EELS - Useless Trinkets: B-Sides, Soundtracks, Rarities and Unreleased, 1996-2006 (2008)

From son of an internationally renowned physicist, to oddball post-grunge one-hit-wonder, to ongoing alt-rock sideshow curiosity you just can’t shut up, to engaging diarist of life at its most interesting, imagined or indeed tormented--Mark Oliver Everett a.k.a. ‘E’ a.k.a. Eels (he is effectively, for all their shape-shifting, the band incarnate) can lay reasonable claim to being one of the most notable American songwriters alive today. And given the already vast, sprawling nature of his 10-year back catalogue it will come as no surprise to discover that a few choice cuts fell between the cracks en-route. And thus, this double collection of Eels rarities, b-sides, session tracks and song re-jigs is about as delightful, if random, as any straight album he’s released. He’s always had too many sides to be a square, but even so it’s surprising to see single songs’ split personalities laid bare and equally dominant here. "Novocaine for the Soul" appears in two pleasingly alternate guises, as spoken word sub-grunge music-box and then playful, vocoder heavy robotic-minimalism, the Shrek-soundtracking "My Beloved Monster" is reinvented three times over, and "Susan’s House" is reborn as suspenseful noir-hip hop in "Susan’s Apartment". And tracks like hoarse, upbeat "Rotten World Blues", lullaby-simple "Taking a Bath in Rust" and twinkling lament "Living Life" are chart-toppers in any other reality. Trinkets are by definition a little useless, they serve no real purpose, yet with the aid of time the opposite often becomes true. Useless Trinkets, like Eels’ career, is much like that. Hold it close. --James Berry

Disc: 1
1 Novocaine For The Soul (Live From Hell)
2 Fucker
3 My Beloved Monster (Live From Tennessee)
4 Dog's Life
5 Susan's Apartment
6 Manchester Girl (BBC)
7 Flower (BBC)
8 My Beloved Mad Monster Party (BBC)
9 Animal
10 Stepmother
11 Everything's Gonna Be Cool This Christmas
12 Your Lucky Day In Hell (Michael Simpson Remix)*
13 Altar Boy
14 Novocaine For The Soul (Moog Cookbook Remix)
15 If I Was Your Girlfriend (Live)*
16 Bad News
17 Funeral Parlor
18 Hospital Food (BBC)
19 Open The Door (BBC)
20 Birdgirl On A Cell Phone
21 Vice President Fruitley
22 My Beloved Monstrosity
23 Dark End Of The Street (Live)*
24 The Cheater's Guide To Your Heart (Live)*
25 Useless Trinkets*

Disc: 2
1 Mr. E's Beautiful Remix
2 Souljacker Part I (Alternate Version)*
3 Dog Faced Boy (Alternate Version)*
4 Jennifer Eccles
5 Rotten World Blues
6 Can't Help Falling In Love
7 Christmas Is Going To The Dogs
8 Mighty Fine Blues
9 Eyes Down
10 Skywriting
11 Taking A Bath In Rust
12 Estranged Friends*
13 Her
14 Waltz Of The Naked Clowns
15 I Like Birds (Live)*
16 Sad Foot Sign
17 Living Life
18 The Bright Side
19 After The Operation
20 Jelly Dancers
21 I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man (Live At Town Hall)
22 Mr. E's Beautiful Blues (Live At Town Hall)
23 I Want To Protect You*
24 I Put A Spell On You (Live)*
25 Saw A Ufo*

Disc: 3
1 Saturday Morning
2 Eyes Down
3 My Beloved Monster
4 A Magic World
5 Not Ready Yet
6 Souljacker part I

*previously unreleased