With Strings: Live at Town Hall [Digipak]

Performer: Eels
Producer: Mark Oliver Everett
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Personnel: Eels (vocals, guitar, piano, pump organ); Big Al (vocals, autoharp, melodica, piano, pump organ, upright bass); Julie (vocals, mandolin, violin, percussion); Paloma (vocals, violin, percussion); Heather (vocals, viola, percussion); Ana Lenchantin (vocals, cello, percussion). Recorded live at New York City's Town Hall in late June 2005, this concert album finds singer/songwriter E (aka Mark Oliver Everett) leading the Eels through a 22-song set that spans the Los Angeles-based band's entire catalogue. For this outing, the group (essentially Everett and an ever-rotating cast of musicians) consists of a seven-piece ensemble that includes four string players. While drawing largely from the wonderfully ambitious double-album BLINKING LIGHTS AND OTHER REVELATIONS (highlights include a gorgeous rendition of "Trouble with Dreams" and a swooning, piano-driven take on "If You See Natalie"), this performance also presents older tunes (most notably an almost unrecognizable chamber-pop version of "Novocaine for the Soul") and excellent covers (an aching, string-laden rendition of Bob Dylan's "Girl From the North Country"). On a par with most of the Eels' studio work, LIVE AT TOWN HALL is sure to please fans of the eclectic and inventive act.

Uncut (p.98) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[B]eneath their limpid surfaces, Mark 'E' Everett's songs are volatile dollops of emotional explosive."

Singer/songwriter Mark Oliver Everett started out under the moniker A Man Called E, releasing two albums of dark, melodic pop in the early 1990s. After forming Eels and signing to a new label, Everett's work became even darker, and the production became more textural and sophisticated. Aside from a quirky, experimental 2003 effort under the name MC Honky, Everett has continued to refine his emotionally uncompromising, skillfully crafted vision with Eels, often to great critical acclaim if not stunning sales.

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