Useless Trinkets: B-Sides, Soundtracks, Rarities and Unreleased 1996–2006

Useless Trinkets: B-Sides, Soundtracks, Rarities and Unreleased 1996–2006 is a rarities compilation to celebrate the tenth anniversary of rock band Eels, featuring a live performance DVD from Lollapalooza 2006, behind-the-scenes photos, and commentary by lead singer Mark Oliver Everett. It was released on January 15, 2008 in the United States and on January 21, 2008 in the United Kingdom, where it debuted on the UK Album Chart at #69.

Useless Trinkets: B-Sides, Soundtracks, Rarities and Unreleased 1996–2006
Compilation album by Eels
Released	January 15, 2008 (2008-01-15)
Recorded	1996–2006
Genre	Indie rock
Length	149:11
Label	DreamWorks/Universal
Producer	E
Eels chronology
Blinking Lights and Other Revelations (2005) Useless Trinkets: B-Sides, Soundtracks, Rarities and Unreleased 1996–2006 (2008) Hombre Lobo (2009)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Crawdaddy!	favorable
Pitchfork Media	5.5/10
Tiny Mix Tapes

It was released in conjunction with the greatest hits collection Meet the Eels: Essential Eels, Vol. 1 (1996–2006).

Track listing

All tracks are written by E unless otherwise stated

Disc 1

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Original release	Length
1.	"Novocaine for the Soul" (Live from Hell)	E and Mark Goldenberg	"Rags to Rags" single (1997(	3:18
2.	"Fucker"		"Novocaine for the Soul" single (1996)	2:17
3.	"My Beloved Monster" (Live from Tennessee)		"Novocaine for the Soul" single	2:32
4.	"Dog's Life"		Welcome to Woop Woop soundtrack (1998)	3:59
5.	"Susan's Apartment"	E, Jim Jacobsen, and Jim Weatherly	"Beautiful Freak" single (1997)	3:29
6.	"Manchester Girl" (Live at the BBC)		Beautiful Freak (1997) [Germany exclusive]	3:21
7.	"Flower" (Live at the BBC)		Beautiful Freak [Germany exclusive]	3:17
8.	"My Beloved Mad Monster Party" (Live at the BBC)		Beautiful Freak [Germany exclusive]	2:33
9.	"Animal"	E and Jim Lang	"Rags to Rags" single (1996)	2:39
10.	"Stepmother"		"Susan's House" single (1997)	2:51
11.	"Everything's Gonna Be Cool This Christmas"		"Cancer for the Cure" single (1998)	2:51
12.	"Your Lucky Day in Hell" (Michael Simpson remix)	E and Goldenberg	Promotional single (1998)	3:57
13.	"Altar Boy" (Rickie Lee Jones cover)	Jones	"Beautiful Freak" single	2:14
14.	"Novocaine for the Soul" (The Moog Cookbook remix)	E and Goldenberg	"Last Stop: This Town" single (1998)	3:10
15.	"If I Was Your Girlfriend" (Live; Prince cover)	Prince	Previously unreleased	4:34
16.	"Bad News"	Sally Dworsky and E	The End of Violence soundtrack (1997)	2:56
17.	"Funeral Parlor"		"Last Stop: This Town" single	2:12
18.	"Hospital Food" (Live at the BBC)	Butch, E, and Lang	"Mr. E's Beautiful Blues" single (2000)	3:24
19.	"Open the Door" (Live at the BBC; Magnapop cover)	Linda Hopper and Ruthie Morris	"Flyswatter" single (2000)	3:04
20.	"Birdgirl on a Cell Phone" ("Flyswatter" single (2000))		"Mr. E's Beautiful Blues" single	3:08
21.	"Vice President Fruitley"	Butch, E, and Lisa Germano	"Flyswatter" single	2:17
22.	"My Beloved Monstrosity"	2:13	"Souljacker part I" single (2001)
23.	"The Dark End of the Street" (Live; James Carr cover)	Dan Penn and Chips Moman	Previously unreleased	2:35
24.	"The Cheater's Guide to Your Heart" (Live)		Previously unreleased	2:39
25.	"Useless Trinkets"		Previously unreleased	2:22
Total length:				73:52

Disc 2

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Original release	Length
1.	"Mr. E's Beautiful Remix"	E and Simpson	22 Miles of Hard Road EP (2001)	3:54
2.	"Souljacker part I" (Alternate version)	Butch, E, and Adam Siegel	Previously unreleased	3:04
3.	"Dog Faced Boy" (Alternate version)	E and John Parish	Previously unreleased	2:54
4.	"Jennifer Eccles" (The Hollies cover)	Allan Clarke and Graham Nash	Sing Hollies in Reverse tribute album (1995 – as E);"Souljacker part I" single (2001)	3:20
5.	"Rotten World Blues"		Rotten World Blues EP (2001)	2:45
6.	"Can't Help Falling in Love" (Elvis Presley cover)	Luigi Creatore, Hugo Peretti, and George David Weiss	"Souljacker part I" single	2:08
7.	"Christmas Is Going to the Dogs"		How the Grinch Stole Christmas soundtrack (2000)	2:58
8.	"Mighty Fine Blues"		Holes soundtrack (2003)	3:26
9.	"Eyes Down"		Holes soundtrack	3:32
10.	"Skywriting"		Levity soundtrack (2003)	2:07
11.	"Taking a Bath in Rust"		Levity soundtrack	2:28
12.	"Estranged Friends"	E and Koool G Murder	Previously unreleased	3:21
13.	"Her"		"Saturday Morning" single (2003)	2:48
14.	"Waltz of the Naked Clowns"		"Saturday Morning" single	2:47
15.	"I Like Birds" (Live)		Previously unreleased	2:36
16.	"Sad Foot Sign"		"Saturday Morning" single	2:19
17.	"Living Life" (Daniel Johnston cover)	Daniel Johnston	The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered tribute (2004)	2:49
18.	"The Bright Side"	Peter Buck and E	"Hey Man (Now You're Really Living)" single (2005)	3:42
19.	"After the Operation"		"Hey Man (Now You're Really Living)" single	1:55
20.	"Jelly Dancers" (Bruce Haack and Esther Nelson cover)	Haack and Nelson	Dimension Mix compilation (2005)	4:38
21.	"I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" (Live at Town Hall; Prince cover)	Prince	Eels with Strings: Live at Town Hall (2006) [iTunes exclusive]	3:37
22.	"Mr. E's Beautiful Blues" (Live at Town Hall)	E and Simpson	Eels with Strings: Live at Town Hall (iTunes exclusive)	3:04
23.	"I Want to Protect You"		Non-album single (2006)	3:09
24.	"I Put a Spell on You" (Live; Screamin' Jay Hawkins cover)	Hawkins	Previously unreleased	2:21
25.	"Saw a UFO"		Previously unreleased	4:37
Total length:				76:19

DVD

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Saturday Morning"
2.	"Eyes Down"
3.	"My Beloved Monster"
4.	"From Which I Came/A Magic World"
5.	"Not Ready Yet"
6.	"Souljacker, part I"

Advertisement controversy

Eels attempted to run a one-second edit of their seven-second ad during the television broadcast of the 2008 Super Bowl to promote Useless Trinkets, but were denied by the National Football League.

Lead singer E reported: "In the end we were told that the NFL would have to find 29 other advertisers to buy 1 second spots to fill a standard 30 second advertising slot and that they do not sell advertising time by the second. They also noted that a rapid fire 30 second segment of thirty 1 second commercials could cause people with certain medical conditions to have seizures and that it was against network regulations."

External links

• Eels page on the compilations