Customer Reviews

Blinking Lights And Other Revelations

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

A number of reviews that precede mine have already addressed how "Blinking Lights..." compares and rates within Eels discography, so I will not even attempt to do that, since I could not do it better nor offer much of a different opinion.
What I do want to share here, because the power of its music took me there without much of a choice on my part, is how this album stands so firmly and beautifully on its own, and it takes Eels music even farther that it has managed to go so far.
You've probably read already about Eels' "E" Everett's tragic family losses -her mother and sister dying within a short frame of time several years ago, her sibling by committing suicide- and about this double album being a diary of sorts of his coming to terms with these events, written and worked on for close to seven years.
I assume that some people -whether out of empathy, solidarity or morbid curiosity- may have been attracted to this music given reports of his mental fragility and their love for this man's music. In my case -nothing I'm necessarily proud of- when it comes to any art form, the artist's life is secondary: neither something I believe to predict the beauty or value of their work, nor a guarantee of depth because their subject is apparently serious.
Bottom line, I want to hear someone who can say something ... anything -that although very personal- has the capacity to be relevant to my life and help me learn something about the world that I was too busy or too dense to have noticed by myself. In other words, I don't want to read someone else's "journal" but make more sense of mine.
This is where Everett has succeeded so much. Whether you've been through similar or so much grief as he has or not, this music is going to educate your heart and bless you with some of the most moving songs you may hear all year.
As he sings on "The Trouble With Dreams," "the problem with dreams is that you never know / when to hold and when to let go," yet Everett chose, perhaps, the hardest path: to take on every dream and find out which ones keep close and which ones he was ready to say goodbye to.
In that sense, these songs, at times, may be somber but not depressing. There's no wallowing in pain but a diary of personal healing. Honest and sad, hopeful and tender, Eels' songs make his experience matter to anyone human and willing enough to hop on for the ride.
Musically, you can expect the depth and variety he's already shown in past albums: hushed folk confessions, gorgeous pop moments, timely strings and disturbing passages. All in all, this is further proof of Everett's impressive musical breadth and remarkable depth of feeling.
Even if you are a long time fan of Eels, "Blinking Lights ..." is bound to hold surprises for you. If not new sounds perhaps, there will certainly be special moments, where the vulnerability, candor and courage of these songs will take you over, and leave you seeing with new eyes.

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.

Boring songs? No good rock and roll? I don't know what some of these reviewers are thinking. I nearly flipped when I heard the infectuous energy of Losing Streak and the startling power of The Other Shoe. Which isn't even to mention the enthralling Old Sh**/New SH** and irresistible Hey Man... It's true that the majority of this double album's songs are "slow" numbers. They are beautiful, heartfelt, well-crafted songs which contrast with the handful of bang-up stunners. Yes, it's still very much "Eels music". But give the slower songs some repeated listens, they'll grow on you quickly. No, it's not perfect...some of the songs are forgettable, and like most four-star double-disc epics, it could be whittled down into a one-cd marvel. Still, there's no excuse for ignoring these Blinking Lights.

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.

in total agreement that "blinkling lights and other revelations" brings the eels back to the electro-shock blues/daisies of the galaxy days. daisy's has long been my favorite album, but this one, after only one listen, takes the top prize. outstanding and worth every penny. i've been waiting for so long now and this album does not dissapoint.

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 am embarrassed to admit i heard eels for the first time only a couple of months ago, and it started with Blinking Lights. When I heard the backstory to this album and listened to it, I was floored. And I will admit it did take some serious initial listening to get the magnitude of what is going on in the two disks. But after the hooks/melody of the second track and the vocals of the third track, he had my attention for the rest of the two disks, and the last track is the worth the price of the disk itself, but I'll get to that later. Musically E is nothing short of a genius. Yes at first i thought Eels whas a Beck "light" retread, but that can't be further from the truth. There's Danny Elfman, Tom Waits, (literally) that great use of 60's style organ. I hear the traditional folk song structure on so many tracks, and how he disguises and buries theses structures through instrumentation will scare some and awe others.

Now lyrically, we all know the story, and backstory, and I'm now burning through his catalog prior to BL, and while not finding the work the calibur as BL, that would be an impossibility, for here it is. This album is the sum of E's life, musically, narratively,figuratively, and literally. This guy knows exactly where he is in his life and in his head, and says to us, "I am here." It took E seven years to get to the lyrics of the last song "Grandkids," and the small army of us who can relate to what E is sharing in that song, it's the best album-ending song ever. It's the song, the answer, the place he's been looking for for those seven years, he found it, and shared it with us. If you know the song, you know what I mean. And now the big question: know where Eels go from there? As a musician, where does one go after one finds his answer?

As for the "essential" satus, I will repeat: what has been done here muically is genius and lyrically is untouchable. The album excels beyond the circumstances and seven years' effort taken to create it.

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 read a review in Relevant magazine of this disc that went on and on about how fantastic it was. I had heard the song in Shrek 2 (yes, I'm THAT kind of person) and liked it, but that was the full extent of my Eels knowledge before purchasing this.

This is, without a doubt, my NUMBER ONE find of 2005. I haven't been this pleased by a CD in quite a while. My iPod is SICK of playing it. My computer has tried to claw out its own hard drive. "Blinking Lights" has saturated my life and I'm glad for it. I am absolutely blown away by this CD.

I am not naive enough to say that everyone will like this. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the vast majority of people don't. But that's irrelevant. This is my review and I love it.

I have found a few (very few) CD's that I enjoy this much. Let me put it this way: When I go back into music stores, I find myself picking up and carrying around copies of this. Why? I'm not really sure. I imagine it has something to do with wanting to recapture the amazement I experienced the first time. I'm like an addict trying to relive his first high...

I fully realize that I haven't said much about the CD itself other than how much I enjoy it. If you want to hear it, listen to the samples. I couldn't hope to describe it properly.

Incase I haven't made it clear yet, I like this album and you should too!

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.