''End Times'' is the eighth studio album by American rock 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 on January 19, 2010. ''End Times'' is the second in a trilogy of

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

s starting with 2009's ''

Hombre Lobo ''Hombre Lobo: 12 Songs of Desire'' is the seventh studio album by American rock band Eels, released on June 2, 2009. Hombre Lobo is Spanish for "werewolf". On March 31, 2009, the band made the track "Fresh Blood" available on Spinner.com, explai ...

'' and finishing with '' Tomorrow Morning'', released later in 2010.

Content

The album was self-produced by frontman

Mark Oliver Everett Mark Oliver Everett (born April 10, 1963) is the American lead singer, songwriter, guitarist, keyboardist and sometimes drummer of the rock band Eels. Also known as E, he is known for writing songs tackling subjects such as death, loneliness, d ...

and focuses on themes of divorce and aging. The cover was designed by

Adrian Tomine Adrian Tomine (; born May 31, 1974) is an American cartoonist. He is best known for his ongoing comic book series ''Optic Nerve'' and his illustrations in ''The New Yorker''. Early life Adrian Tomine was born May 31, 1974, in Sacramento, Calif ...

Release

''End Times'' was released on January 19, 2010. The album was also released in a deluxe edition with a bonus EP. The music video for "Little Bird" was released on YouTube through the official Eels channel in November 2009 and "In My Younger Days" in December 2009. The single for "A Line in the Dirt" backed with "Little Bird" was released through Eels' online store on January 13, 2010.

Reception

Critical response to the album has been mostly positive. Will Dean of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' called it "a classic break-up album".

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

published a negative review of the album, calling it "by all accounts a break-up album, but one that's plodding, boring, and full of icky self-pity ..Eventually, Everett's disassociation with himself results in a disassociation with the music, as each painfully plain entry becomes simply exhaustively dull."

Track listing

All songs written by E. #"The Beginning" – 2:16 #"Gone Man" – 2:59 #"In My Younger Days" – 3:25 #"Mansions of Los Feliz" – 2:49 #" A Line in the Dirt" – 3:30 #"End Times" – 2:58 #"Apple Trees" – 0:40 #"Paradise Blues" – 3:03 #"Nowadays" – 3:09 #"Unhinged" – 2:26 #"High and Lonesome" – 1:07 #"I Need a Mother" – 2:39 #"Little Bird" – 2:34 #"On My Feet" – 6:21 Deluxe edition bonus EP #"And Now for the End Times" – 0:19 #"Some Friend" – 2:42 #"Walking Cloud" – 2:25 #"$200 Tattoo" – 2:02 #"The Man Who Didn't Know He'd Lost His Mind" – 2:36 The short spoken-word introduction is only available on the

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edition of the album.

Personnel

Eels * E – vocals, guitars, bass guitar,

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

, piano,

Optigan The Optigan (a portmanteau of Optical Organ) is an electronic keyboard instrument designed for the consumer market. The name stems from the instrument's reliance on pre-recorded optical soundtracks to reproduce sound. Later versions (built under ...

Hammond B3 Hammond may refer to: People * Hammond Innes (1913–1998), English novelist * Hammond (surname) * Justice Hammond (disambiguation) Places Antarctica * Hammond Glacier, Antarctica Australia *Hammond, South Australia, a small settlement in South ...

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

pump organ The pump organ is a type of free-reed organ that generates sound as air flows past a vibrating piece of thin metal in a frame. The piece of metal is called a reed. Specific types of pump organ include the reed organ, harmonium, and melodeon. T ...

Vox Continental The Vox Continental is a transistorised combo organ that was manufactured between 1962 and 1971 by the British musical equipment manufacturer Vox. It was designed for touring musicians and as an alternative to the heavy Hammond organ. It supp ...

, drums,

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 ...

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 ...

* Butch – drums on "A Line in the Dirt" * Koool G Murder – bass, guitar, recording, mixing on "Paradise Blues" and "Nowadays" *

Wayne Bergeron Wayne Bergeron (born January 16, 1958) is an American jazz trumpeter. Bergeron rose to prominence as a member of Maynard Ferguson's band in the 1980s. Since then, he has worked on over 400 TV and motion picture soundtracks. As a lead and studio ...

–

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...

, horns *

Chris Bleth Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian (given name), Christian, Christina (given name), Christina, Christine (name), Christine, and Christos (given name), Christos. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, ...

– horns *

Andy Martin Anthony Robert Martin-Trigona, usually known as Andy Martin (born 1945), is an American perennial candidate who has never been elected to office, running as both a Democrat and a Republican. He has filed over 250 political lawsuits nationwide. ...

– horns Technical personnel * Ryan Boesch – recording and mixing on "Apple Trees", "Gone Man", and "In My Younger Days" *

Robert Carranza Robert Carranza is an American recording engineer, mixer and record producer. Selected discography *2017 – Heaven Upside Down – Marilyn Manson *2016 – ''Dont Go She Gone'' – ''Mangchi'' *2015 – ''The Pale Emperor'' – Marilyn Man ...

– recording, mixing on "A Line in the Dirt" * Greg Collins – recording and mixing on "Apple Trees" * Jim Lang – recording and horn

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

s on "A Line in the Dirt" and "Nowadays"

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 2010 albums Concept albums Eels (band) albums Vagrant Records albums Albums produced by Mark Oliver Everett