The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett by Eels

[Above video is NSFW] The album at #8 is probably the saddest album I listened to all year. It’s full of heartbreak, regret, and melancholy depression, sung slowly and sparsely. And it’s gorgeous.

Eels have been around for a very long time. E, whose full name is Mark Oliver Everett, is the lead singer/songwriter of this venerable band. The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett, the band’s 11th album, is the first one to resonate with me. As the name of the album alludes, it has personal tales of woe, straight from E to our ears. It’s quite a departure for the band, who is most well-known for their alternative-radio mid-90s hit, “Novocaine for the Soul.” (Listen here. I’d totally forgotten about this song. It’s so good!)

Cautionary Tales is not an “alternative” album at all. It’s best defined as folk, alt.country, and sometimes has a little indie rock bent. But it’s fantastic in all it’s sorrow. I’ve talked about how I can really get into a good, overly sad album many times in the past. This album hits the nail on the head. If you liked last year’s #1 album, Phosphorescent’s Muchacho, then you’ll like this album, too.

There’s one more video from the album, for the song “Mistakes of My Youth.” It does a good job of demonstating the nice and not-overly-wrought strings that are used throughout the album, too.

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9. Owl John by Owl John
10. LP1 by FKA Twigs
11. Black Hours by Hamilton Leithauser
12. Give the People What They Want by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
13. Lost in the Dream by The War On Drugs
14. Warpaint by Warpaint
15. Heal by Strand of Oaks
16. Stay Gold by First Aid Kit
17. This is All Yours by ∆
18. Brill Bruisers by The New Pornographers
19. Only Run by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
20. Augustines by Augustines
21. El Pintor by Interpol
22. I Never Learn by Lykke Li
23. Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes by Thom Yorke
24. The Voyager by Jenny Lewis
25. Voices by Phantogram
26. Morning Phase by Beck
27. Hungry Ghosts by OK Go
28. Run the Jewels 2 by Run the Jewels
29. Cosmos by Yellow Ostrich
30. Teeth Dreams by The Hold Steady
31. With Light & With Love by Woods

2009-2013 Top 31s