Eels - Daisies of the Galaxy (2000)

Third time's the charm. Counting Crows did it with "This Desert Life," Death Cab for Cutie did it with "The Photo Album," and Eels did it with this album. After the malaise of its predecessor, "Electro-Shock Blues," which E recorded in the wake of both the diagnosis of cancer in his mother and the suicide of his sister, this record is a gust of something lighter and more upbeat. As E himself put it, "If 'Electro-Shock Blues' was the phone call in the middle of the night that the world doesn't want to answer, then 'Daisies of the Galaxy' is the hotel wake-up call that says your lovely breakfast is ready." The record opens with "Grace Kelly Blues," which alternates between the feel of a marching band's hymn and an optimism that only slide guitar, light drums and acoustic strumming can offer. The album does hit a somber moment though, in the track "It's a Motherfucker." The song, while beautiful and slow, wastes no time getting to the point in the opening line, "It's a motherfucker being here without you." The most famous track from "Daisies of the Galaxy" isn't actually part of the album at all, but is included as a bonus track. It's called "Mr. E's Beautiful Blues," made famous, in part, to its inclusion in the film where the guy accidentally sends his girlfriend the tape of him having sex with the other girl so his friends pack up the car and drive halfway across the country to retrieve it. Yeah, that movie. The song lays amusing musings over an uplifting G, C, D progression whose optimism culminates in the chorus, which repeats, "Goddamn right, it's a beautiful day." Give this a listen and you know something? It will be.

MUSIC NERD MOMENT: The piano used on "It's a Motherfucker" is the same one used on Neil Young's "After the Gold Rush" album.

For fans of: The Flaming Lips, Sparklehorse, Grandaddy

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