Shootenanny! : Eels : Review : Rolling Stone

Mark Oliver Everett, otherwise known as E, has made a career writing songs about two basic themes: his life falling apart and the world falling apart around him. He's at his best, though, when he takes a deep breath and lets himself have some fun. As he did on 2000's enchanting Daisies of the Galaxy, E lifts the depressive curtain on Shootenanny!, balancing existential woe with spiky humor, some hope and even glimmers of Zen-like self-realization. The music, too, is lighter and more laid-back, with breezy melodies and fuzzy guitar-and-keyboard arrangements that sound built for a summer night's drive. If there's a theme here, it's not to expect too much from the world -- you've got to take care of yourself. E seems liberated by the notion, vowing to make his time count in "Numbered Days" and making peace with his own anti-social ways in "Lone Wolf." The album's big, dumb rocker, "Saturday Morning," is simply about the thrill of waking up early as a kid -- "Six in the morning, baby/I've got a long, long day ahead!" -- while "Agony" might be about that same kid, grown-up, looking in the mirror and seeing only "age, fear and agony." But even when E gets dragged back into the old psychic muck, his songs sparkle brightly. That's why, in "The Good Old Days," when he sings, "I like waking up from a bad dream/Makes it feel like life ain't bad," it feels like a moment of personal triumph.

JASON FINE
(From RS 924, June 12, 2003)