EELS Pt 2

SHOOTENANNY:

E's rock phase must be over, at least for now. Here, he returns to the sound of DAISES but without sounding like a retread. Sure, it's a step down from SOULJACKER, but you can only top yourself so often. This is still a passionate record and with sublime closer "Somebody Loves You," you really can't go too wrong. Absolutely gorgeous.



BLINKING LIGHTS AND OTHER RELEVATIONS:

"Old Shit/New Shit" pretty much says it all, doesn't it? More or less par for the course with subtle variations. This also demonstrates what I dread about double albums. I think this might be some sort of concept album, but the man called E treads familiar ground too often to sustain interest the whole way through. Which is a shame, because as usual, he is very, very good at what he does. Trimmed down, it would've worked a lot better. Even if it had been split into two separate albums, it might be more digestible. Still, this was my first time listening to it, so perhaps if I lived with it a while, I'd appreciate it more.



USELESS TRINKETS:

Dear faithful reader, I tried listening to this, I truly did. Mostly of the sake of keeping this blog entry too short. But I couldn't get into it, and stopped five tracks in. Maybe it lives up to the title, maybe I just really didn't want to listen to it. Que sera sera.



HOMBRE LOBO: 12 SONGS OF DESIRE:

Wow, the man called E really has nothing left in his bag of tricks, does he? Not that this is a bad album. Far from it. It just doesn't do much to distinguish itself from or recommend itself over any other Eels album. Yet it's impossible not to enjoy listening to it. Keep on trucking, E.



FINAL THOUGHTS:

I don't know why Eels aren't bigger than they are. I don't know, maybe they're bigger than I think they are. Either way, they've proven they're in it for the long haul. May the man called E continue to provide quality releases for years to come.