ELECTRIC EELS - 'DIE ELECTRIC EELS'

Formats

• SV059 - LP

  857176003591

Details

Cleveland’s electric eels (all lower case in homage to poet e.e. cummings) is America’s quintessential proto-punk band. Formed in 1972 by singer Dave E. McManus and guitarists John Morton and Brian McMahon, the group enlisted drummer Nick Knox (later of The Cramps) and producer Paul Marotta to record a flurry of catchy and genuinely fucked-up tunes. After only five legendary live performances— complete with Dave E. in black leather jacket covered in rat-traps and playing a gas-powered lawnmower on stage—the eels broke up in 1976 and posthumously released their classic single Agitated on Rough Trade in 1978, blazing a trail for high-art, low-concept rock. As Jon Savage writes in the liner notes, “There is something heroic about the eels’ isolation and uncompromising attitude: a fierceness that you can hear in these songs that still resonates in a different time and world.” This archival LP collects the eels’ best material from 1974-75. From the loud and snotty “Agitated” and its Bside “Cyclotron” (which Johan Kugelberg listed as #1 in his top 100 punk singles) to the anarchic anthem “Jaguar Ride” and the loose, bluesy sludge of “Anxiety,” the album exorcises the demonic power of the Stooges and Velvets and captures the mystique of these outsider artists inventing a new language. As the eels demand “Attendance Required” on their flyer for the infamous Special Extermination Music Night, listening is absolutely mandatory for this seminal band. Recommended for fans of Dead Boys, Simply Saucer and Pagans.

Tracks

1. Agitated
2. Cyclotron
3. Accident
4. Sewercide
5. You?re Full of Shit
6. Refrigerator
7. Tidal Wave
8. Jaguar Ride
9. Cold Meat
10. Anxiety
11. Splitterty Splat
12. Natural Situation
13. You Crummy Fags

Press

Audio & Video

ELECTRIC EELS - 'SPIN AGE BLASTERS / BUNNIES'

Formats

• SV060 - 7"

  857176003607

Details

Following their legendary punk-as-ever Agitated single, electric eels released their second posthumous single, Spin Age Blasters / Bunnies, on Mustard Records in 1981. Recorded in 1975 and taking the band’s free-form jazz and art rock alliances to dizzying extreme, the twin-guitar swirl of “Spin Age Blasters” sounds like Trout Mask Replica on paint fumes, while “Bunnies” features Dave E.’s relaxing Bob-Ross-like vocals and frantic clarinet bursts à la Roscoe Mitchell. This first-time vinyl reissue includes original cover artwork by eels’ guitarist John Morton and is pressed in a limited edition of 1,000 copies.

Tracks

1. Spin Age Blasters
2. Bunnies

Press

Audio & Video