This album delivers very fully on the premise of its subtitle. It contains exactly 12 songs on the subject of desire. Not a novel concept, sure, since "desire" in its many forms, has been grist for the creative mill since the dawn of man, but to draw attention to it is. Mark Oliver "E" Everett takes the dozen songs to approach the notion, that classic backbone of pop music, from its many vantage points. There are times when E's narrator voice is cocky, self-assured, even predatory (as the title, derived from the song "Tremendous Dynamite," suggests.) Then there are times when he is envious, frustrated, put-upon, dejected, regretful, hopeful... smitten, innocent, and guilty. The album is split about halfway between upbeat numbers and downbeat ones. It begins with the somewhat oblique, rock-on-your-heels "Prizefighter," probably the least direct of the lot, but an effective curtain raiser.At times, they come on strong. "Lilac Breeze" is a heady, strong-in-love thundering beat, with a dirty fuzz riff that brings to mind Death From Above 1979, but it's playful. Besides the pumped up kick of "Tremendous Dynamite" there's the lip-licking "Fresh Blood," which furthers the wolfman conceit with a dark prowling sound, highlighting the dangerous, sexy, seductive side of desire. There's a simple, straightforwardness in these songs that even manages to outdo other primativists like the Black Keys by saying as much as humanly possible with the simplest of guitar licks. E and his company aren't showoffs, they're communicators. "Tremendous" reminds me a bit of Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk."
It became pretty immediately apparent that I was listening to something great during the second track, "That Look You Give That Guy," whose lyrics demonstrate the pinpoint accuracy shown all throughout the album, to show how you can look at the subject in many different ways. This one is so exact and so perfect. "That look you give that guy I wanna see / Looking right at me / If I could be that guy instead of me / I'll never let you down." The first of many heartbreaking moments, setting E's gruff, worn-thin vocals against a soft focus, lightly strummed idyllic fantasy scape. That feeling threads through "In My Dreams," which could be a forgotten British Invasion single breathed new life, a Herman's Hermits track or some such (even though yeah, E and Peter Noone have as little in common as two vocalists ever did.) Then there's the resigned, "My Timing is Off" and the heart-filling, distant "Alll the Beautiful Things" ("Birds come down from the sky so blue / See all the beautiful things you do / Why can't I just get with / You?") You really feel for this guy, and you feel it yourself, because everybody's been there. The sensitivity reaches its apex on "The Longing," a haunted waltz that sounds so put down, so rejected and depressed that E can barely manage to sigh the words. Some of these songs will really put you through the wringer, depending on your emotional state.
This is a no-bullshit record. They make no effort to transform the subject into an abstract artistic statement: the mere act of making it takes care of that, meaning the whole thing is elegant in its simplicity. There's not a lyric on there that I'd second guess, not an instrumental flourish I wonder why they did. It's terrifically balanced and constructed. The tension of the heavy material is eased by the more fun ones. The meaner ones are undercut by the sensitive ones, and manage to sit next to each other, with their lo-fi production and precise performance, with those specific instruments and that sledgehammer vocal. It's crisp yet perfectly distorted. They all belong as part of the whole. When it's on the hunt, it's fierce. When it's hurting, it's raw. "What's a Fella Gotta Do" blends the two, as the narrator frantically searches for the key to a woman's heart, but he's he's game for it. The two final tracks, "Beginner's Luck" and "Ordinary Man" serve as alternate endings: one together, one alone, sewing up the very thorough examination of the subject matter.
Pop music doesn't always have to be about desire, about love and loss and longing and the thrill of a new romance. But there's a reason we keep seeing writers of every stripe going back to it. Nobody is above it. Nobody is immune. And if you're a musician really worth your salt, you'll never stop trying to find a way to articulate it.
Surprise, surprise, guys: a very good band focusing in on a time-honoured and fertile subject matter results in a pretty incredible album. Eels are a skillful group, although their other albums have never quite grabbed me as much, at least as immediately, as this one did, but they are on point all the way through here. This one is worthy of its title: all twelve tracks come together to form a great 40 minute listen.
Buy this album now: iTunes Canada // iTunes USA // Amazon.ca
// Amazon.com
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