Honestly, I’m glad that the melancholy and platitudes fueled concept trilogy of “Hombre Lobo” (2009), “End Times” (2010) and “Tomorrow Morning” (2010) it’s closed and hopefully Mark Oliver Everett, better known as E. Other, moved over. Those country-blues flavored, mostly boring and tasteless, self-pity ballads, frankly, were a great disappointment. Sentiments? Well, I have sympathy for those stories of desire, loss, and redemption, but can not shed a tear. Got my own s*it to bear. And nobody shed a tear for me, not even giving a s*it.
I also can understand that there will be no more “Novocaine for the Soul” like, charming, energy full, indie rock anthems, but a little bit of life in some of the songs, here and there, still would be nice to hear.
And “Wonderful, Glorious” it’s at least a return to the sound and style of “Souljacker” (2001) and “Shootenanny!” (2003). We’ve got a couple of sensitive slow takes, a strange mixture of Cat Stevens with Tom Waits, but wearing the undeniable touch and taste of E. Other. On the other hand, we’ve got a few noisier, grungy, indie rock tracks as well. Some of them (“Open My Present” for instance) also reminding me of Tom Waits, eventually mixed with Tom Petty.
Good sign anyway is that the leading single it’s the heavily pounding “Peach Blossom” and not some of the depression bringer ballad.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vS_By_ZZ0g]
“Bombs Away”, “Kinda Fuzzy”, “Peach Blossom”, “New Alphabet”, “Stick Together”, “Open My Present”, “You’re My Friend” are the upper-beat tracks, the ones I prefer, the ones that makes you wanna live another day. Although, the irony and bitterness it’s present throughout. Still not really moved by the slow ones. I’m an asshole, I know!
So, this is a classy, fair, well balanced Eels album, something I actually was waiting for almost 10 years.
Tracklist:
01 – Bombs Away
02 – Kinda Fuzzy
03 – Accident Prone
04 – Peach Blossom
05 – On The Ropes
06 – The Turnaround
07 – New Alphabet
08 – Stick Together
09 – True Original
10 – Open My Present
11 – You’re My Friend
12 – I Am Building A Shrine
13 – Wonderful, Glorious
E – vocals, guitar, production
The Chet – guitar
Knuckles – drums
Koool G Murder – bass guitar
P-Boo – guitar
Eels – Official Site
Eels @ Facebook
Eels @ YouTube
Eels @ MySpace
Eels @ Twitter
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2yy141q8HQ&w=545&h=409]
