Souljacker

by

Eels

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Well here it goes. No Eels album could ever top Electro-shock Blues. It's just not possible. The sincerity that E, the lead singer, shows in every song on that album is amazing and you can almost feel his pain since he wrote the majority of the album while coping with the death of his mother from cancer and sister from suicide. As the second follow-up, Souljacker disappoints. Many of the songs on this disc are beautifully written ie. "Fresh Feeling", "Friendly Ghost", and "Busstop Boxer", while others especially "Dog-Faced Boy" and "That's Not Really Funny" are a bit abrasive. Most Eels fans are not used to E screaming at the top of his lungs and the rest of the band simply rocking out, however, this is precisely what they do throughout half of this album.

If you are a casual Eels fan I suggest picking up either Electro-Shock Blues or Daises of the Galaxy. Although this is a good CD, it is definitely not one of their best.

This the latest album from Eels sees a major departure in sound from their last glorious album proper 'Daisies Of The Galaxy'.This album is far louder,rockier and far less melodic.The wonderfully strange lyrics still exist and each song tells great stories and is packed with interesting characters.One of the excellent parts to this album is the critique written on the inside by a close confidante of the group.It explains much of how the new sound of this album has evolved and it's an excellent touch.

The last album was quite a melancholic affair-many of the songs had a ballady feel to them and they were augmented by glorious string arrangements.This really doesn't happen much on this album except for the best song on the album "Fresh Feeling" and even then the string arrangement on this song is a sample taken from 'Selective Memory'-which of course features on Daisies...The song is quite incredible though and despite having hints of Beck,the rumbling drum machine,strong bass line and E's best vocals make this song one of the best Eel's songs I've heard.This one song though is not enough for me to cover up for this albums lack of melody.Maybe I'm being unfair as it's very difficult for them to match their last point of reference which was that magnificent last album.But as soon as you hear the first chords on this album you'll know what I mean.It's a very heavy rock sound-the shock is almost like listening to the R.E.M. sound when they came out with Monster.It's an agressive almost ugly sound,which maybe is in keeping with the songs lyrical content.This album though is the loudest yet from Eels.The second song has hints of that fuzzyguitar joining a very strong bassline an almost Latino brass section and a rhythm section of marvellous variety.The next few songs are the most familiar for Eels fans-the aforementioned Fresh Feeling and track 4 'Woman Driving ,Man Sleeping'.It's the sort of song that nobody does better then Eels.A simple riff on acousitc guitar-precious few effects but it's melody doesn't need any tampering with-as usual it's the songs strongest asset.

Souljacker the title track appears in two parts on this album.It's in my opinion a very good song.A sixties style bassline hooks in with E's singing-then the guitars kick in and the whole sound becomes very unfamiliar to anything I've heard from this group.It's best illustrated when E. roars "ROCK!"-cos that's what this song does.It's as heavy as anything you'd hear now a days.Lyrically the next few songs tell stories of friendly ghosts,teenage witches and an amazingly sad story of a boy in the song Jungle Telegraph.None of these songs are particularly laden with catchy hooks.Teenage Witch has a funky fuzzy bass and distorted vocals.Jungle Telegraph is another album highlight-the song drifts from one sound to the other as frequently as the story of this boy's lfe moves from one scene to another-maracas,crazy jungle rhythms,Beck like beatbox-various guitar effects-from fifties rockabilly to 21st century distortion and lots of synth interludes.It's a song that becomes as infectious as it's crazy rhythmic patterns.

The final three songs are the weakest on the album-track 10 is a very lowkey depressing slow song.Many of these songs tell stories of various really depressing childhoods-this song is no exception.It is a very quiet affair-with a few synth sounds that remind me of that White Town hit a few years ago.Just to be sure that we know Eels are heading in a new direction the last song is another sonic noise fest-but once again despite repeated listenings I just can't get into this.

So this is not my favourite Eels album-in fact it's my least favourite of the four.I seem to be alone in this opinion as almost every review I've read has been very positive.It is very interesting and they're not sitting back and being lazy about their sound-I just think it could do with a few more decent melodies.Still though an average album from Eels is usually well above anything your average band can produce-and in this Souljacker is no exception.