eels

Oh What a Beautiful Morning

Heard Here Rating:
"Like a nice keg of PBR chilling in the sharp Eastern air."

At times, it almost seems like eels don't want their albums to sell too much. Their latest album seems to confirm this in two ways. First, it is only available online (at eelsdirect.com, though for only $10). More important, perhaps, is the album itself. It is a live album compiled from the Eels Orchestra Tour and from E's solo tour with Fiona Apple (E is half of eels, with percussionist Butch making up the other half). Only 10 of the 17 tracks on the album are from previous albums, and three tracks are B-sides from singles. And, yes, the title track is indeed the Oklahoma! classic, sung with characteristic scratchiness by E.

Just as eels' most recent release, Daisies of the Galaxy, took a much brighter view of the world than did 1998's morbid masterpiece, electro-shock blues, so too does this album take an even more optimistic view of things. It opens with the self-evidently cheery "Feeling Good," one of the B-sides, and follows that up with an orchestral overture of seven songs, including eels' lone radio hit, "Novocaine for the Soul," and one of their other catchier tunes, "Last Stop: This Town." They are pared down into minute-long orchestra parodies of themselves, but in a wonderfully light-hearted way. The orchestral element is present in most of the songs - a lightly acidic jazz that E has sprinkled through the last two albums and that comes through in bright brassy glory on Oh What a Beautiful Morning.

The album is not eels' best work; it is, however, a great view into what their live shows sound like. Sound design is the key to eels' studio efforts, and similarly so on Morning, but the result is a far different one. The studio sound is one of layer upon layer, with scores of different instruments, loops and samples, whereas in concert simplicity is generally the norm. This is particularly true on "Mr. E's Beautiful Blues" (featured on the Road Trip soundtrack), where E attacks the piece solo with acoustic guitar, while the album version is the epitome of studio production.

The overall feel of the album is a good one. It features stellar versions of most of the included album songs, especially the closing trio of "Not Ready Yet," "Susan's House" and "Something is Sacred," but also provides the mood of a concert. It accomplishes this with a mock-grand announcement of E's entrance before "Oh What a Beautiful Morning"; a song/rant from Butch commenting on the (truly annoying) British faucets with separate hot and cold spigets; and E's side of an onstage phone conversation with Fiona Apple. On this album eels seem very comfortable in their performances, and the result is a thoroughly enjoyable and pleasant hour's worth of music. Eels fans will love it for the intimacy and kick-ass live versions of some songs, and I suspect that its deconstructionist attitude toward live pop may intrigue even those not already acquainted with the group.