|
 |
Eels
End Times
By Jeff Niesel
Eels frontman Mark Oliver Everett has described this as a “divorce album” but while it might have lost love at its core, it’s not without its upbeat moments. First, you have to get past the dreary opening track, “The Beginning.” On it, Everett almost sounds like Springsteen as he mumbles, “Everything was beautiful and free in the beginning.” Things quickly pick up on the snappy subsequent tune, “Gone Man,” a tune that thrives on its psychedelic guitar riff and raspy vocals.
“Mansions of Los Feliz” comes off as the kind of tune you’d sing along with if you heard it at a campfire, and “A Line in the Dirt” is a tender piano-and-horn ballad with wry, almost-spoken vocals. The same goes for the swaggering “Paradise Blues,” a nice approximation of Elvis Costello. Coming over a decade after Everett wrote eloquently about his sister’s suicide on Electro-Shock Blues, End Times might seem like more of the same old somber stuff. But the guy is more than a one trick pony. That’s simply not the case. Though they were recorded on a primitive four-track recorder, the well-written songs here hold up well against anything in the Eels’ back catalogue.
.
|
