As with the band's previous albums, Souljacker bristles with pop euphoria and cracking production, and proves Eels' frontman, E, to be a superb songwriter, but just like those previous albums, Souljacker ultimately falls a bit flat over the course of its extended running time. Album opener "Dog Faced Boy" exemplifies the weaker half of the album's 12 tracks. Though it's a decent punk glam take on T-Rex dynamics, it doesn't exactly beg for repeat listens like the album's better half. "That's Not Really Funny," "Woman Driving, Man Sleeping," "Fresh Feeling," "Friendly Ghost," and "What Is This Note?" are as strong as any songs in the band's back catalog. On these songs, lush strings, found sounds, children's toys, spy themes, surf music, elaborate piano segments, and fuzzy harmonicas mingle in the band's trademark, innovative way. Easily besting almost anything in Beck's quirky bag of songs, these songs display the charm, polish, and sincerity of E's original vision. Sadly, there's too much skronking punk-pop noise in the remaining songs that serves to drag the album down. This limited-edition release adds a bonus disc of four songs, one of them superb, two of them downright horrible, and one of them a useless remix. Only "I Write the B-Sides" warrants seeking out the limited edition. Its opening lines show E at his most poignant and wise, as he sings "I write the B-sides that make a small portion of the world cry/I like the seaside and singing songs that make you not want to die." Punchy, exuberant, and smart, the song would have made perfect sense on Souljacker in place of the somewhat mindless filler that permeates its cracks. Souljacker is certainly a welcome addition to any fans Eels collection, but due to its weaker batch of tracks, it's hard to recommend it to newcomers.
DO YOU LIKE ROCK MUSIC?
by DJ Killingspree
WHEN I FIRST VENTURED FORTH INTO MY CAREER IN RAP MUSIC, I was looking for a type of sound that personified the urban experience: the blood, the sweat, nay, the stink, if you will, of this "hood" we call AMERICA.
I never found it.
A decade later this new sound, this encyclopedia of love, God, Satan, pain and heartbreak - this Magna Carta of rock, at last surfaces. You're holding it now.
Welcome, friend, to the hardest rocking substance known to man: SOULJACKER.
EELS ARE NOT NEW TO ROCKING YOUR WORLD. Hell, they've been around since the 1900's. You dug BEAUTIFUL FREAK, you grooved to ELECTRO-SHOCK BLUES, and DAISIES OF THE GALAXY blew your collective minds. Here's the new sound from EELS - SOULJACKER. And this shit, y'all, this shit is Biblical.
At first listen, SOULJACKER purports to rock you and leave it at that. As if that's not enough in these times of corporate-video-product-tie-in-acceptable-to-the-mall-crowd "rock". Yeah, just rockin' it would be more than enough!
But listen again: E, Butch, and a funky Englishman named John Parish, come together to blow hard - HARD like a mystical trumpet playing from a hard rockin' land. HARD like a rock baking in the desert sun. HARD like the heart of a teenager stuck in Nowheresville.
JOHN PARISH, A PROPER Englishman that knows how to rock, met EELS leader E at a taping of the British television program "Top of the Pops." The two continued to meet up whenever they were in the same town and a mutual love of croquet and rock led to the making of much of the record you now hold in your hand. A relationship that literally started at the "Top of the Pops" certainly holds promise, don't you think?
It's been a lifelong dream of the boys to have Koool G Murder involved in a project. This dream finally becomes reality with this release: Mr. Murder rocks the bass and keys on several SOULJACKER tracks. Legendary guitarist Joe Gore pops up on the haunting BUS STOP BOXER as well as the celebratory WHAT IS THIS NOTE? And isn't that old bass playing pal Adam I hear on SOULJACKER part I?
D'wight Devil programs some crazy shit that will have the kids lining up at the record store for weeks to come. Drummer Butch, known to many as nothing less than the greatest drummer alive, kicks his usual ass.
They all played maracas.
And then there is singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist E (aka Mark Oliver Everett). What is he all about? He has been called many things. One message board poster calls him the "Godfather to all the babyfreaks with broken hearts." Ask E himself for the answer and he'll shrug and say simply, "I like to rock."
THIS PLATTER IS PEPPERED with interesting characters: ghosts, witches, hairy boys, driving women and sleeping men. They are the people of these streets we live on. And they each have a story.
Check out JUNGLE TELEGRAPH. In just under 3 minutes and forty seconds we hear the story of a man who was born during a terrible storm, grows up to be a teenage prostitute, kills a man in self defense and flees to the jungles of Africa to live out his days in a tree. Is it just me, or is something heavy going on here?
And, hey, THAT'S NOT REALLY FUNNY - is funny. How the hell did they do that?
Have you heard FRESH FEELING? Man, I love that shit. That's a string sample from SELECTIVE MEMORY, off of DAISIES OF THE GALAXY that you hear. This isn't the first time EELS have sampled themselves. Back in '98 they freaked me out when they used the backing track for their old song DOG'S LIFE - played backwards - and turned it into a new song forward, called EFIL'S GOD (from ELECTRO-SHOCK BLUES).
This kind of thing goes on all the time now, but I want to go on record and give EELS their due props. People been bitin' their style for a long time and that's fine. But show them some respect and they will continue to drop some serious science on your heads.
How about BUS STOP BOXER? Not for the faint of heart, indeed.
And then there's a little number called, SOULJACKER part I. Warning: remove all sharp objects in the room before putting this one on, it leans toward the rock end of the spectrum!
And, ladies, don't worry. There are some tender moments here as well. Check out E telling his lady how happy she makes him in WHAT IS THIS NOTE?, WORLD OF SHIT, and of course, FRESH FEELING. You'd better bring a hanky to this party!
WHEN IT'S ALL OVER, I'm spent. I turn off the stereo and sit down on the couch. I don't have much energy, but there is one thing left that I need to do: thank these EELS.
Thank you, EELS. Thanks for rocking my motherfucking world.
DJ Killingspree
Brooklyn, NY,
May, 2001