EelsMeet the Eels: Essential Eels, Vol. 1: 1996–2006 | Geffen  January 14,
2008 12:49:10 PM
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Has Mark Oliver Everett ever tasted the agony of writer’s block? Since he started releasing records as Eels in 1996 (following an earlier stint as A Man Called E), Everett has issued work (including live discs, soundtrack stuff, and a 2005 double album about God) at a pace that’s far outstripped the general audience’s ability to keep up. As a result, he’s gone from being an alt-rock novelty maker (remember “Novocain for the Soul”?) to a cult-fave curio (how about I Am the Messiah, credited to Everett’s hip-hop alter-ego, MC Honky?). Two new Eels packages — this overstuffed best-of CD/DVD and the two-CD/DVD Useless Trinkets: B-Sides, Soundtracks, Rarities and Unreleased — demonstrate that though he’s no longer interested in serving as a Gen X spokesman, Everett’s wry pop-rock stylings have remained pretty sharp despite the overuse. Highlights actually aren’t his point. Which doesn’t mean they don’t exist — even Useless Trinkets has its moments, among them Jon Brion’s previously unreleased remix of “Climbing to the Moon,” which vibrates with delicate chamber-folk beauty, and Everett’s reading of “Get Ur Freak On,” which isn’t nearly as embarrassing as you’d expect.
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- Some Things at Trinity
- Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz explains the punishing cost of staying any longer
- A last-minute Emperor at the BSO, Gatti and Ohlsson, BLO’s Elisir, and Brahms meets Weill with the Cantata Singers
- Janet’s Discipline and Badu’s New AmErykah
- If you want to lose the ‘fright wig,’ try ditching your shampoo
- Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz explains the punishing cost of staying any longer
- Now more than ever, this is Marty Baron’s newspaper
- Julian Kuerti leads the BSO and Leon Fleisher, Stockhausen’s Mantra at Harvard, Emmanuel’s St. John Passion
- Free speech trumps Boston cops
- Al Basile is still groovin’ onThe Tinge
- The Left Bank meets the West Side
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Women as Lovers | Kill Rock Stars
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Get Awkward | Ecstatic Peace/Universal
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Autumn Fallin' | Blue Note
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Mockingbird | New Line
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Cowboy Junkies, k.d. lang, and Kathleen Edwards are not hockey pucks
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Flock | Yep Roc
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Do You Like Rock Music? | Rough Trade
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Solo shots
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Detours | A+M
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Tim's House | Verve Forecast
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- Cornerstone revives Neil Simon’s Biloxi Blues
- The proto-man comes home on Plague of the Planet
- Crossing Lines | Mu
- Bully
- Girls Sing | Geometriya
- Golden Delicious | ATO
- Super Roots 9 | Thrill Jockey
- Women as Lovers | Kill Rock Stars
- The Pubcrawlers give you a reason to celebrate, March 17
- Get Awkward | Ecstatic Peace/Universal
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