Eels - My Timing is Off/Fresh Blood

Something is afoot. Something smells funny about the new Eels single.

Basically, this was initially released through iTunes to promote the upcoming Hombre Lobo album, Eels first full studio album since 2005. The tracks were 'Fresh Blood' and 'Devil's Dog'. Whilst I was glad to hear that Britain was getting an actual 7" release, I've been left scratching my head as to why someone has decided to make this a double A-side with 'My Timing is Off', effectively demoting 'Fresh Blood' to the B-side. Both of these tracks are on Hombre Lobo, whereas 'Devil's Dog' is not and now remains solely available as a download.

This record is quite telling of the current music sales market. The CD single has become a redundant format, losing out to the digital download. The thing the CD always had going for it was convenience and now that a more convenient format has come along the CD is going the way of the 8-track! For a tangible release the 7" has become the format of choice, having an inherent value missing from the CD; it's a desirable item for fans and adds a sort of underground kudos to a band's reputation. So, I reckon it could be that it was felt that fans would just buy this record whatever the track listing and that by leaving off 'Devil's Dog' they could entice fans to purchase both 7" and digital download. Sneaky. I'm not quite sure who this mysterious 'they' is, though. Surely not E.

Perhaps it was just felt that 'My Timing is Off' was a better lead single for the UK market? 'Fresh Blood' is pretty raucous and perhaps not fit for our frail British hearts and milky livers. The track (and video) find Eels leader E in the guise of 'Hombre Lobo'; the 'Dog-Faced Boy' all grown up and living a predatory existence on the fringes of a society that has snubbed him. As E says, "I wrote a song a few years ago called 'I Want to Protect You' that was about wanting to protect someone from the wolves. Now I am the wolf."

The song is in the vein of the hard-rocking Souljacker album - 'Teenage Witch' particularly springs to mind, although it is very different to anything already in the Eels repertoire. 'Fresh Blood' builds on the grimy, slow grumble of the bass to a hypnotic chorus full of intrigue courtesy of some creepy electronics and shuddering guitar work. Twinned with the video this a very noir affair.



The artwork for the record is a photo that looks like it may have been taken when they were shooting the video. E's beard is even bigger than in the Souljacker days and that's saying something!





'My Timing is Off' is a more typical Eels song: wistful and tender, but with an upbeat tempo. It's the kind of song you'd find on Daisies of the Galaxy, although it lacks the fragility of a lot of the material on that album and actually comes off more like a poor man's 'Numbered Days' or 'Somebody Loves You' from Shootenanny: both fine songs, but not that memorable. It's a nice enough song while it's on, but does little to differentiate itself from a dozen other similar Eels songs.

Anyway, 'Fresh Blood' has certainly done enough to whet my appetite for the new album. Hombre Lobo is out on Monday 1st June and the band's official website does a great job of keeping everyone up to date with developments, reviews and promotional appearances the band are doing. But don't go trying to follow them on Twitter:

3/25/2009- EELS TWEET:
Follow EELS on Twitter HERE.

4/24/2009- NO TWITTER FOR EELS:
EELS have abandoned their Twitter account. "The only tweeting I wanna hear is in my backyard. This shit is not for us," says EELS leader E.

I'm surprised they lasted that long on there, to be honest.

The Jesus Lizard - Inch

Well, I saw The Jesus Lizard playing last night at the Kentish Town Forum and it was awesome. Great setlist; 'Blockbuster,' 'Gladiator,' 'Boilermaker,' 'Then Comes Dudley,' 'One Evening,' 'Wheelchair Epidemic,' 'Puss,' 'Thumbscrews' and 'Fly On the Wall' were all played. David Yow did most of his crowd-pleasing tricks without it ever feeling forced or insincere, dove into the crowd about half a dozen times and rained down vitriol and manic terror upon London for 90-odd minutes against a backdrop of some of the tightest playing I've ever seen. Vocalist David Yow often takes most of the focus but the rest of the band are all excellent musicians and performers.

Duane Denison's taut and tense guitar is the perfect partner for Yow's vocals, adding anxiety and a heightening sense of alarm. David Sims' commanding stance on stage was a focal point, with the bassist hammering the neck of his guitar forward to deliver some bruising bass lines. Mac wore headphones and his precise, jazz-influenced drumming at times evoked the math rock that has become so prevalent in the intervening years since the band's split.

Not that you didn't already know all of that if you've ever heard a Jesus Lizard record.

Grails and Harvey Milk were the support, which was okay, but a bit disappointing since in an interview with Mark Prindle, David Yow suggested that if there were ever to be a Jesus Lizard reunion then Puss (all-girl Jesus Lizard covers group) and Jazzus Lizard (you can guess) would be the perfect support acts. For shame.

So, I thought it was about time I had a look at this Record Store 7" pack that came out for one day only a few weeks ago. The good news is that Touch and Go have included a download code, so I don't actually have to put these things on a turntable (not that I have a huge issue with that, but I honestly can't break these records out of their robust packaging). The pack is very cool - you can keep it all bundled up with its rubber band on a shelf or you can unfold it all and get a nice display of all the 7" covers to hang on your wall - either way it's a beauty.



So what have we got in here? Well, every 7" that the group released on Touch and Go, remastered by Bob Weston (of Shellac, who was an engineer on the original recordings) and repressed in an edition of 2,000. So, it's pretty much the Bang compilation without the bonus tracks. I think a lot, if not all, of these tracks will end up on the CD album reissues later this year. There's a couple of singles missing that were licensed by Touch and Go for release by other labels, but they're another story.

First up is 'Chrome' from 1989. The track is a medley of two Chrome songs: 'TV as Eyes' and 'Abstract Nympho', both from the 1979 LP Half Machine Lip Moves, which has to be one of the weirdest album titles ever and possibly an influence on Melvins' song titles? (e.g. 'Heater Moves and Eyes'; 'In the Freaktose the Bugs Are Dying'). I actually got to see the Melvins covering 'Chrome' as an encore with David Yow as surprise guest singer. Yow ate a pack of cigarettes. Anyway, The Jesus Lizard make the song their own with a rambunctious and upbeat track that would fit nicely alongside anything on Head or Goat. The B-side is '7 vs. 8' from the Head album. It starts with mid-tempo tom work before kicking into some classic Denison escalating guitar playing that dizzies you before kicking into a noise assault, eventually dying back down into the laborious lurch of the verse. It's quite a nauseating track in the vein of 'Then Comes Dudley' and I mean that in the best possible way.

The second disc is 'Mouth Breather' which originally came out in 1990 just before Goat, from which it is taken. It has the iconic Mickey Mouse bomb cover that went on to become one of the best alternative rock T-shirt designs of the '90s.



This track isn't a favourite of mine as it zips by too fast without having done too much and there are far better tracks on the rests of Goat. However, it’s considered a bit of a classic for the band, so who am I to talk? The B-side is somewhat of an anomaly in the tJL back-catalogue; a cover of song by German Neue Deutshche Welle group Trio. I had a German friend who nearly kicked me out of his car for saying I didn't mind the NDW compilation that was playing on the stereo, such was his loathing of Trio. The song chugs along kind of uneventfully with a seriously understated vocal (a la 'Blockbuster'). It is pretty catchy, but it barely sounds like The Jesus Lizard at all. It’s a piece of new-wave fluff rendered strangely flat and ominous. Curiously enough a further Trio cover was put out on the Bang compilation. Sadly it wasn't 'Da Da Da'.

Next up is 'Puss' which was originally issued as a split single with Nirvana. So, instead of 'Oh, the Guilt' we get a nice B-side of silence. Did I mention this reached no. 12 in the UK charts in 1993? Wow. 'Puss' pretty much seems to be a song about domestic violence, but with no pretence to morality; in fact it's just a catalogue of brutal acts with some amazing double-tracked vocals that trade off each other, making it sound like you walked into a bar where two equally vile and drunken David Yows are jawing at each other, slurring and hurling broken bottles. Scary, compulsive and cool. This was the first song of theirs I heard so it holds a special place in my heart. If you listen to it on your Walkman as I did back in the day the two vocals come through separate headphones just to add to the chaos and terror. Nice touch, Steve Albini. Also, this disc has beautiful artwork courtesy of painter Malcolm Bucknall who also provided equally impressive artwork for Liar and Down.



Next is 'Wheelchair Epidemic', the original issue of which I already wrote about here.

The fifth record is the 'Gladiator' single, originally issued as a one-off giveaway to punters at a gig in London in September 1992 and was never commercially available as far as I'm aware. The photo on the cover is now in colour as opposed to black and white. Finally after all these years we can see what colour shirts the guys were wearing. Glad I didn't die before I got to see that.



'Gladiator' could be the ultimate tJL song; muscular, grinding, tense, demented, complex but with a catchy underlying groove. The finale is intense to say the least. It also has the line "You run the risk of conceiving a bastard." Bliss! If you don't know it you should get yourself a copy of the album Liar. The B-side of this single is a live version of 'Seasick' from the Brixton Academy show on 9th May 1992. The song really lives up to the title as it chugs and lurches away in lurid fashion, hitting you right in the stomach. The band is on top form in this live recording, but it's pretty faithful to the album version.

Discs 6, 7 and 8 cover the Lash EP which was originally released on CD and as a triple 7" pack as a stop-gap between the Liar and Down albums. The first 7" is fantastic as it has two proper non-album songs; 'Glamorous' and 'Deaf as a Bat,' both of which got an airing at last night's show. I always thought it would have faired better as a stand-alone single, so it's nice to have to have it here as a separate disc. Although 'Glamorous' has its moments, it's fairly pedestrian by tJL’s standards and something of a precursor for some of the more unspectacular moments on Down. 'Deaf as a Bat' is a short and fast little ditty, reminiscent of 'Tight 'n' Shiny' from their debut album, but with some garbled vocals on top. It has a nasty attitude, but is lacking teeth, so it doesn't really do it for me.

Discs 7 & 8 I have to say have disappointing artwork. Touch and Go have just taken the panels from the original gatefold sleeve and used them as the covers. Seriously, a few scratches in black paint does not constitute a good cover! The back covers are nicer with photos incorporated into the paintings. Shame there weren't any old Malcolm Bucknall cast-offs hanging around that could have been used!


(Front cover of the 'Bloody Mary' 7" and back cover of 'Lady Shoes' 7")

Anyway, the first of these has two tracks recorded live at a show in Boston in November 1990 (or December depending on which sleeve notes you believe). 'Lady Shoes' has to be one of the sickest songs I ever did hear and this was the version I knew way before I got around to listening to the album version. This totally blew my mind when I heard it. The music, managing to be both foreboding and rollicking plays second fiddle to a jaw-dropping performance by David Yow in which he presents a series of seemingly unrelated and deeply unpleasant and bizarre scenarios populated by a constantly revolving list of perverse characters ("There's a little girl playing a big piano while her mother gives her an enema...and then the Daddy comes in..."). This is littered with examples of David Yow's random shrieks, bellows and other unworldly noises that erupt at random to elicit genuine disgust, horror and morbid fascination. Never has a front man sounded more convincingly terrifying and insane.

Nothing could ever really follow that, but 'Killer McHann' makes a good stab of it (see what I did there. Pretty poor, wasn't it?) This kind of whizzes by in a torrent of reckless abandon and raging vocals, displaying a lot more energy and feeling than the studio version.

7" #8 has two live tracks from the same Brixton show as 'Seasick'. I always thought of 'Bloody Mary' as one of the most Scratch Acid-y songs that The Jesus Lizard did, with Yow adopting a harrowed and pleading vocal delivery on the melancholic verses, before the song explodes into a Big Black-esque pounding chorus. I guess the fact this was written when the group had a drum machine instead of a drummer influenced that. It’s nice to hear it performed by the whole band. The B-side is 'Monkey Trick' which features a seriously indecent bass line. It lumbers along leaving a bad taste in the mouth until the climactic ending with some truly feverish guitar work and Yow sounding like he's trying to cough up a ballcock.

The final record is '(Fly) On (the Wall)' and you've got to love those parentheses! Check out my thoughts on the original issue of this 7” here.

As is the way with many obsessive collectors, I’m not really a big audiophile, so the remastering is lost on me, but I’m loving the packaging! Maybe a few more repeat plays on something better than my mp3 player will shed some light on exactly what tweaking has gone on.

Pure, Head and Goat are all out in September, reissued with bonus tracks. Until then you can keep updated at The Jesus Lizard’s (Official!) Myspace or by checking out David Sims’ blog which has all kind of cool gubbins on it.

The Jesus Lizard - (Fly) On (the Wall)

I’m listening to a lot of The Jesus Lizard in the run up to their London show on Monday, so I thought I’d find time to say a little about this single; ‘(Fly) On (the Wall)’. If we discredit the words set in parentheses then we are to believe this song is merely titled ‘On’. Brilliant.

The track is an earlier alternative version of ‘Fly on the Wall’ from the Down LP. According to the Touch and Go website it was released on 17th January 1994, although it appears there was an earlier green vinyl pressing limited to 1000 released in 1993.

The cover artwork juxtaposes a bizarre upside-down photograph of a bound man impaled on a stake with pictures of fireworks. If I had to hazard a guess then I’d say it was pretty likely that this issued forth from the mind of Mr. David Yow



Side A is a fine example of a mid-tempo Jesus Lizard song. The rhythm section lurches along with dizzying guitar from Duane Denison, leading to a jazzy breakdown. David Yow is a picture of paranoia, drinking to block out the sound of insects in his room (“It’s that fly that’s making me drink so I’ll pass out and sleep through his screaming.”) I can’t hear that huge a difference between this version and the album version. The album version is a little slower. The single version also has double tracked vocals on the choruses that don’t really work that well, cluttering the intensity of the chorus. The Albini treatment on the album version really focuses on that sick groove, emphasising the punch of the bass and kick drum.

Down is generally a very bass-heavy album and has a grimy vibe to it. The songs don’t really grab you at first. It seems to be considered somewhat of a disappointment in many quarters, but I used to consider it my favourite as it was their first album I bought. At the time, as a fourteen-year old Nirvana fan, I found it completely impenetrable, but after putting it away for a few years and discovering Liar something clicked and its full brilliance revealed itself to me. Down is the tar-pit of The Jesus Lizard’s back catalogue: black, bubbling, dense and dangerous. It amazes me to hear even the band speak about it disparagingly. David Yow has hinted at being dissatisfied with the way it was recorded, but in a recent interview with Rock-A-Rolla, Duane Denison defended the record saying “there’s parts of it where the jazz and blues kind of thing comes through a little more, it’s more of a slow-burning intensity.”

The B side of the single is ‘White Hole’ which represents a very much overlooked and under-explored aspect of The Jesus Lizard’s music. Following on from ‘Breaking Up is Hard to Do’ on their debut EP this track goes into the leftfield of more cold and clinical ambient/experimental rock. The track could be said to be a deconstruction of their work, as if the band were playing one of their usual numbers, but it was being distorted and skewed … by having travelled millions of light years through an intergalactic wormhole? Yeah, something like that. It shimmers and chimes while an undistinguishable sound whirls away in the background. A drum beat comes in that is sporadic and jerky, while someone mumbles at a barely detectable level. A searing scream melds into a harsh guitar sound (I think) and then it’s all over. This is evidently what The Jesus Lizard gets up to when there’s no pressure to produce a killer album as they produced a couple of similar tracks on their 1998 stop-gap EP for Jetset Records that were produced by John Cale and Jim O’Rourke. Although it’s pretty quirky and interesting it’s hard to get too excited about a track like this and it’s certainly more of a curiosity than a necessity.

All-in-all, this is a nice disc representing two extremes of The Jesus Lizard’s output. Both tracks were included on the 2000 singles compilation Bang, so go buy yourself a copy!

Roll on, Monday!