#112

Heard it on the radio today. First few seconds - hmmm maybe, but from then no it really didn’t do it for me at all.

I used to be a huge Eels fan - except for Shootenanny which was rubbish, their albums up to and including Blinking Lights are all amazing. Each feels like a completely different sound - whether it be the almost unbearable sadness of Electro-shock Blues (my favourite), the almost child-like ‘recovery’ album Daisies…, or the straightforward but awesome rock album of Souljacker… Or even the curveball MC Honky album which was enjoyably daft.

Post Blinking Lights there are songs that I like, but none of the albums have really left much of an impression on me despite putting in quite a bit of effort into each one. (Except the last one which ironically was probably the best of the latter-bunch). They all pretty much blend into another in my memory.

I think for a real return-to-form, Eels would need to do something completely different to what’s come before rather than cranking out more of the same. So far this new song doesn’t fill me with much hope but I really, really want the album to be good.

Electro-shock blues remains one of my favourite ever albums.

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#113

Shootenanny is great!

I think the main issue (and I’m sure I’ve mentioned it a load of times on this thread in the past) is most of the albums since Hombre Lobo have been the same one-paced maudlin tone. I can’t really see him changing things up after 25 years anyway (does any artist really change things up completely after 25 years?)

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#114

Agreed with pretty much everything here, including the sign-of-things-to-come misstep of Shootenanny. (Love of the Loveless was good though)
When you include his live shows it felt like with each album he was coming back as a different ‘character’ with a different conceptual backdrop etc. It’s really been lost.

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#115

It’s a fair point, but to take the example of one of his heroes Tom Waits I guess? Those late 90s/early noughties albums were pretty distinctive

#116

There is a big difference between 70s/80s Tom Waits yeah, though I think the difference between stuff like Rain Dogs and Mule Variations/Real Gone is less pronounced (or at least not as big a jump). Maybe E could just do a second autobiography instead?!

#117

I also agree with everything here (especially the electroshock/Daisies/MCHonky love, and also really quite liking his last album). I don’t dislike Shootenanny, as it does have a few really good songs on it, but maybe it doesn’t fully work as a whole and it’s never one that I return to. I might give it another listen today though.

#118

I also used to love going to Eels gigs too. He is such a great live performer, even now, but I’m less interested in his more rocky live line-up, which seems to be have been going on for a long while now. Would love a return to Eels With Strings or Horns or something next time. I loved the Daisies your so much, and the live album of that tour too. Beautiful stuff.

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#119

Agony is great as well.

#120

Shootenanny is a weird one imho - felt very slight when it came out, but then finding out a few years later that it was made as a break from working on Blinking Lights made it make loads more sense to me.

Not listened to it years either way. Might do later and see what I think.

#121

Shootennany is one of my favourites. I think he went for a more polished, bit more commercially sounding record, but I’m surprised it grates that much…? The first four tracks are really good. Its him going straight at his radio friendly soft rock roots. That might not be what a lot of fans came for but it’s in his sound all the way through.

Hombre Lobo’s underrated in my book and is 4/5s of a good album. The Cautionary Tales is a better fist of a breakup record than End Times. Outside of those two there’s a lot of hit-and-miss going on post Blinking Lights.

The Deconstruction sounded to me like even though he had taken a break of a few years and tried living instead of being an artist… he was facing a brick wall artistically. So not optimistic and this is just ok.

I could easily see him recording something brilliant as an old man staring down at the grave ala Warren Zevon.

4 Likes
#122

I do have a soft spot for Hombre Lobo. It initially sounded a bit throwaway following the big gap after Blinking Lights but it grew on me a lot.

I definitely need to give Shootenanny a listen. It’s a massive blind spot in his discography for me.

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#123
#124

Not a big fan of the cover art. Kind of surprising as the singles , tee shirt all seemed to be the same theme from the same artist, then the album cover is the outlier. Would be cool if the cover reflected the music and this was some kind of new horror/ cramps vibe . But from the singles that doesn’t seem to be the case.

#125

Maybe it’s all inspired by his Saturday Morning B-side Waltz of the Naked Clowns

#126

In other news I’m listening to MC Honky for the first time and I like it

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#127

I do like the new single, better than the previous 2 , that weren’t bad ,just very Eels by the numbers. Hopefully the album is more like Will it be alright again.

#128

Ok had so much fun doing my Weezer album ranking so thought I’d give another band who coincidentally also have 13 albums.

Blinking Lights
Souljacker
Tomorrow Morning
Shootenanny
Electro Shock
Beautiful Freak
Earth to Dora
Hombre Lobo
Daiseys
Wonderful Glorious
The Deconstruction
End Times
Cautionary Tales

One thing I will say about Eels, all though alot of same old ,same old in the more recent albums. Every album had atleast one or two songs I would put on the best of.

#129

Solo records in brackets:

Electro-Shock Blues
Daisies of the Galaxy
Blinking Lights
Beautiful Freak
Shootenanny!
Souljacker
(A Man Called E)
Cautionary Tales
Hombre Lobo
Tomorrow Morning
End Times
(Broken Toy Shop)
(Levity OST)
Wonderful, Glorious
Earth To Dora
(Bad Dude In Love)
The Deconstruction

#130

Never heard bad dude in love, but assuming you really do not like The Deconstruction to rank it lower.

#131

Bad Dude In Love is meant to be the holy grail due to the rarity factor, but not an amazing record by any stretch. The Deconstruction’s title track was cool, but the rest was a massive let down off the back of it; it’s the only one where it genuinely fell a long way short of any expectations I had going into the record.