Hombre Lobo: 12 Songs of Desire[1] 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,[2] explaining that the song would be the lead single for the album. A documentary entitled Tremendous Dynamite was filmed to document the recording of the album.[3] The cover art is a tribute to the famous Cuban cigar brand Cohiba.
The songs form a concept album about desire.[citation needed] As frontman Mark Oliver "E" Everett explained, "I wanted to write a set of songs about desire. That dreadful, intense want that gets you into all sorts of situations that can change your life in big ways."[4] In part, the album was inspired by E's facial hair[5] and written as a sequel to the Souljacker song "Dog Faced Boy".[6] The character of "Dog Faced Boy" has grown up into a werewolf and is the protagonist who experiences various types of desire throughout the songs.[7] In an interview with NPR on June 6, 2009, Everett stated, "That Look You Give That Guy" is his favorite song from the album.[8]
The album was released as a single CD in Europe on Polydor/Vagrant, an enhanced CD with the Tremendous Dynamite documentary in the United States through E Works/Vagrant,[11] a deluxe edition CD with a DVD, and a limited-edition vinyl LP with gold embossing with a print run of 2,000. It is also sold digitally from the iTunes Store; pre-ordered copies receive a copy of the music video for "Prizefighter".[4]
Marketingedit
Prior to the album's release, Eels promoted it with music videos for "Fresh Blood" (premiered April 29),[12] "That Look You Give That Guy" (May 14),[13] "Prizefighter", and "In My Dreams" (July 7).[14] The band also briefly used a Twitter account to generate hype for the album.[15]
"Fresh Blood" was used in the June 2010 trailer for the third season of HBO's True Blood, as well as the ending credits of episode 11, season 3. It was also used as the closing song for the season 6 premiere episode of FX's series Rescue Me. It was also used as the theme song for the HBO docu-series The Jinx.
The album has a score of 70/100 on Metacritic, indicating "generally positive reviews".[26] One negative review of the album came again from Pitchfork, who gave the album 4.6 out of 10.[20]
Track listingedit
All songs written by E and Kelly Logsdon, except where noted
^Robertson, Jessica (March 31, 2009). "'Fresh Blood' on AOL Music". AOL Music. Archived from the original on May 24, 2011. Retrieved March 31, 2009.
^Everett, Mark Oliver [@Eels] (November 4, 2010). "A 30 minute documentary film about the making of the new EELS album called TREMENDOUS DYNAMITE: Making HOMBRE LOBO is coming soon" (Tweet). Retrieved April 3, 2009 – via Twitter.
^ ab"Eels: Official Band Website — Hombre Lobo". Mark Oliver Everett. 2009-04-21. Retrieved 2009-04-22.
^Graff, Gary (May 21, 2009). "Eels Ready Beard-Inspired Album". Billboard. Retrieved May 25, 2009.
^"Eels "If you're going to boo somebody, you better know who you're booing, bitch."". Tiny Mix Tapes. May 2009. Retrieved July 16, 2009.
^Bell, Sean (May 31, 2009). "The Wolf in Eels Clothing". Sunday Herald. Retrieved May 30, 2009.[permanent dead link]
^"Eels: Finding Danger With 'Hombre Lobo' on NPR". NPR. June 6, 2009. Retrieved June 6, 2009.
^Beaumont, Nick (July 15, 2009). "Parallel Universe: Eels: The Many Worlds of Mark Oliver Everett". MSN Music. Archived from the original on April 7, 2010. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
^Murray, Robin (June 21, 2010). "Eels Talk About Their Rock Trilogy". CLash Music. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
^"Eels: Official Band Website". Mark Oliver Everett. May 1, 2009. Retrieved May 1, 2009.
^"'Fresh Blood' music video". Stereogum. 2009-04-29. Archived from the original on 2009-05-02. Retrieved 2009-04-29.
^"'That Look You Give That Guy' music video". May 14, 2009. Archived from the original on July 9, 2009. Retrieved May 14, 2009.
^"New Eels Video - "In My Dreams"". Stereogum. July 7, 2009. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
^Eels [@THE_EELS] (November 4, 2010). "have a new album, HOMBRE LOBO, coming out June 2, 2009" (Tweet). Retrieved April 28, 2022 – via Twitter.
^"Hombre Lobo: 12 Songs of Desire - Eels". Metacritic. Retrieved May 29, 2016.
^"Austriancharts.at – Eels – Hombre Lobo" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
^"Ultratop.be – Eels – Hombre Lobo" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
^"Ultratop.be – Eels – Hombre Lobo" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
^Burland, Chris (June 30, 2009). "Grizzly Bear At #1 For Third Week". Chart. Archived from the original on 2011-06-07. Retrieved July 16, 2009.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^"Dutchcharts.nl – Eels – Hombre Lobo" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
^"Hombre Lobo: European Top 100 Albums". Billboard. 2009-06-20. Archived from the original on 2021-11-21. Retrieved 2009-06-17.