electric eels - Spin Age Blasters 2LP
A world unto themselves, Cleveland’s beloved art terrorists the electric eels did so many things first it boggles the mind. Though they never entered a recording studio, there is a wealth rehearsal recordings engineered by Paul Marotta.from the spring and summer of 1975 that have cemented their legacy.
It’s been nearly 10 years since any of this material was commonly available, so we’ve assembled what we consider the be-all, end-all of electric eels compilations. Think of it as one lifelong fan’s perfect mixtape - all the best tracks in their best versions in a sequence that flows while providing differentiation between the 4 sides. Mastered by John Golden. See below for tracklist and commentary.
Available on black vinyl or metallic silver (ltd web exclusive)
TRACKLIST
A Splitterty Splat
Wreck and Roll
You're Full of Shit
Tidal Wave
Refrigerator (alt)
Cold Meat
Spinach Blasters
B Jaguar Ride
Zoot Zoot
Giganto (Cyclotron)
Bunnies
Roll On, Big O
You Crummy Fags
No No (locked groove)
C Sewercide (alt)
Silver Daggers
As If I Cared
Natural Situation
Cards and Fleurs
D Agitated (orig)
Cyclotron
Black Leather Rock
Dead Man's Curve
Safety Week
Accident
Anxiety
No Nonsense (locked groove)
(cont’d from home page)
The two eels tracks that do approach the subject of romance couch it in terms of not really caring that much about it ("Jaguar Ride") or placing it in the context of a grisly murder ("Silver Daggers"). Also consider John Morton's signature guitar sound, a nails-on-chalkboard tone with brutally free soloing inspired more by Albert Ayler than the blues or aspirations to technical facility. Ditto Dave E.'s clarinet playing and affection for lawnmowers and vacuums during live performance. They were notoriously violent not only among themselves, but towards audiences, police, and anyone unfortunate enough to be around them when things went south. Then of course there are the leather jackets, the clothing festooned with rat traps or safety pins. And they had an immediately recognizable, harsh and primitive visual aesthetic given Morton’s art background. And no bass player, why bother. There is simply no other "proto" band to have had all these pieces in place circa 1973-1975.
But it’s a mistake to consider the eels exclusively in the punk rock context, they were more than an out-of-time historical anomaly. Yes, the eels could and did shock anyone who encountered them, but they also had great songs. While both Dave and John were visionary writers, they also had rhythm guitarist Brian McMahon, a melody and riff machine who wrote many of the band's signature songs. And they were no one-trick pony. Although much of the band's material is appropriately high-energy, there is also the downer eels - morbid, harmonically risky, and in full existential crisis. Although it's not a focus of this compilation, the eels also had a penchant for completely free improvisation. On top of that, they weren't above subverting their audiences’ expectations with unexpectedly innocent and kind songs like their second single, "Bunnies," or Dave E.'s habit of singing theme songs from television shows or commercials in live performance, here immortalized by his live rendering of the Lawson’s convenience store jingle, “Roll On, Big O.”
