''Shootenanny!'' is the fifth studio album by American
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band
Eels
Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...
, released in 2003 by record label
DreamWorks DreamWorks may refer to:
* DreamWorks Pictures, an American film production company of Amblin
** DreamWorks Television, an American television production company and division of the film studio
** DreamWorks Records, an American record label and f ...
.
Background
While lead singer
Mark Oliver "E" Everett was working on the double disc ''
Blinking Lights and Other Revelations'' project, he had the idea to make a "succinct, direct and no bullshit" record, inspired by the writing style of blues singer-songwriter
Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post-war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago b ...
.
Before the recording of the album, Everett and drummer
Jonathan Norton
Jonathan Hayes "Butch" Norton (born March 21, 1958) is an American drummer, percussionist and vocalist, best known for his work with the Los Angeles-based indie rock band Eels between 1996 and 2003. Since his departure from the group, he has gon ...
were in conflict. Norton left Eels after a ''
Last Call with Carson Daly
''Last Call with Carson Daly'' is an American late-night television series that was broadcast by NBC from 2002 to 2019. Hosted by former MTV personality Carson Daly, the series was initially formatted as a late-night talk show in line with ''Th ...
'' performance during the ''
Souljacker
''Souljacker'' is the fourth studio album by American Rock music, rock band Eels (band), Eels, first released on September 19, 2001, in Japan and later on March 12, 2002, in the United States.
Content
Unlike some of Mark Oliver Everett's othe ...
'' tour, later telling a journalist his decision was "a business thing". However, he participated in the recording sessions for ''Shootenanny!'', working as a freelancer rather than a member of the band, with tensions still intact. This would be the last album with new recordings from Norton, although earlier sessions featuring him would appear on the ''Blinking Lights'' album two years later.
Recording of the album took place for 10 days during late November 2002 with minimal production. The album was recorded onto two-inch tape and edited digitally using
Pro Tools
Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-productio ...
. ''Shootenanny!'' was recorded and mixed by
Greg Collins, who recorded "Climbing to the Moon" on ''
Electro-Shock Blues
''Electro-Shock Blues'' is the second studio album by American Rock music, rock band Eels (band), Eels. It was released in the United Kingdom on September 21, 1998, and October 20 in the United States by record label DreamWorks Records, DreamWork ...
''.
Title
The album's name comes from a
neologism
A neologism Greek νέο- ''néo''(="new") and λόγος /''lógos'' meaning "speech, utterance"] is a relatively recent or isolated term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but that has not been fully accepted int ...
, coined by Everett, for "a social gathering at which participants engage in
folk music, folk singing and sometimes dancing
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__Release_
"Saturday_Morning"_was_released_as_a_promotional_single_with_the_B-sides_"Her",_"Waltz_of_the_Naked_Clowns",_and_"Sad_Foot_Sign".
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Release
"Saturday Morning" was released as a promotional single with the B-sides "Her", "Waltz of the Naked Clowns", and "Sad Foot Sign".
''Shootenanny!'' was released on June 3, 2003 by record label DreamWorks. The album peaked at number 145 on the Billboard 200">''Billboard'' 200, the first album to chart since ''Beautiful Freak'' in 1996.
Critical reception
''Shootenanny!'' received a generally favorable response, though some critics were divided.
Greg Kot of ''Entertainment Weekly'' called the album "downright moving at its best".
A negative review came from Chris Dahlen of
Pitchfork Media, Pitchfork, who wrote: "Musically and lyrically, E is spent – out of ideas, out of innovation, unable to cough up anything but by-the-numbers pop in the fourteen originals he wrote for this disc."
Dom Passantino of
Stylus
A stylus (plural styli or styluses) is a writing utensil or a small tool for some other form of marking or shaping, for example, in pottery. It can also be a computer accessory that is used to assist in navigating or providing more precision w ...
opined that the album "suffers from a lack of identity".
Track listing
All songs written by
E, except as noted.
# "All in a Day's Work" (E, Koool G Murder) – 3:24
# "Saturday Morning" (E, Koool G Murder) – 2:55
# "The Good Old Days" – 3:03
# "Love of the Loveless" – 3:32
# "Dirty Girl" – 2:41
# "Agony" – 3:07
# "Rock Hard Times" (E, Joe Gore) – 4:00
# "Restraining Order Blues" – 3:11
# "Lone Wolf" – 2:37
# "Wrong About Bobby" – 2:46
# "Numbered Days" (E, Gore) – 3:44
# "Fashion Awards" – 3:07
# "Somebody Loves You" – 3:02
Personnel
Eels
*
Butch – drums and
percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...
*
E – vocals, guitar, keyboards,
production
Production may refer to:
Economics and business
* Production (economics)
* Production, the act of manufacturing goods
* Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services)
* Production as a stati ...
*
Lisa Germano
Lisa Ruth Germano (born June 27, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Indiana. Her album '' Geek the Girl'' (1994) was chosen as a top album of the 1990s by ''Spin'' magazine. She began her career as a violinist ...
– violin
* Joe Gore – guitar,
programming
* Koool G. Murder – bass guitar
Additional musicians
* Scott Gordon
*
James King – saxophone
* Todd Simon –
trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...
Technical personnel
* Ryan Boesch – programming,
engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
,
mixing
* Greg Burns – engineering
*
Greg Collins – programming, engineering, mixing
*
Autumn deWilde – sleeve photography
*
Bernie Grundman
Bernie Grundman is an American audio engineer.
He is most known for his mastering work and his studio, Bernie Grundman Mastering, which he opened in 1984 in Hollywood. The studio, which includes engineers Chris Bellman, Patricia Sullivan, and Mi ...
–
mastering
* Dan Hersch – mastering
* Francesca Restrepo – sleeve
art direction
Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television, the Internet, and video games.
It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the visi ...
Charts
In popular culture
The song "Agony" was used on the soundtrack of the
SyFy
Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...
TV show
Stargate Universe
''Stargate Universe'' (often abbreviated as ''SGU'') is a military science fiction television series and part of MGM's ''Stargate'' franchise. It follows the adventures of a present-day, multinational exploration team traveling on the Ancient ...
in the 17th episode of the
first season.
Stargate Universe Music - Season 1: "Pain" - TuneFind
/ref>
References
External links
''Shootenanny!'' page from Eels' website
{{Authority control
2003 albums
Albums produced by Mark Oliver Everett
DreamWorks Records albums
Eels (band) albums