Audio CD review:
Eels - Shootenanny!

Eels - Shootenanny!

Band: Eels Title: Shootenanny! Rating: Release Date: 03 June, 2003 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: All in a Day's Work 2: Saturday Morning 3: The Good Old Days 4: Love of the Loveless 5: Dirty Girl 6: Agony 7: Rock Hard Times 8: Restraining Order Blues 9: Lone Wolf 10: Wrong About Bobby 11: Numbered Days 12: Fashion Awards 13: Somebody Loves You

Editoral Review Unlike solemn 1996 epic Electro-Shock Blues and 2001’s thorny Souljacker, E's songwriting here puts the emphasis on light melodies and clean pop craft. Head Eel Mark "E" Everett purges his soul with a smile on Shootenanny!, as he delivers bursts of bittersweet wit and lighthearted drama. While his limber genre-jumping often earns comparisons to Beck, there's also some of Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy in E’s razor-burn voice. And though Shootenanny! isn’t out on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’s experimental ledge, it has a similar unruly twang that injects a dose of whimsy into soul-searching songs like "Love of the Loveless. " "Wrong About Bobby," for instance, glides along on sunny, jangling guitars while E tries and fails to forgive a violent grudge. By mixing sweet with sour, E's warm and fuzzy mope rock sounds great whether it's blasting out of a convertible on a sunny day or playing in the background on a rainy night. --Matthew Cooke .. You can see a complete list of all Eels discography, or go back to the Eels tabs