the world.

When my interview subjects would ask me about my interest in writing a book on Eels, I always told them the same story. When my wife and I were first dating, she asked me, "If you could write a book about any artist, who would it be?" She assumed I would want to write one on Bob Dylan because he's my favorite musician of all time, but I responded that everyone has written a Dylan book -- what else is there to say about him? "No, I'd really like to write a book about E. He's really underrated, and someone needs to explain why he's such a fantastic songwriter." Years later, I was approached by Omnibus Press to write an Eels book -- it was a dream come true.

My hope is that Eels fans will love my book and feel that I've expressed their own thoughts about E's genius. During the process of writing this book -- the first full-length Eels biography -- the two most discouraging responses I would get from people were: (1) "You're writing a book about the Eagles?" -- clearly, I need to enunciate better -- and (2) "Didn't the Eels have, like, one hit? Is there interest in an Eels book?" I want my book to help explain why E has been one of the most consistent musical forces of the last 20 years, even if not enough people were paying attention.

I'm still too close to the experience of writing The Story of Eels to fully absorb what it meant to my life. I got to meet some pretty amazing people, who generously shared their stories. And while E didn't sit down for an interview, he was kind enough to let some of those close to him talk to me, which I very much appreciate. I don't expect this book to have a wide audience, but like the Eels' music, it's not supposed to. It's meant for those who care. And I hope they do.

Since today is also Friday, that means it's time for your weekly video. Of course, it's by Eels. Beautiful song, hilarious clip.

Eels - "I Need Some Sleep"

As you probably know, I wrote a biography of the band Eels. It arrives in stores in June in the U.S., but folks who have ordered it through Amazon have already started receiving theirs. So with the book's arrival imminent, it's probably only natural that I've been thinking about E and his music a lot lately. I decided to feature a song that may be lesser-known. It's called "I Need Some Sleep," and it was included on the group's 2008 best-of collection, Meet the Eels: Essential Eels, Vol. 1. The song is quintessential Eels: dreamy, wistful, incredibly melodic. Hope you enjoy.

I wrote a book about Eels

Amidst all the other writing and reviewing I did in 2010, I was working on a big project I was keeping under my hat: the first-ever biography of the Los Angeles indie-rock band Eels. Well, the secret's out: Blinking Lights and Other Revelations: The Story of Eels will be coming out in 2012.

I've done my first interview for the book, which can be found here, and it lays out the particulars of what the biography will be about and why it's been a dream of mine for a long time to write about Eels and their brilliant frontman, E.

I'll have more updates when they become available, but for now you can check out the book's Amazon page in the UK and the US.

eels - end times

One of the best things about Eels' recent End Times record is how it equates heartbreak with death and the end of the world. For people who complain that that's a touch melodramatic, that's the point -- the album is less about perspective and more about staring at the wounds while they're still fresh. The title track nails it perfectly.

eels interview

It's been six years since I last interviewed E, the brilliant singer-songwriter who leads the L.A. indie-rock collective Eels. On their occasion of the release of their latest album, Hombre Lobo, I spoke with E about writing as a fictional character, the lack of sex in indie rock, and the right reason to make a polka album. I thank him for his time.

eels - in my dreams

If all goes well, I'm interviewing this guy right now. (No, not Letterman.)

eels - hombre lobo

The new album from Eels, Hombre Lobo, is a minor work. I don't mean to suggest that it's bad or disappointing, but while it's reliably melodic and well-crafted, it rarely surprised me. (The one truly out-of-the-box moment is the strong first single, "Fresh Blood.") My review is up at About.

eels - hombre lobo

If the first single, "Fresh Blood," didn't make it clear, this trailer for the making-of documentary suggests that Eels' Hombre Lobo is going to be a rock album, possibly in the vein of Souljacker. I'm positively loving "Fresh Blood," and I hope there's more like it on the album.



Update, 5/6/2009: According to the Eels camp, Hombre Lobo is indeed going to be somewhat Souljacker-ish.

please don't bother E at his house

In Geoff Boucher's great profile of Mark Oliver Everett (aka E of Eels) in today's Los Angeles Times came this upsetting tidbit:

"Those are for the stalkers," Everett said, nodding toward a bank of security-camera screens in the kitchen of his home. "It's nice when something you have written or recorded means so much to people, especially since you never thought about that happening when you're working on it. But I prefer letters to unannounced visitors."

He's the sort of distinctive, candid songwriter who clearly connects with his audience in a meaningful way. But nobody should have to deal with that type of fan craziness.

eels

The Eels have two collections out now: a best-of (Meet the Eels) and a compilation of outtakes (Useless Trinkets). No matter the Eels fan in your life, one (or both) of these will be up their alley.