Eels - Shootnanny!

“Everbody Knows These are Rock Hard Times” declares the back cover of ‘Shootnanny!,’ the Eels latest album. It’s quoting “Rock Hard Times,” one of the album’s best songs. It’s a catchy lyrical nonsequitur fronting a catchy pop melody, but it might also be read as a metaphor for the sorry state of things that is the American recording industry these days, or for the shrinking freedoms and shrinking wallets that are the hallmarks of the administration of George W. Bush.

In better days—way back in the halcyon days of 1992 when for a while there, it seemed like anyone might get a record deal—E released a solo album ‘A Man Called (E),’yet despite largely positive reviews, it was all but lost in the tidal wave of product that hit when grunge broke .

Fast forward to 1996, when E formed the Eels along with bassist Tommy Walter and drummer Butch Norton. Their first record scored with "Novocaine for the Soul," a big enough hit to carry them into the 21st century. But, alas, every the solipsist, somewhere along the way E once again became essentially a one man band once again, though he has continued to release albums under the Eels name. “Performed by Mark Oliver Everett (you can also call him ‘E’)” proclaim the new album’s liner notes . . . in case there was any confusion.

‘Shootnanny’ is lighter, more laid-back, and more tongue-in-cheek than previous Eels albums, with classic pop melodies and shimmery, chimerical guitar-and-keyboard arrangements—the crude blues riff that drives the opener “All In a Day’s Work,” the beatific romp through childhood past that is “Saturday Morning,” the mid-tempo grooviness of “Love of the Loveless.” From the jangle-pop splendor of “Dirty Girl” to the deadpan comedy of “Restraining Order Blues,” its songs are sharper, more defined; stripped-down, yet still retaining E’s eccentricities—less insular, less dominated by quirks, but still ethereal and occasional even a little funky.

“Agony” takes a home run cut at soul music. “Lone Wolf” does Brian Setzer rockabilly blues. And then there’s the Sir McCartneyesque “Wrong About Bobby.” The album stumbles a little with the unremarkable “Numbered Days” and “Fashion Awards” before recovering with the gorgeously understated “Somebody Loves You.”

‘Shootnanny’ is the most satisfying album Eels record yet.

Matt Parks (October 9, 2003)