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]
Content
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.
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]
Legacy
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.
