A Day Late and a Dollar Short with Eels

I didn't want to like this album.  I feel that it's my duty to forsake all new music. Is that close minded?  You bet your ass.  Is it a safe bet?  Hells yea.  So, when I was awake well past my bedtime to see the fine folks of Trailer Park Boys on Jimmy Kimel Live, who should be the musical guest?  Non other than Eels, playing a ball-stomping track from their latest effort - Hombre Lobo.  I was slack-jawed.  Musically, it wasn't great, and the lyrics were better than passable, but, there was a Something that stuck with me.  When I woke the next morning, I checked the ever faithful Youtube to see if maybe the Cold Medicine and the weed were playing tricks with my good Reason.  The cold medicine and the weed played no part in my decision to like Eels new album.  There was Something there.

Hombre Lobo could be a classic case of Boy meets Girl - Boy swoons over Girl - Girl ignores all advances from Boy.  Sweet Georgia Brown(!), it's like high school all over again.  At any rate, our boy, E (Mark Oliver Everett), comes out swinging to woo Miss Right.  There is a construction worker Wolf call that begins track 1 - Prizefighter that rattles the filling in my teeth.  Every time.  This approach proves to be a bit "I wanna be your buddy" ambitious, with pick-up lyrics such as, "just give me a call / I'm a go-all-nighter / I'm a Prizefighter".  And then there's more Howling. 

Track 2 - The Look You Give That Guy - Leans more toward the borderline Pitiful side.  Almost whiny and needy.  Emotions are weird that-a-way.  Love makes you do some fucked up shit sometimes.  Like beg and plead for attention.

Moving right along, after E begs and pleads for a few more tracks (In My Dreams is an especially beautiful piece) he decides to go another way in his quest for love's Brass Ring.  Full-frontal badassary.  Tremendous Dynamite is what you want to hear when you demolition your shitty kitchen or bathroom.  It's what you want when you drive your car into the driver's side quarter panel of the douche that's pulled up too far in front of the "Stop Here on Red" white line.  It's what you want when your teeth grind on Alumnium Foil.  This is the track that sold me.  And, how could you not be sold with lyrics such as, "..being the Bomb is her birthright."  What woman wouldn't go for those kind of loving words?  Eat it, Shakespere.

But, even full-frontal Badassary can't fill E's arms with his Love.  And he weeps about it in The Longing.  4:24 worth of self-pity and whine-fests.  Sorry E, I don't speak Whinese.  Dig the food though. 

The album goes on and on with this roller coaster of emotion spilled out for all to experiance and read.  So do yourself a favor, treat Hombre Lobo like a garden. 

Dig it.

Comments

[Erica]

Nice! Going to pick it up today.

[steff]

i cant wait to listen to this album. it and the rest of the eels catalogue has been on my ipod for months but i havent gotten to listening yet. ive liked most everything ive heard of theirs over the years but i must admit i am mostly an eels newb. thanks for this!

[Andrew]

As long as it's better than "Blinking Lights", I'll probably be happy with it.