Eels - Wonderful, Glorious

Having made myself a fan of Eels but a couple of years ago, I highly anticipate this effort - which is rumored to rock more than Mark has done in the previous albums. And he starts it off with the point - "Nobody listens to a whisperin' fool". The opening track makes no other declaration than that Mark is in the mood for declarations.

And it's on these types of tracks, the ones that rock, where there's a faint hint of Tom Waits' Bone Machine. Especially in the way the drums were recorded. Of course, Mark keeps it way simpler than the lyrical poetry of Waits, but its easy to find a home here.

When he's not rocking, E can still spin out plenty of desolate despair ballads and lilting romantic slow jams. On the former side, you'll hear "On the Ropes" and "The Turnaround" which are way more hopeful than anything on the crushingly down End Times. On the latter, we have "Accident Prone" and "I Am Building a Shrine" which are less-sexy than my last-album favorite, "This Is Where It Gets Good". Play that for pants-off preparation. Play the new ones for post-coital sweetness.
 
On the whole, this is album is more Glorious with the time he spends with friends. The full-band rockers. I love me a good ballad, but too often on these, Mark takes care of the process himself, drum programming and all. It has an unwarranted corporate feel that is incongruent with the songwriting intent. I would have appreciated something more acoustic. A good mix of indie pop and indie rock, though. (3 of 5 stars)