Blinking Lights and Other Revelations

Limited Edition Vagrant 25th Anniversary 3LP on on Crystal Violet Vinyl. Featuring Tom Waits, Peter Buck & John Sebastian. The 2005 album Blinking Lights and Other Revelations is about "God and all the questions related to the subject of God," says it's creator, Mark Oliver Everett, also known as Eels leader E. "It's also about hanging on to my remaining shreds of sanity and the blue sky that comes the day after a terrible storm," he adds, "and it's a love letter to life itself, in all it's beautiful, horrible glory." The album is full of unusual instrumentation and some notable guest stars. One song ("Last Time We Spoke") features Everett's hound dog, Bobby, Jr., howling a lonesome solo. A few songs later, Eels-fan-turned-collaborator Tom Waits cries a solo - literally - ("Going Fetal"). Later on, R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck (making his second appearance on an Eels album) plays dobro, guitar and bass (the Buck co-written "To Lick Your Boots"), and on an album that prominently features the autoharp on several songs, it's exciting to know that the king of rock & roll autoharp, The Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian, makes a rare appearance, playing autoharp on one track ("Dusk: A Peach in the Orchard," co-written by Sebastian).