Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Theme From Blinking Lights
2. From Which I Came/ A Magic World
3. Son Of A Bitch
4. Blinking Lights (For Me)
5. Trouble With Dreams
6. Marie Floating Over The Backyard
7. Suicide Life
8. InThe Yard, Behind The Church
9. Railroad Man
10. The Other Shoe
11. Last Time We Spoke
12. Mother Mary
13. Going Fetal
14. Understanding Salesmen
15. Theme For A Pretty Girl That Makes You Believe God Exists
16. Checkout Blues
17. Blinking Lights (For You)

Disc 2:

1. Dust Of Ages
2. Old Shit/ New Shit
3. Bride Of Theme From Blinking Lights
4. Hey Man (Now You're Really Living)
5. I'm Going To Stop Pretending That I Didn't Break Your Heart
6. To Lick Your Boots
7. If You See Natalie
8. Sweet Li'l Thing
9. Dusk: A Peach In The Orchard
10. Whatever Happened To Soy Bomb
11. Ugly Love
12. God's Silence
13. Losing Streak
14. Last Days Of My Bitter Heart
15. The Stars Shine In The Sky Tonight
16. Things The Grandchildren Should Know

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #876 in Music
• Released on: 2005-04-25
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Box set
• Running time: 93 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
It may have taken several years for Eels frontman Mark Oliver Everett, a.k.a. E, to write and record Blinking Lights and Other Revelations, but the end result is no less than a masterpiece. At two discs and 33 tracks, it’s a veritable epic, but when your topic is no less than life itself, it’s good to have a bit of space to work in. This is a grown-up album about being a grown-up, and in the years it took to create, Everett has done a lot of growing up, and dealt with a lot of tragedy: his mother died of cancer, his sister committed suicide, and his cousin was on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11. With all that, it’s almost a wonder that Blinking Lights doesn’t lose itself totally to melancholy. Sure, there’s an overarching sense of sadness to this album (culminating in the beautiful and painful "If You See Natalie"), but tracks like "Hey Man", "Trouble with Dreams" and "Going Fetal" (the latter featuring Tom Waits) all display a hopeful exuberance and contagious optimism. It may be a lot to take in over a single listen, but Blinking Lights and Other Revelations is well worth the effort. It’s a remarkable achievement. --Robert Burrow

Album Description
The new Eels album, Blinking Lights and Other Revelations, is a two disc set about "God and all the questions related to the subject of God," says its creator, E. A homemade epic, it's an imaginative, emotional reflection on the condition of living, recorded mostly in Everett's Los Angeles basement over a period of several years. Sprawling over its two discs are songs about faith, responsibility, growing up, dignity, disappointment, comfort, hope and renewal.

Echoes of Everett's Virginia youth are heard during a fever-dreamed summer night's picnic inside the Civil War-era graveyard near his family's house ("In the Yard, Behind the Church), while the engineer of a dying travel industry laments the long gone Washington & Old Dominion Railroad that once ran nearby ("Railroad Man").

Finally completed in 2004, Blinking Lights and Other Revelations rides a wide aural spectrum of sometimes disparate, ghostly sounds--from the saxophone sextet gospel of "Son Of A Bitch," to the surf-rock operatic wail of "Old Shit/New Shit." There's the apocalyptic fire and brimstone of "The Other Shoe," and then there's the Jackie Wilson-in-cyberspace existential celebration of "Hey Man (Now You're Really Living)." The album is full of unusual instrumentation and some notable guest stars. One song ("Last Time We Spoke") features Everett's hound dog, Bobby, Jr., howling a lonesome solo. A few songs later, Eels-fan-turned-collaborator Tom Waits cries a solo--literally--("Going Fetal"). Later, R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck (making his second appearance on an Eels album) plays dobro, guitar and bass (the Buck co-written "To Lick Your Boots"), and on an album that prominently features the autoharp on several songs, it's exciting to know that the king of rock & roll autoharp, The Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian, makes a rare appearance, playing autoharp on one track ("Dusk: A Peach In The Orchard," co-written by Sebastian).

CD Description
This is the sixth album from American indie rock outfit Eels. Spread across two CD's the album sees the band continue with their quirky indie rock sound while being joined by a whole host of guests including Tom Waits, REM's Peter Buck, and The Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian.

Customer Reviews

Absolutely fantastic
After Shootenanny, which I personally feel is their worst album to date, lacking the immediacy of Beautiful Freak or Daisies of the Galaxy, the sheer unadulterated excellence of Electro Shock Blues or quirky, fuzzy rock sensibilities of Souljacker, I was concerned as to how this one would turn out. I needn't have been, the latest Eels album is a triumph.
From the toe-tapping catchiness of Going Fetal on disc one and its compatriot Hey man (Now You're Really Living) on disc two, to the melancholy of 'If you see Natalie' the double album is packed with excellent and catchy tunes.
On the flipside, there is a lot of what could maybe be described as 'filler' and some of the songs may sound extremely familiar to Eels fans. I admit to getting a feeling of de ja vu when listening to Blinking Lights, certain tracks seeming to echo songs present on other older Eels albums. Overall however it's only a minor issue and not enough to detract from a truly excellent album.
This has been described elsewhere as E's masterpiece and for once it's right to believe the hype.

Mellow Introversion
E has produced a fine mellow album that touches at the human soul. I was prepared for an epic, six years in the production, wrought with angst over family deaths journey. Instead it's lighter & dreamier, the lyrics suggestive, but not explicit. Clocking at 78 minutes, it could also be squeezed on a single CD. Well worth the wait and well worth a few listens to fully appreciate.

Vast, beautiful and spellbinding
First off, no it's not Electro Shock blues, but nothing else ever will be. No one could write something like that twice and survive. This is bigger. If electro shock is about a bad time in life (most of its songs are about moments and they form part of a strict narrative), this is about life, all of it, vast and rambling. It's an album I've owned for a few weeks now, and I still haven't got my head around it, but it is nothing less than fantastic. Simply put there are few artists out there who could produce a double CD that wouldn't be a simple vanity project; E is one of them.
Highlights are of course Old xxxx/New xxxx, Hey Man (the most uplifting song he has ever written) and Lick your Boots, but it includes many smaller gems in its glittering hoard (If you see Natalie, My Kind of Love and the finally Things the Grandchildren should know).
This album deserves that the listener put the effort into listening that E put into making. Given that, it is brilliant.