With Strings: Live at Town Hall [Digipak] (CD - 2006)

Personnel: Eels (vocals, guitar, piano, pump organ); Big Al (vocals, autoharp, melodica, piano, pump organ, upright bass); Julie (vocals, mandolin, violin, percussion); Paloma (vocals, violin, percussion); Heather (vocals, viola, percussion); Ana Lenchantin (vocals, cello, percussion).

Recorded live at New York City's Town Hall in late June 2005, this concert album finds singer/songwriter E (aka Mark Oliver Everett) leading the Eels through a 22-song set that spans the Los Angeles-based band's entire catalogue. For this outing, the group (essentially Everett and an ever-rotating cast of musicians) consists of a seven-piece ensemble that includes four string players. While drawing largely from the wonderfully ambitious double-album BLINKING LIGHTS AND OTHER REVELATIONS (highlights include a gorgeous rendition of "Trouble with Dreams" and a swooning, piano-driven take on "If You See Natalie"), this performance also presents older tunes (most notably an almost unrecognizable chamber-pop version of "Novocaine for the Soul") and excellent covers (an aching, string-laden rendition of Bob Dylan's "Girl From the North Country"). On a par with most of the Eels' studio work, LIVE AT TOWN HALL is sure to please fans of the eclectic and inventive act. minimize