Blinking Lights and Other Revelations

Blinking Lights and Other Revelations is a 2005 double album by Eels

Eels (band)

Eels is an American indie rock band formed by singer/songwriter Mark Oliver Everett, better known as E...

. It was described by E

Mark Oliver Everett

Mark Oliver Everett is the lead singer, songwriter, guitarist, keyboardist and sometime drummer of the independent rock band Eels...

on the official website as an album about "God

God

God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....

and all the questions related to the subject of God. It's also about hanging on to my remaining shreds of sanity and the blue sky that comes the day after a terrible storm, and it's a love letter to life itself, in all its beautiful, horrible glory." Blinking Lights is a compilation of songs recorded with a variety of Eels lineups in E's home over a span of seven years. These include some intensely personal songs, instrumental pastiches, and straightforward pop. The sleeve and liner notes are composed of typewritten lyrics and family photos, implying the personal nature of the album.

Track listing

All songs written by E

Mark Oliver Everett

Mark Oliver Everett is the lead singer, songwriter, guitarist, keyboardist and sometime drummer of the independent rock band Eels...

, except where indicated.
Disc one

"Theme from Blinking Lights" – 1:44
"From Which I Came/A Magic World" – 3:13
"Son of a Bitch" (E and Jim Lang) – 2:27
"Blinking Lights (For Me)" – 2:01
"Trouble with Dreams" – 4:33
"Marie Floating Over the Backyard" – 2:03
"Suicide Life" – 2:41
"In the Yard, Behind the Church" – 4:05
"Railroad Man" – 4:16
"The Other Shoe" – 2:32
"Last Time We Spoke" – 2:22
"Mother Mary" – 3:21
"Going Fetal" – 2:21
"Understanding Salesmen" – 2:43
"Theme for a Pretty Girl That Makes You Believe God Exists" – 2:06
"Checkout Blues" – 2:27
"Blinking Lights (For You)" – 2:00

Disc two

"Dust of Ages" (E and Jim Jacobsen) – 2:21
"Old Shit/New Shit" – 3:17
"Bride of Theme from Blinking Lights" – 1:52
"Hey Man (Now You're Really Living)
Hey Man (Now You're Really Living)
"Hey Man " is a song by the American rock band, Eels. It was the first single from their 2005 double album, Blinking Lights and Other Revelations. It has an upbeat sound, and the lyrics reflect the worldview of a man emerging from depression, a condition the father of Eels frontman E suffered...

" – 3:02
"I'm Going to Stop Pretending That I Didn't Break Your Heart" – 3:56
"To Lick Your Boots" (Peter Buck
Peter Buck
Peter Lawrence Buck , is an American rock guitarist who is best known for playing in and co-founding alternative rock band R.E.M....

and E) – 3:30
"If You See Natalie" – 3:41
"Sweet Li'l Thing" – 3:27
"Dusk: A Peach in the Orchard" (E and John Sebastian
John Sebastian
John Benson Sebastian Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and autoharpist. He is best known as a founder of The Lovin' Spoonful, a band inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000...

) – 1:17
"Whatever Happened to Soy Bomb" – 2:26
"Ugly Love" – 2:58
"God's Silence" – 1:26
"Losing Streak" – 2:52
"Last Days of My Bitter Heart" – 1:35
"The Stars Shine in the Sky Tonight" (E and Lang) – 3:31
"Things the Grandchildren Should Know" – 5:22

Manchester 2005

This live album

Live album

A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...

is only available on disc four of the deluxe edition of Blinking Lights and Other Revelations. The songs were recorded on October 13, 2005 in Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

at the Manchester Apollo

Manchester Apollo

O2 Apollo Manchester is a concert venue in Manchester, England. Locally known as The Apollo, it is a listed building, with a capacity of 3,500 ....

"Fresh Feeling"
"Packing Blankets"
"Bride of Theme from Blinking Lights"
"From Which I Came/A Magic World"
"Son of a Bitch"
"Ant Farm"
"Jeannie's Diary"
"My Beloved Monster"
"It's a Motherfucker"
"Taking a Bath in Rust"
"Trouble with Dreams"
"I'm Going to Stop Pretending That I Didn't Break Your Heart"
"Dead of Winter"
"Flyswatter
Flyswatter (song)
"Flyswatter" is a single by the American rock band, Eels. It is the second single from their 2000 album, Daisies of the Galaxy, and reached number 55 on the UK Singles Chart...

"
"Novocaine for the Soul
Novocaine for the Soul
"Novocaine for the Soul" is the first single released by American rock band Eels. The track comes from their 1996 debut album, Beautiful Freak. "Novocaine for the Soul" was the first song that gave Eels international success, most notably in the UK, where it hit number 10 in the UK Singles Chart in...

"
"Losing Streak"
"Climbing to the Moon"

Personnel

Eels

Butch – Drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

and percussion
Percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
The Chet
Jeff Lyster
Jeff "The Chet" Lyster is a multi-instrumentalist, best known for his work with Eels, an alternative/experimental rock band based in California formed by Mark Oliver Everett . He has also toured with Lucinda Williams. -References:...

– Guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
E
Mark Oliver Everett
Mark Oliver Everett is the lead singer, songwriter, guitarist, keyboardist and sometime drummer of the independent rock band Eels...

– Vocals
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...

, guitar, keyboards
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...

, and melodica
Melodica
The melodica, also known as the "blow-organ" or "key-flute", is a free-reed instrument similar to the melodeon and harmonica. It has a musical keyboard on top, and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole in the side of the instrument. Pressing a key opens a hole,...
Koool G. Murder – Bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
Puddin'
Derek Hahn
Derek Hahn is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is currently playing with the ERC Ingolstadt in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga.-Awards and honours:-External links:...

– Drums

Additional musicians

Wayne Bergeron
Wayne Bergeron
Wayne Bergeron, American jazz musician and trumpet player, was born in 1958 in Hartford, Connecticut and grew up Southern California. His interest in music started on the French Horn before he switched to, his claim to fame, the trumpet, in 8th grade...

– Trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
Bobby, Jr. – Wails on "Last Time We Spoke"
Peter Buck
Peter Buck
Peter Lawrence Buck , is an American rock guitarist who is best known for playing in and co-founding alternative rock band R.E.M....

– Guitar on "To Lick Your Boots" and "If You See Natalie"
Matt DeMerritt – Saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
Wally Gagel
Wally Gagel
Walton Steven “Wally” Gagel is an American record producer, songwriter, engineer and musician. He came into prominence in 1996 for his work on the Billboard Top 40 hit Natural One by the band Folk Implosion....

– Keyboards
Ludvig Girdland – Violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
Joe Gore – Guitar
Probyn Gregory
Probyn Gregory
Probyn Gregory is a composer and musician who was raised in the disparate climates of New Hampshire and California, and is now based in Los Angeles...

– horn
Horn (instrument)
The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....

s
David Hlebo – Saxophone
Jim Jacobsen – Keyboards
Jim Lang – Strings
String instrument
A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
Bill Liston – Woodwinds
Andy Martin
Andy Martin (American musician)
Andy Martin is an American virtuoso jazz trombonist. Among other acts, he is a member of Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band and the Bill Holman big band. He has played in over 100 movies, including the trombone solo in the opening credits of Monsters Inc. He has played with T.V. shows such as Family...

– Trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
Joe Meyer – Horn
Dick Mitchell – Flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
John Sebastian
John Sebastian
John Benson Sebastian Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and autoharpist. He is best known as a founder of The Lovin' Spoonful, a band inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000...

– Organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...

on "Dusk: A Peach in the Orchard"
Todd Simon
Todd Simon
Todd Michael Simon is a professional ice hockey centre. He was drafted in the ninth round, 203rd overall, by the Buffalo Sabres in the 1992 NHL Entry Draft. He played fifteen games in the National Hockey League with the Sabres in the 1993–94 regular season, recording one assist, and five more...

– Trumpet
Gerri Sutyak – Cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
Michael Valerio – Bass guitar
Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...

– Vocals on "Going Fetal"

Production

Michael Aarvold – Mixing
Audio mixing (recorded music)
In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
Ryan Boesch – Mixing and programming
Programming (music)
Programming is a form of music production and performance using electronic devices, often sequencers or computer programs, to generate music. Programming is used in nearly all forms of electronic music and in most hip hop music since the 1990s. It is also frequently used in modern pop and rock...
Robert Carranza – Mixing
Greg Collins – Mixing
E – Production
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
Wally Gagel – Mixing
Koool G. Murder – Mixing and programming
Jim Jacobsen – Horn and string arrangement
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...

s and programming
Jim Lang – Mixing
Dan Pinder – Mixing
Brendan Willard – Mixing

Release history

The album was initially released on April 19, 2005 through the iTunes Store

ITunes Store

The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...

and had physical releases on April 25 in the United Kingdom and the following date in the United States. On October 21, 2008, the band announced that 2,500 autographed copies of the album would be published on vinyl

LP album

The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...

. The songs were split across three discs, with a fourth disc serving as the bonus album Manchester 2005. The band made four of those tracks available as a free download for a week within announcing the album.

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