Electro-Shock Blues

Electro-Shock Blues
Studio album by Eels
Released	September 21, 1998 (1998-09-21)
Recorded	1998
Genre	Indie rock
Length	48:09
Language	English
Label	DreamWorks
Producer	E, Jim Jacobsen, Mickey Petralia, Michael Simpson
Eels chronology
Beautiful Freak (1996) Electro-Shock Blues (1998) Daisies of the Galaxy (2000)
Singles from Electro-Shock Blues
"Last Stop: This Town" Released: September 14, 1998 (1998-09-14) "Cancer for the Cure" Released: November 30, 1998 (1998-11-30) "Climbing to the Moon" Released: 1998 (1998) (promo) "3 Speed" Released: 1998 (1998) (promo)

Electro-Shock Blues is the second studio album by American band Eels. It was released in the United Kingdom on September 21, 1998, and October 20, 1998, in the United States, through record label DreamWorks.

Background

Electro-Shock Blues was written largely in response to frontman Mark Oliver Everett's (more commonly known as E) sister's suicide and his mother's terminal lung cancer. The title refers to the electroconvulsive therapy received by Elizabeth Everett when she was institutionalized. Many of the songs deal with their decline, his response to loss and coming to terms with suddenly becoming the only living member of his family (his father having died of a heart attack in 1982; Everett, then 19 years old, was the first to discover his body).

Though much of the album is, on its surface, bleak, its underlying message is that of coping with some of life's most difficult occurrences. The record begins with "Elizabeth on the Bathroom Floor", a sparse piece composed of one of his deceased sister's final diary entries. Later, the album's emotional climax is reached in two tracks: "Climbing to the Moon", which draws upon E's experiences visiting his sister at a mental health facility shortly before her death; and "Dead of Winter", a song about his mother's painful radiation treatment and slow succumbing. The album's last song, entitled "P.S. You Rock My World", is a hopeful bookend to "Elizabeth", containing subtly humorous lyrics that describe, among other things, an elderly woman at a gas station honking her car at E, incorrectly assuming he is the attendant, and E's decision that "maybe it's time to live".

According to the Eels official website, the song "Baby Genius" is about E's father, Dr. Hugh Everett III, a quantum physicist who authored the Many Worlds Theory. "Baby Genius" has, as the basis for its melody, the carol "O Sanctissima".^{[citation needed]}

At the time of the album's recording, the only official Eels members were E himself and drummer Butch Norton, as Tommy Walter had left the band. Therefore, the recording features guest appearances by T-Bone Burnett, Lisa Germano, Grant Lee Phillips and Jon Brion.

The Daniel Johnston song "Living Life" was played often on the Electro-Shock Blues tour, eventually seeing a studio release in 2004 on the tribute compilation Discovered Covered – The Late Great Daniel Johnston.

Release

In addition to CD and cassette releases, Electro-Shock Blues was also released on vinyl. This version included two 10" 33 RPM discs on see-through blue vinyl, limited to a small pressing.

Critical and commercial response

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
The A.V. Club	favorable[2]
Robert Christgau	B[3]
Los Angeles Times	[4]
NME	7/10[5]
Rolling Stone	[6]
Piero Scaruffi	8/10[7]
Stylus Magazine	favorable[8]

Electro-Shock Blues was very well-received by critics. The Los Angeles Times called it "a brilliant work that combines often conflicting emotions so skillfully that you are reminded at times of the childhood innocence of Brian Wilson, the wicked satire of Randy Newman and the soul-baring intensity of John Lennon."^[9]

Commercially the album didn't fare well, selling considerably less than Beautiful Freak.

Track listing

All songs written by E (Mark Oliver Everett) except where noted

1. "Elizabeth on the Bathroom Floor" – 2:08
2. "Going to Your Funeral Part I" (E, Jim Jacobsen, and Parthenon Huxley) – 2:37
3. "Cancer for the Cure" (E and Mickey Petralia) – 4:46
4. "My Descent Into Madness" (E, Paul Houston, Dan Nakamura, and Michael Simpson) – 3:54
5. "3 Speed" – 2:45
6. "Hospital Food" (Butch, E, and Jim Lang) – 3:23
7. "Electro-Shock Blues" (E and Petralia) – 2:29
8. "Efils' God" (E and Simpson) – 3:19
9. "Going to Your Funeral Part II" (E, Jacobsen) – 1:30
10. "Last Stop: This Town" (E and Simpson) – 3:27
11. "Baby Genius" (E and Lang) – 2:04
12. "Climbing to the Moon" – 3:38
13. "Ant Farm" – 2:11
14. "Dead of Winter" – 2:59
15. "The Medication Is Wearing Off" (E and Petralia) – 3:51
16. "P.S. You Rock My World" – 3:08

Personnel

References

External links

• The Electro-Shock Blues Story from Eels' official website
• Electro-Shock Blues at Discogs (list of releases)