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Electro-Shock Blues

Artist: Eels
Label: Polydor Group
Category: Music

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Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

22 reviews
Sales Rank: 5153

Media: Audio CD
Running Time: 47
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5

MPN: 50052
UPC: 600445005228
EAN: 0600445005228
ASIN: B00000DF6N

Release Date: June 18, 1999
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW CD DISPATCHED WITHIN 48 HOURS BY FIRST CLASS MAIL.

Tracks:

•	Elizabeth on the Bathroom Floor
•	Going To Your Funeral (Part I)
•	Cancer For The Cure
•	My Descent Into Madness
•	3 Speed
•	Hospital Food
•	Electro-Shock Blues
•	Efils' God
•	Going To Your Funeral (Part II)
•	Last Stop: This Town
•	Baby Genius
•	Climbing To The Moon
•	Ant Farm
•	Dead Of Winter
•	The Medication Is Wearing Off
•	P.S. You Rock My World

Similar Items:

•	Daisies of the Galaxy
•	Beautiful Freak
•	Shootenanny!
•	Blinking Lights And Other Revelations
•	Souljacker - Limited Edition

Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.co.uk Review
The sound of Eels' Electro-Shock Blues, the follow-up to the band's intriguing Beautiful Freak, reflects a year in which leader Mark "E" Everett suffered the loss of his sister to suicide as well as the illness of his mother and other tragedies. The music's hushed, sometimes dark sound and Everett's earnest vocals are often more convincing than his diary-entry lyrics, despite the power and daring inherent in describing illness in alt-pop settings that recall everything from hip-hop to Tom Waits. --Rickey Wright

Customer Reviews: Read 17 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Great stuff March 17, 2006
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

Such a bleak and depressing album. Yet I love listening to it.
Somehow it manages to cheer me up everytime.
I think you need to listen to it a couple of times, but once you get it - you cant stop.
highly recommended.
as are all of his albums.

4 out of 5 stars

Is depression supposed to be this entertaining? August 16, 2005
Yes, it may be that this whole album centres around the suicude of his sister- confirmed in the opening track, but it thrills throughout. Elizabeth on the bathroom floor draws a depression on the whole album with it's haunting imagery and slow nature.
Mr. E uses the depressing nature of the lyrics however, and chooses to combine it with truly originally upbeat back tones, therefore creating a beautifully ironic tone to the album.
However, each song still holds its own, with some tracks playing out in the most inventive and bizzare manner possible - Cancer for the Cure, and Hospital Food being two prime examples - whilst other tracks play it straighter such as Dead Of Winter.
Being the third album released from the eels, this is an astonishing achievement, as their music just appears to evolve with each album. Beautiful freak is more similar in nature to electro shock blues than daisies of the galaxy, as they both achieve a more sombre tone than the latter album. Make no mistake, this is not a happy album.
Despite all of this, there are a few tracks that don't meet the standard that is expected from the eels. The instrumental track - going to your funeral is nothing compared to the inventiveness of the first track. Other than this no other tracks really go anywhere to spoil the party, but 3 speed edges on being a bit lifeless. But neither of these dissapointments can take anything away from this brilliantly executed album.

Highlights - Efils god , Cancer for the Cure, My Descent Into Madness.

Lowlights - Going to your funeral part 2.

1 out of 5 stars Worst album of their career April 13, 2005
2 out of 60 found this review helpful

I am a big fan of the Eels, and I think all their albums are great except this one. I listened to it once when I got it from the library and just thought it was dire, bland, tuneless, depressing. Tried it again a few months later, and it's still crap. If you want to find out what the Eels are about do not buy this album.

4 out of 5 stars Moving lyrics, some fine tracks - v dark & bitter(...sweet?) April 1, 2005
10 out of 10 found this review helpful

That "Difficult second album" syndrome, with a twist.

For me, the lyrics and sleeve was intense and moving experience. Listening to the album, you are immersed in the pain, loss, and sadness that E was going through at the time. Interspersed with a few sunny episodes, which intensifies the agony.

Is it a great work of art ? Yes.

Is it pleasant listening ? No. By about track 10 it is a contender for the most depressing album ever.

Should you buy it ? Hmmm. I'd advise most folk to start with Daisies of the Galaxy and then try Beautiful Freak. But this album takes you on a difficult journey. I doubt you'll listen to it all that often but perhaps it deserves a place in your collection.

5 out of 5 stars fantasmobolical January 1, 2005
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

It was certainly a difficuilt task to follow Beautiful freak, but again the eels don't fail to disappiont. The album maintains the high level of consistancy, which we have come to expect from the eels.
Although some of the other reviews describe it as boring, and depressing. Certainly the single "Last stop: this town" paints a false image of what the album is like, and people buying the album expecting more catchy classics like "novicane for the soul" and "Susans House", will probably be dissapointed. But no hardened eels fan can be unhappy with Electro-shock Blues, it provides simplistic, atmopheric songs, which reflect on a very difficuilt period in E's life. However I feel the real power behind this album lies in the carfully crafted lyrics, these gives the album in my view a subtley uplifting quality, enhancing the album a sense of potensy. All together an awesome album, and one i would recommend to anyone, ( with a taste in quality music).