|
Souljacker Eels Polygram, 2001
Buy it online
Reviewed
by
|
Following the Daisies of the Galaxy sessions, Eels leader, "E," (Mark Oliver Everette), threatened to deliver a more hard-hitting rock project next time around. The resultant Souljacker demonstrates that the man means what he says, exploding into a frequently enraged collection of rockers with the rancorous opener, "Dog Faced Boy." Make no mistake: there are no "Daisies" here. With the exception of a few familiarly saccharine tunes such as "Fresh Feeling" and the sprightly "Friendly Ghost," Souljacker leaves nothing to the imagination -- this is a rock album. "Welcome, friends, to the hardest rocking substance known to man: Souljacker," writes DJ Killingspree in the album's notes. None of the band's previous three projects foreshadowed the direction in which Souljacker jettisons. That seems to be the way "E" and fellow Eels mastermind, "Butch," like it -- unpredictable, brazen, new. Stubbornly pledging their faith to their second album, the dour but brilliant Electro-Shock Blues, Eels almost lost their deal with the discouraged Dreamworks Records. Rock critics made a field day of comparisons between Electro-Shock Blues and Lou Reed's Berlin or Leonard Cohen's Songs of Love and Hate as one of the most depressing albums of all time. While "E's" writing exhibits little similarity to that of the lyrical sophistication of a Leonard Cohen song, heartbreakers like "Climbing up to the Moon" and "Dead of Winter" could wring tears from the eyes of the dead. Indeed, the album's unrelenting, autobiographical vignettes of "E's" suicidal sister and cancer-plagued mother prompted the band's manager to quit before its release. It's a damned miserable album, but it is no wonder that "E" stuck to his guns, as Electro-Shock Blues reveals a band at the zenith of its creative powers. As though to ameliorate the wound of sorrow Electro-Shock Blues excavated, 1999's Daisies of the Galaxy was, comparatively, a kitten. While masterpieces of pathos such as the album's title track and "Something is Sacred" revisited the ghosts of past despondency -- "Taking a walk down to the mall/Smelling piss and beer and gas/that could be me in a couple years/Suckin' fumes under the highway pass/On a rainy day" -- the delectably playful "I Like Birds" and the hidden-track-single, "Mr. E's Beautiful Blues," gazed upon a far brighter dawn. Dawn, dusk or day, Souljacker is mad as hell. Despite the London Times' crowning of Souljacker as "Album of the Year," this sudden turn towards the bellicose often alienates the merits of past albums, instead peering into newer territory. Souljacker almost totally neglects the accessibility and poignancy accomplished on Electro-Shock Blues and Daisies of the Galaxy. However, after three albums of such material, perhaps the soil from which those gems sprung has been left about as fertile as a sidewalk. Now, Eels are out to prove: they can rock, too. Past tunes such as "Cancer for the Cure," "Not Ready Yet" and "Novocaine for the Soul" -- the only Eels single to see success on American shores -- demonstrated an aptitude for musical grit, but nothing quite as cantankerous as Souljacker's "What is This Note." They are the songs after which Souljacker pastes a fat exclamation point. The grizzly "Souljacker Pt. I" rocks the bones, "Dog Faced Boy" is as raw as its title, and "What is This Note," the album's coda, is appropriately feral. One element that remains unaltered, though, is "E's" songwriting, as weary as ever of the current onslaught of mawkish ballads and doggerel sold as authenticity. Lines like "in this world of shit/baby you are it" offer a refreshing retreat from the bubble-gum pop saturating FM radio and Grammy nominee lists. "E" never purports to be more than he is: a nostalgic, forlorn and occasionally bitter teenager at heart. Thus, critics who deride "E's" writing as diary entries miss the point. "E's" songs are direct and tastefully restrained, never as overwritten, tactless or pretentious as the lot of contemporary material. This is a guarantee that few artists offer today, and a good reason why new albums by artists in their sixth decade -- Bob Dylan's Love and Theft and Leonard Cohen's Ten New Songs, for instance - -post international sales of gold and platinum. "E's" writing offers that same relief, but from the opposite end of the spectrum: Watching the movie He sings with his dusty voice as the jangling, languid guitar licks and coy percussion wane to a stirring hush. This formula -- touchingly pathetic narratives adorned by a musical backdrop delicate enough to snap in a breeze -- establishes Eels as one of modern music's most authentic acts. Despite the atmospheric majesty of "Woman
Driving, Man Sleeping" and "Bus Stop Boxer," Souljacker
marks a departure from more affecting material delivered
by previous collections. Taken as a whole, however, the Eels
oeuvre, now with four albums and the hard-to-find live
collection, Oh, What a Beautiful Morning, to its
credit, comprises a musical statement of reputable
coherence, honesty and emotional urgency. | February
2002 |
Tracks |
|
|
 |
|
