Souljacker | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | September 19, 2001 | |||
Recorded | December 2000 – July 2001 | |||
Genre | Alternative rock, hard rock | |||
Length | 40:35 | |||
Label | DreamWorks | |||
Producer | E and John Parish | |||
Eels chronology | ||||
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Singles from Souljacker | ||||
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Souljacker is the fourth studio album by American rock band Eels, first released on September 19, 2001, in Japan and later on March 12, 2002, in the United States. The album reached No.12 on the UK Album Charts [1]
"Souljacker Part I" was released as a single and reached No. 30 in the UK Singles Chart. [2]
Unlike some of Mark Oliver Everett's other albums, most notably Electro-Shock Blues , Souljacker is mostly based on stories of others rather than on Everett's own life. [3] Characters were inspired from various sources, including circus freaks ("Dog Faced Boy") and a recording engineer with an abusive past ("Bus Stop Boxer"). German director Wim Wenders called "Woman Driving, Man Sleeping" his favorite Eels song and he used it in the segment he directed for Ten Minutes Older . Wenders directed the video for "Souljacker part I".
The strings used in the song "Fresh Feeling" were sampled from another Eels song, "Selective Memory" from Daisies of the Galaxy .
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 73/100 [4] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [5] |
Blender | [6] |
NME | 7/10 [7] |
Pitchfork | 4.9/10 [8] |
PopMatters | favorable [9] |
Rolling Stone | [10] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [11] |
Trouser Press | mixed [12] |
Souljacker received a generally favorable reception from critics, with several reviewers comparing the album's sound to that of Beck. [4] PopMatters wrote, "Souljacker is as strong as any of Eels previous albums, but even crawling through the muck there is a lot more joy and life here than heard before." [9] NME wrote, "Souljacker's songs rock harder than most of E's nu metal enemies. But what's really terrifying is that E's just warming up. The next album will be a killer – and probably feature one on backing vocals." [7]
Pitchfork was critical, writing, "Beyond the melodies that don't stick in my head and the beats that don't make me want to dance, the only real problem with Souljacker [...] is that it just seems like an underachievement." [8]
The second track on the album, "That's Not Really Funny", was used as the theme tune to all three series of the BBC's animated comedy Monkey Dust .
"Fresh Feeling" was featured in the season 1 episode "My Hero" of the NBC show Scrubs , as well as the season 1 episode "Chuck Versus the Truth" of the NBC show Chuck , and the movie "Failure To Launch".
All songs written by E; additional writers in brackets.
Eels
Production
Chart (2001) | Peak position |
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Australian Albums (ARIA) [13] | 39 |
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) [14] | 34 |
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [15] | 15 |
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) [16] | 22 |
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [17] | 56 |
French Albums (SNEP) [18] | 34 |
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [19] | 47 |
Irish Albums (IRMA) [20] | 19 |
Italian Albums (FIMI) [21] | 41 |
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista) [22] | 36 |
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [23] | 75 |
UK Albums (OCC) [24] | 12 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
United Kingdom (BPI) [25] | Silver | 60,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |
Eels is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1991 by singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mark Oliver Everett, known by the stage name E. Band members have changed over the years, both in the studio and on stage, making Everett the only official member for most of the band's work. Eels' music is often filled with themes of family, death, and unrequited love. Since 1996, Eels has released fourteen studio albums, seven of which entered the Billboard 200.
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