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Feb 5, 2013This more open, organic process comes through on the songs, providing E and company with a refreshing amount of creative freedom after the relative confinement of doing a conceptual three-album trilogy.
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UncutFeb 4, 2013Wonderful, Glorious sounds, throughout, overwhelmingly like an Eels album.... This consistency has to be admired as testament to the robustness of E's vision. [Mar 2013, p.74]
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Feb 5, 2013Eels’ albums, by and large, fall into two categories. The good and the great. Wonderful, Glorious sits comfortably and contentedly in the former.
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MojoFeb 6, 2013Listener as shrink? A bit, but you'll be happy to attend E's chaise longue. [Mar 2013, p.86]
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Q MagazineFeb 8, 2013Contentment makes Everett a less compelling narrator than devastation, but Eels still tailor songs rich in ideas yet stripped of unnecessary fat. [Mar 2013, p.109]
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Feb 4, 2013From the moment ‘Bombs Away’ hoves menacingly into view, it’s clear this is Eels at their most visceral.
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Feb 4, 2013Whether he has been re-invigorated by love, his new band or just from old-fashioned growing up, Mark Everett and Eels re-define themselves here with exhilarating success, putting all associations with misery out of mind with a compelling finality.
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Jan 31, 2013The result is a more diverse and often louder album than its predecessor, Tomorrow Morning. [Jan-Feb 2013, p.86]
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Jan 31, 2013Everett executes his old tricks with electrifying verve, clashing tribal drums and the sludgy twang of B-movie guitar in Bombs Away, and hurling grit into the swamp of New Alphabet.
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Feb 4, 2013Not all of the tracks hit their mark, and this is a far cry from the standard of much of E's earlier material. But it is nonetheless a good record.
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Feb 5, 2013Everett turns the corner on this relatively rosy, but no less ambitious, record that plays like a soundtrack of his post-trilogy life.
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Feb 11, 2013On Wonderful, Glorious, Mark Everett not only has the songs but also a band capable of delivering the sort of breadth and depth of response he needs to keep the Eels vehicle moving onwards and upwards.
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Feb 5, 2013These are lifeless non-revelations married to engrossing tunes.
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Feb 7, 2013Wonderful, Glorious isn’t the sort of reinvention that Everett wants it to be. It’s just another loop around the road that E and his pathos have been treading for years.
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Feb 4, 2013Everett has fought his well-documented trails and tribulations tooth and nail, and this gritty but ultimately joyous album stands as testament to that.
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Jan 31, 2013One of the consistently brilliant musicians working today hasn't let us down yet.
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Feb 5, 2013Wonderful, Glorious is a solid Eels record, with some of the best arrangements they have ever written.
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Feb 4, 2013The high quality isn't sustained throughout, but this is another solidly impressive outing.
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Feb 14, 2013Luckily, there’s enough good on this album to hide the negatives.
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Feb 1, 2013Eels songwriter Mark "E" Everett has always trod a peculiar, idiosyncratic path that runs parallel to most pop music, but here he collides with it in such a tender, open way that the emotional hit of some songs is quite shocking.
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Feb 14, 2013Intermittently enjoyable, Wonderful, Glorious is unmistakably the work of Eels but unlike previous and successful meditations, their tenth album frequently feels like well-honed schtick rather than a worthwhile insight.
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Feb 25, 2013It’s less confessional, less bleakly vulnerable than he has been on past albums.
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Jun 4, 2013Occasionally, this approach doesn’t match the heartfelt sentiment (see the lyrics to both You’re My Friend and A True Original) but, on the whole, this is the sound of a man reinvigorated, happy to be recording and with a dependable, more involved backing band than ever.
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Jan 31, 2013It continues the band's long-running, idiosyncratic and distinctively creative career path.
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Feb 7, 2013They ditch most of the quirks for grimy blues on Wonderful, Glorious, making it one of their best albums in years.
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Feb 8, 2013To an extent, this album is too predictable.
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Feb 5, 2013The tenth Eels studio LP simply presents E's strengths as a songwriter and performer.
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Feb 4, 2013Wonderful Glorious alternates between distorted rock and freewheeling country-pop interludes.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 13 out of 16
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Mixed: 3 out of 16
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Negative: 0 out of 16
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Apr 15, 2013
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Feb 13, 2013
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Feb 10, 2013