Audio CD review:
Eels - With Strings: Live at Town Hall

Eels - With Strings: Live at Town Hall

Band: Eels Title: With Strings: Live at Town Hall Rating: Release Date: 21 February, 2006 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Blinking Lights (For Me) 2: Bride of Theme From Blinking Lights 3: Bus Stop Boxer 4: Dirty Girl 5: Trouble With Dreams 6: The Only Thing I Care About 7: My Beloved Monster 8: Pretty Ballerina 9: It's A Motherfucker 10: Flyswatter 11: Novocaine For The Soul 12: Girl From The North Country 13: Railroad Man 14: I Like Birds 15: If You See Natalie 16: Poor Side Of Town 17: Spunky 18: I'm Going To Stop Pretending That I Didn't Break Your Heart 19: Suicide Life 20: Losing Streak 21: Hey Man (Now You're Really Living) 22: Things The Grandchildren Should Know

Editoral Review And when we go to see you perform live, you better play your song like we heard it on the radio, the same way it sounds in our heads. Creative restlessness is not often rewarded in the arts marketplace; we want to know that you're the woman who does those paintings of pixies, or that gritty pop-punk act who sings songs about how parents really suck. Right? Eels leader Mark Oliver Everett, aka E, does not fit this profile in the slightest. He notoriously tours with wildly different variations on his perpetually mopey, low-key Eels. This disc captures E in a performance from his "With Strings" tour, playing a career-spanning sampler with a few covers while backed by two multi-instrumentalists and a string quartet. E's gruff Care Bear voice almost-soars atop ingenious and sparse arrangements throughout: strings, xylophone and singing saw on "Bus Stop Boxer"; bass, piano and strings on "Losing Streak. " The only sore spot is how similarly-paced the twenty-two songs are, though fans will have no problem with that. –Mike McGonigal .. You can see a complete list of all Eels discography, or go back to the Eels tabs