Search - Eels :: With Strings Live at Town Hall (Dig)

Best album of the year!!

J. P. Bierly | Portland, OR USA | 06/05/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I attended the Portland show of the 2006 "With Strings" tour last summer and this album is a faithful recording of what I heard. No disappointment here! If you like the Eels, you will love this album. However, be warned that the sound is more "raw" than their studio albums. This is not due to bad mastering as some have suggested, this is how they sounded in concert.



I hope that Mr. E releases a live album of the 2006 "No Strings Attached" tour. I saw them last night at the Roseland in Portland, OR and wow! what a difference. They played a few of the same songs like My Beloved Monster, Railroad Man, Mr. E's Beautiful Blues, The Only Thing I Care About, Dirty Girl, I like Birds, I'm Going to Stop Pretending and Hey Man, but this time it was a rock show. Everyone was dressed as if they were members of Motorhead and they played fast and hard."

Superlative Eels Tracks.....(Given the String Section Treatm

fetish_2000 | U.K. | 08/17/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Mark Everett has never been the most straight forward of musicians, with him cutting an increasingly idiosyncratic path for himself, and although not considered a household name, he has certainly built up a cult following through a series of bittersweet, troubled and increasingly bleak albums, that have carved out a sort of niche market in the alternative pop/rock genre. But with this release Mark has taken the steps of bringing a stripped down version of his band, and augmenting the arrangements with a theatrical string section. So what this means it that although large sections of the "Blinking Lights and other Revelations" are present here. But there, are also popular tracks from previous albums ("Novocaine for the Soul", "It's a Motherf___", "Dirty Girl", "Poor Side of Town" "Bus Stop Boxer"), coupled with the occasional cover ("Michael Brown's - Pretty Ballerina" & "Bob Dylans - Girl from the north country"). But here with the radically different band arrangement, that shuns mostly electric instrumentation for: Acoustic Guitar, melodica, celeste, lap steel, organs, piano & string sections....the music here takes on a wonderfully rusty and almost lo-fi feel, with the luxury of delicate strings that add a certain elegance, melody and lilting beauty to the songs.



Mark himself has always had something of a gruff, scratched vocal...but here, mixed with the stripped down arrangements, his songs take on a altogether more sinister, stirring and vulnerable mood, that shroud the music with a noticeably ragged and emotionally melancholic tone, that isn't quite as pronounced as on his studio albums. Mark's husky voice lends perfectly to the darker mood, and for all the imperfections in his voice, carries the songs wonderfully. At points, such as on "Novocaine for the Soul" achingly tender, and reflective. And with the more direct tracks like "It's a Motherf___" slightly brash and uptight. It's a thoroughly engaging mix of moving through moods and being engaging, elegant, cathartic, intimate, detached, yearning and ambitious. And for a `Live' recording to convey these messages and emotions so well, is a rounding success for Mark Everett. And bodes extremely well...for any possible further `Live' recordings he may have planned.



Admittedly, this is a `Live' recording that is `preaching to the converted'....as it's not really something that could probably challenge the best `Live' albums out there for accessibility, and widespread appeal. It's a little too insular, and probably a little bit too morbid to snag a wider audience outside Eels fans. It's a fantastic albums of that there is no doubt, but people without been familiar with the songs already or having no prior experience with Eels, may struggle to appreciate the almost suffocatingly dour tone (As fans of Eels will only be too aware of the bleakness of the majority of the bands work), and maybe this is something that Mark Everett realised, and the possible reason for a couple of covers...and add to the fact that Mark has the superb ability to give a cover version his own delightful spin on it (if you ever come across it....try and find his cover of "Missy Elliott's - Get Yer Freak on!!"), gives this release a well needed shot in the arm. But for those Eels fans out there, that are intrigued, by the prospect of a `Live' Eels recorded performance, this has got to be the brilliant addition to your collection.

"

Nice concert

max ochoa | 04/05/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a very good concert, You can put some question marks on the mix af this recoding, but it sounds real and fair.

The only song I don't like is 'bride of theme from blinking lights', it's out of tune, which makes it very enoying. But I love listening to some Eels classics with good strings and very nice slide guitars. Good deal."