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More Chuck Campbell

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• Campbell: Tuned In: Jamie Cullum, 'Alice in Wonderland' soundtrack, Vai DaCapo

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You thought your breakup was bad? Try the eels

“END TIMES,” eels (Vagrant)

Not only does misery love company, misery makes company miserable, as anyone who has listened to an eels album knows.

Professional joy bandit Mark Oliver Everett, aka eels, is poised to snuff out happiness again with “End Times,” a title that will make those familiar with him think, “Oh, what NOW?”

The man who has mined music from the illness and death of family members, as well as the misfortunes of a fictional dog-faced boy who grew into a dog-faced man, is currently pushing a breakup album (and not even his first one of those because in 1993 he released the similar-themed “Broken Toy Shop”). Everett intends “End Times” to be more than that: He’s offering it as a breakup album in the context of a broken, desperate world.

Lucky for him, he has the skills to keep an audience hanging in there, even if his relentless moroseness is ludicrous.

“End Times” uses Everett’s DIY arrangements — drab guitar- and piano-based cuts interspersed with the occasional lo-fi blues/rockabilly track — as a foundation for his impossibly weathered vocal that makes him sound twice his actual age of 46.

Several tracks are effective on their own, including distorted, raucous cuts like “Paradise Blues,” “Mansions of Los Feliz” and “Gone Man,” plus melancholy slow songs like the title track, “A Line in the Dirt” and “In My Younger Days,” though listeners might laugh out loud when he sings on the latter, “In my younger days this wouldn’t have been so hard/I would have just shrugged it off.” Everett never shrugs anything off.

Still, the composite result of “End Times” is a feeling of wretchedness as the cumulative assault of ragged production, tattered vocals and gloomy lyrics grow redundant to the point of enervation.

If the world really is as bad as Everett seems to think it is, why is he so determined to make it worse?

Rating (five possible): 2-1/2

Neil Sedaka, 70, takes another swing

“THE MUSIC OF MY LIFE,” Neil Sedaka (Razor & Tie)

If nothing else, Neil Sedaka’s new “The Music of My Life” is a triumph of spirit: It’s the 70-year-old performer’s first new studio album in a decade.

Sadly, it’s not an artistic triumph.

In his half-century-plus career in music, Sedaka has had more success as a songwriter than as a singer. And there’s no reason he couldn’t still be writing hits for others, because writing is an ageless kind of thing.

For that matter, some singers can easily thrive into and beyond their 70s. However, Neil Sedaka doesn’t appear to be one of them. His androgynous voice was flawed to begin with and the additional weathering hurts, plus the material on “The Music of My Life” carries adolescent-minded themes about crushes and relationship revenge, which doesn’t feel right coming from someone past his 20s, let alone someone who has more than tripled the 20s.

Still, Sedaka has penned some worthy songs here — tracks like the bitter “I Got To Believe in Me Again” and the syrupy closer “You,” both of which could easily be hits for other singers.

Meanwhile, Sedaka gamely holds his own on occasion, rising to the stately arrangement of “How Can I Change Your Mind,” weaving through the jazzy flavor of “Won’t You Share This Dream of Mine,” and emanating warmth in the comforting doo-wop embrace of “Right or Wrong.”

Best of all is the salsa-spiked opening track, “Do You Remember,” which finds Sedaka singing in English and Spanish in upbeat, florid style. The song promises a more life-affirming adventure than “The Music of My Life” ultimately delivers. Nevertheless, the American pop icon’s spark does manage to ignite from time to time.

Rating: 3

Bari Koral aims to grow family togetherness with ‘Garden’

“ROCK AND ROLL GARDEN,” Bari Koral Family Rock Band (Loopytunes)

It’s not easy to entertain kids, and it’s harder still to engage their parents, too.

The Bari Koral Family Rock Band attempts to take the democratic approach, giving everyone a little something on the new “Rock and Roll Garden.” That’s a bit problematic because the release targets children ages 2 to 7, which is too broad a range because what might amuse a 2-year-old will bore a 7-year-old, and vice versa.

Still, the spirited Koral, a folk/pop singer and yoga instructor, gives it a go with her band.

Adults as well as children around age 5 and older will have their patience tried as Koral and company test the littlest ones with songs about movement and noise (“Boom Boom,” “Clap It!” and “Big Sounds”). However, everyone should be able to tolerate the full-bodied “Hey Ducky” and its cute countdown in addition to “Dance All Day” as it speeds up to a careening finale.

Jazz bassist Dred Scott and Broadway drummer Eric Halverson give a rhythmic boost to Koral’s enthusiastic, teacher-like delivery, especially on the toe-tapping “Backpack Song” and the catchy “Best Friends” (“Best friend, best friend, I can be your best friend”). Also, the playful jaunt “Subway” gets additional gas from Dave Phelps’ electric guitar.

“Rock and Roll Garden” takes an adult turn with the sentimental closing cut “Uh Oh,” as its lilting melody and rolling piano punch up Koral’s first-day-of-school refrain, “We’ll always be together, ’cause that’s what friends do.” That wistful track should bring home to parents the fleeting nature of childhood — and the reason adults ought to participate in their kids’ lives whenever possible.

Much like the preschoolers it aims to entertain, “Rock and Roll Garden” is all over the place. But it’s rooted in the rituals of life.

Rating: 3

© 2010, Knoxville News Sentinel
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