Day 0817 - Beautiful Freak

Eels "Beautiful Freak" (1996) - got it

If the Eels' sound seems to come somewhat fully formed, perhaps that's because the band was always more or less centred around singer/songwriter Mark Oliver Everett.  Prior to forming the Eels with drummer Butch and bassist Tommy Walter, Everett had honed his skills across two solo albums under his moniker 'E'.  

Lately I've been more focussed on the more recent Eels albums like "Hombre Lobo" and "Wonderful Glorious" (good) and "End Times" (less great), so it's been nice revisiting this great album.

On the face of it, it's a kind of downbeat indie pop and rock album, but there's plenty more here.   Opening track and single "Novocaine for the soul" features a sample of Fats Domino, some tinkling piano, strings and looped beats.   Track "Flower" opens with what sounds like a church choir then drops in some tasteful slide guitar, giving the track a hint of country.

E and his rotating cast of musicians would go on to plumb emotional depths, investigate harder rock sounds and string-backed mellowness but this album is already just bursting with musical information.  E lays out self-analysis, observations of the world around him and his offbeat take on love songs (as on the title track).

Day 0614 - Truth and Soul

Fishbone "Truth and Soul" (1988) - got it

I am a big Fishbone fan, and I think it's a pity that they've never enjoyed the same notoriety as their contemporaries in bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers or Primus, or bands they influenced, such as No Doubt or Sublime.   It could be because they have stayed weird and haven't made any deliberately commercial moves, or it could be (as was hinted in the excellent film "Everyday Sunshine: the Story of Fishbone") more a question of race.

Definitely, outside of one or two middling-to-good releases, the band have continued to produce interesting and quality music throughout their career.  This is their second album, and possibly my favourite of theirs (don't know, my 'favourite' changes every so often).  They'd taken their wild, madcap mix of funk, ska, reggae and rock and had added elements of metal, jazz, punk and even an acoustic ballad (album closer "Change").  It's probably too the album where they best balanced their different sounds.

The band had added a more mature and serious tone with tracks like "Change", or "One Day" (which, to my ears, almost sounds like they were borrowing the vocal harmony sound of David Bowie's "Sound and Vision" but making it funky), or the moody "Pouring Rain" which acts as a bridge between the Fusion of Miles Davis and the sound of modern dub.  The band still retain their wackiness on tracks like the jazzy stomp of "I like to hide behind my glasses" or the funky-as-all-hell "Bonin' in the Boneyard".

I could continue going track-by-track, suffice to say, it's a brilliant album.

Day 0379 - Aja

Steely Dan "Aja" (1977)

 
Steely Dan ramp up the 'jazz' part of their 'jazz tinged pop' sound.  As much as I love jazz, and a couple of the other Steely Dan albums, this one didn't quite 'ring my bell'.

I enjoyed the album well enough, but where the "Can't buy a thrill" and "Pretzel logic" were brilliant; this is just alright. The pop moments work well enough, and there is some impressive musicianship in jazzy parts but it just feels too polished... just needs a little more 'edge' for my tastes.