What Eels album to buy?

[Cute Irish Bono]

What album should I buy first? I am just getting into them. I thinking Blinking Lights and Other Revelations because I love Trouble With Dreams. Are the other songs like that one? And is the new album any good? Thanks. Please free to put your favorite Eels videos below and tell me which album it's from so I know.

 

[LemonMelon]

Well, it depends. If you want something more fun, Beautiful Freak is there, but I personally find it a bit dated and inconsistent. The hands-down consensus favorite is Electro-Shock Blues, but every song is about sickness and death and grief so it probably would not be the easiest listen. It is, however, his most vital creatively. There are plenty of great songs, but I want to highlight this underrated track:

Eels - My Descent Into Madness - YouTube

A dark horse but equally recommendable album is Daisies of the Galaxy, which is a corker and stretches the Eels sound while remaining quite fun. There are great ballads too, particularly this one:

The Eels - It's a Motherfucker - YouTube

Blinking Lights is fucking long, which may be a major turnoff, though I personally enjoy it a great deal. Trouble With Dreams is remarkable and, unsurprisingly, one of the best tracks, but there is more than enough good material to go around. I wouldn't recommend the album as an introduction, but if you enjoy any of the albums I mentioned prior to this, you need to hear it. Everything after Blinking Lights is unremarkable and derivative of his earlier work, albeit duller.

 

[whackjester]

I'm a big Eels fan. I would say that each album has it's own type of personality but still sounds like Eels so it's hard to suggest one album. I normally wouldn't do this, but may buying Meet the Eels (the "greatest hits" cd) would give you an idea of what to get next. The new album is good, but not my favorite. Blinking lights has it's share of great songs and a few that are okay.