Eels - Souljacker [Bonus Disc]

If irony could be traded like currency, Eels singer-songwriter E would be a wealthy man. As it is, his remarkable ability to filter out the mundane and focus on the fringes, where the really interesting cats dwell, guarantees he'll always have a career but will never be a household name. On Souljacker, E and the gang frame a motley assortment of characters with the sonic equivalent of a doodle pad--all random squiggles, free-floating words and phrases, disembodied hearts, and unblinking eyes. As such, unlikely bedfellows--"Dog Faced Boy," "Friendly Ghost," "Bus Stop Boxer," "Woman Driving, Man Sleeping"--are bundled in a patchwork quilt of guitars, bass, drums, organ grinder-style synth, and quite possibly a toy piano and percussion. The unabashedly goo-goo-eyed ballad "Fresh Feeling" launches with a swell of strings, just to underscore how dreamy our protagonist feels, and the spastic instrumental twitches on "That's Not Really Funny" counter the song's title, while doubling as one of the few elements able to snap E's voice out of its vaguely narcoleptic drone. Ruggedly individual and wickedly catchy (not to mention more upbeat than the two death-obsessed albums preceding it), Souljacker cements E's position as patron saint to the weird-and-weary-but-still-hopeful. --Kim Hughes Amazon.com

Raw & Penetrating!

This album borders between comical lucidity and delusionary discourse. E's writing has a style of its own, with a cynical wisdom that can penetrate your soul. Soul Jacker digs into the shadows and brings to light a series of songs that are sexy and provocative.
Some highlights: Woman Driving Man Sleeping (Excellent!), Friendly Ghost (Fav), Bus Stop Boxer
Some songs like That's Not Really Funny, World of S#it, and Jungle Telegraph are lush with experimentalism -- concoctions of overlapping sounds and quirky instrumentation that reveal a certain creative genius, something we've come to expect from the songwriter called E.

A few of the songs veer into tedium (Teenage Witch, Soul Jacker partII ), but not at the expense of an innovation that sets E's work apart from the masses.

A worthy addition to the Eels discography and must buy for his fans. January 19, 2008

Ecclectic fun, with glimpses of greatness

I came late to the Eels via, I'm embarrassed to say, the Scrubs soundtrack CD. This is a quirky, multi-influenced (and, it seems, multi-influencing) CD. I hear in A.D. 2006 Jack White's riffs referencing E.'s 2001 resurrection of fuzzed guitar, which in turn references the long-gone MC5 ("Teenage Witch"). Which is what you get when you've lived too long. It makes the liner-notes especially irritating: "And ladies, don't worry. There are some tender moments her as well...Check out E telling his lady how happy she makes him in "What's This Note?", "World of Sh**" and of course, "Fresh Feeling". Better bring your hankie!" Jeez. And all the more so since these are fantastic songs!

Who is this guy? (I don't mean to liner-note writer. I mean E.). "If you're scared to die/ you better not be scared to live", he writes in "Friendly Ghost". Eels recordings are peopled with characters caught between the crappy place they've been and the crap they're in now--and that goes for their love songs as well. In the gorgeous "Woman Driving, Man Sleeping", two people ride in the dark, the woman holding a crumpled map in her lap, the man dreaming of knocking on closed doors--a gentle and unexpected metaphor.

Eels get Yardbirds-happy (or at least pseudo-Delta) in the fantastic "Jungle Telegraph"--and you almost expect Paul Butterfield's train to come arollin' through the glitzy, distorted vocals. "Send me some lovin'!" Indeed. It's still on the A-list. Because though at times it's self-indulgent, other times spare and lovely, E. and the Eels' Souljacker is, in the end, just plain fun. Who else would synthesize a Mediterranean horn in reedy counterpoint over a tune called, "World of Sh**"? Come on!

Bonus disc includes the precious and cheerfully depressing "Rotten World Blues". Good fun for all!
November 17, 2007

Crazy sweet.

Souljacker is a great addition to anyone's CD collection. The CD starts out with an interesting sound that seems as though it's gonna be a hard-rockin cd. Dog faced boy has some catchy guitar rifs, but the Eels really flex their odd flavor in the more mellow songs such as woman driving, man sleeping, which has an excellent acoustic soud. The best song on the album by far though is Bus Stop Boxer. The lyrics are just amazingly writen and composed. Highly recomend this cd to anyone who's looking for something great that is different from any other cd's. November 11, 2004

Great Listen

Maybe a product of past critical success and some great albums, but reading reviews here, seems E is suffering from some very exacting expectations. By any standards this is a great album. Forget the lyrics (which are nothing if not unique, interesting), there are some really great melodies here. "Fresh Feeling" is the stand-out track. April 14, 2004

Poor effort

I thought Mark Everett could do no wrong...until I heard this album. Souljacker embodies everything that is wrong with 90% of all "independent" music these days--all hype and no content. If you fancy yourself a "hipster" (yes you with the trucker hat and thrift store wardrobe) who base their music purchases solely on the amount of hype surrounding a particular artist, then this is right up your alley. For those of you who can actually tell the difference between art and commercialism, don't waste your money. Sorry Mark, but Beautiful Freak this ain't. April 5, 2004

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