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However, in the case of Shootenanny! my first impression is that it is a masterpiece to rank alongside Beautiful Freak and Electro-Shock Blues (an album which the Melody Maker derided as unlistenable and then promptly and amusingly went bust). The subject matter of the new album still relates and appeals to the outsider in society, but the music reverts to the melodic pop/rock of Beautiful Freak.
A melancholic, bluesy influence is apparent in the tracks All In A Day’s Work, Agony and Restraining Order Blues, with its repeated plea, "Everybody knows that I'm not a violent man", contrasting with the touching poignancy of the most beautifully realised song on the album, Numbered Days (the equivalent, if you like, to Manchild on Beautiful Freak).
As for Saturday Morning, E has not created a more wide-eyed, childlike, magical vision of the world since Tomorrow I'll Be Nine on his solo album Broken Toy Shop. The Good Old Days is another throwback to E's solo material, exhibiting a gentle world-weariness, while the laid-back, funky Love Of The Loveless is the album's summer anthem. The dry humour which pervades the album is probably best exemplified by Fashion Awards, a satire on the fashion industry.
From the muso's point of view (and skip to the end of the paragraph if this is likely to bore you to death), Rock Hard Times is the most interesting track on the album. The descending bass line which provides the basis for the chorus is first played in the key of B-flat, and later in F, C and G. I don't know if there is a precedent for a song in which the chorus is stated on separate occasions in four different keys (something by Frank Zappa maybe?), but it's undoubtedly a striking innovation.
The final track, Somebody Loves You, is the happiest, most optimistic closing song on any Eels album to date, and its understated, downbeat last few bars constitute probably the most perfect ending to any album I have ever heard.
Only the uninitiated would deny that E has a serious claim to being the greatest singer-songwriter of his generation. In my mind, Shootenanny! is the album which cements this claim, and an album which is unlikely to be surpassed as the best of the year 2003. It is difficult to choose standout tracks, but the songs which I rate most highly are Saturday Morning, Agony, Rock Hard Times, Numbered Days and Somebody Loves You.
In short, it's a great time to be an Eel.
While it is true that the previous 4 albums were always going to be a hard act to follow, Eel's 5th album shouldn't be condemned as simply a taster for the (admittedly magnificent) Blinking Lights.
Opening track "All In A Day's Work" displays E's black humour at it's best, while "Saturday Morning", as another reviewer pointed out already, should evoke fond memories for any of us who recall what it was like to be a kid waking up at the start of the weekend wondering what havoc we could cause that day-I could even claim that listening to it has made me more forgiving of my own kids when they run riot through my flat of a Saturday afternoon. Indeed, to me at least, it is this ability to write poignantly on any subject from childhood experience to the (rather more dark) material of "Restraining Order Blues" which marks Mark "E" Everett out as one of the finest songwriters of this generation(along with the wonderful Ian McNabb-but that's another story...)
But this is not a "bleak" album in the way that say, "Electro-Shock Blues" was, although still a fine work in itself maybe not the best "starting point" for the curious first-time Eel's purchaser? Admittedly I am too sentimental for my own good but the two songs which make this album for me are the glorious "Numbered Days" and to a slightly lesser extent the closer "Somebody Loves You". If these songs don't fail to melt the hardest heart or bring solace to anybody who(like most of us)has had a hard time either generally or from the dreaded "affairs of the heart" then there really is no hope for you(and I speak as a cynic).
Much is made(quite rightly) of the fact that E is a talented multi-instrumentalist, but what makes this album for me is his voice-certainly not classically beautiful by any means but the sheer empathy, humanity and world-weariness he feels really comes through on Shootenanny!-indeed there are few better commentators on the human condition in the world of music at the moment.
In conclusion, if you've never bought an Eels album before, then you won't go wrong with any of them but please don't let yourself be put off "Shootenanny!" as some sort of "Second-Rate" Eels product-it stands up on it's own and is well worth your consideration.
This album is definitely an improvement on the spiky, mixed bag that was Souljacker. It has some of the catchiest tunes I've ever heard from The Eels (Saturday Morning, Dirty Girl and Lone Wolf being highlights) which are interspersed with beautiful, meaningful melodies such as Somebody Loves You and The Good Old Days. My favourite? Agony, which is one of the most haunting, interesting songs I've heard in a long while.
Why The Eels are not massively popular in the UK where you would surely expect their black humour to appeal is a mystery to me. However, maybe its a good thing as their intimate gigs are a real hidden treasure.
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