E - A Man Called E (1992)

The music of Mark Oliver Everett -- aka E, best known as the only permanent member of Eels -- has remained more or less unchanged for about three decades now. Sure, he has singer-songwriter mode (his default setting), weirdo pop mode, 'rock' mode (NOT GOOD), and even Shrek mode, but it's all splitting hairs around the same mopey, lovesick smart-ass. The only thing that's really changed about his music has been its quality, which has taken a significant downturn over the past 15 years or so.

His debut album, A Man Called E finds him in full-blown pop-rock singer-songwriter mode, and it's often more effortless, thoughtful, and mature -- not to mention concise -- than anything he'd put out as Eels. Due to having first heard them as a stoned sadsack teenager, I'll always have a very special place in my heart for Beautiful Freak and Electro-Shock Blues, but as a content but anxious adult, A Man Called E is my favorite thing dude's ever done.

Track listing:

1. Hello Cruel World

2. Fitting In with the Misfits

3. Are You & Me Gonna Happen

4. Looking Out the Window with a Blue Hat On

5. Nowheresville

6. Symphony for Toy Piano in G Minor

7. Mockingbird Franklin

8. I've Been Kicked Around

9. Pray

10. E's Tune

11. You'll Be the Scarecrow

Bad and beautiful and strange

Monkeys dancing in a cage

Also listen to:

The Beautiful South - Welcome to the Beautiful South (1989)

Sparklehorse - The Black Sessions (2006)