Daisies Of The Galaxy [PA] - Eels

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Good
Value for Money

Advantages:	Great lyrics  |  Nice and quirky
Disadvantages:	Songs pretty short  |  More variety would be nice

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

While Electro-shock Blues was described as the ‘funeral’ Mark Everett (E) describes the third album as the ‘wake’. The Eels have always been known to make some slightly bizarre and quirky songs and this album is no exception. However while Electro-shock Blues was a dark album, full of the subject of death and self loathing, Daisies of the Galaxy is a far more high spirited album, although a lot more well rounded than Beautiful Freak.

At the time of writing this album E had already wrote enough material to make an additional three. He commented that the songs he wrote were a mixture of both dark and light hearted style. Daisies of the Galaxy seems to follow the path of light hearted but traces of the style from Electro-shock Blues are still evident in some songs of the album.

1. Grace Kelly Blues (3.38)

‘The actress gave up all her old dreams and traded up now she is a queen’

While one of the closing statements of Electro-shock Blues was ‘maybe it’s time to live’, the album kicks off to the sound of a heavy brass brand funeral procession. However it is not so much as bleak but promising. Beneath the initial heavy sounds that move slow and suffocatingly there is a far more light playing of guitar and gentle pats of drums. The lyrics tell a tale of a sort of self recollected story with some dry, witty comments, ‘the kid in the mall puts that hawt dawg on a stick’ and ‘taking your order he will look away’. However despite things going on around him E is okay, like he says ‘I’m doing pretty good as of now’.

2. Packing Blankets (2.07)

‘Don’t look back to that messed-up scene’

A simply played song, with the gentle strumming of the guitar, reminiscent of the light sounds of Grace Kelly Blues. The lyrics are optimistic ‘all our troubles will be gone’ which suit the style of the song. This song does seem to have a cartoony feel to it because the lyrics spring pictures into your head and the beat is so gentle and happy that you can imagine cartoon characters hopping around as E sings. Unless that’s just me going mad again.

3. The Sound of Fear (3.33)

‘I don’t care where I’m gonna be’

This song has a lot more edge to it than the previous two. It has a bit of a 60s sound to it, with its rock drumming and organ sounds. However the lyrics are a bit of a let down, repetition does feature heavily in this song and the last 30 seconds seem too much. This is probably one of the most Beautiful Freak sounding songs of the album.

4. I Like Birds (2.35)

‘If you’re small and on a search I’ve got a feeder for you to perch on’

A truly mad song, lyrically anyway. This is a tribute to Mark’s mother who used to feed our feathered friends frequently before she died of cancer. A short song but one that lasts as long as it needs to. While E’s voice sounds trademark scratchy at the start of the song he breaks into jolly verse during the chorus, lifting the spirit and general feel of the song. The music that accompanies it is suitably bouncy and gives way to be in the background while E sings through the song.

5. Daisies of the Galaxy (3.27)

‘Watching the movie the worlds gonna end’

The first ‘slow’ song from the album but doesn’t fall into the truly dark verse and sound of Electro-shock Blues territory. Starting off with a slow guitar solo which carries on pretty much throughout the song E’s voice quietly sings over it in a calm and relaxed way. The song picks up sound as some strings are introduced with the guitar and E gently notches up his volume but never once does it become over bearing or forced. This is a perfectly relaxed, albeit sad song, about two people looking for friendship in a town, a real stand out song from the album.

6. Flyswatter (3.20)

‘Field mice, head lice spiders in the kitchen’

The second single from the album sees the Eels bring in their trademark quirkiness to their songs. A nice opening played on a children’s xylophone gives it a somewhat basic and innocent start up but it is not long before the heavier sounds come into it. It soon has an edge to it, much like Sound of Fear that came before it, yet unlike the previous song, E also sings with an edge giving this song a lot of character. It has some excellent lyrics, ‘heat is rolling in like Hells red rug, stinking like the breath of Beezlebub’ which compliments the music well. It also seems a perfect summer song in a somewhat unconventional way anyway.

7. It’s a Motherf**ker (2.14)

‘And you won’t ever be the same’

I’m sure you know what that means even with the censor friendly asterisks being put in. Despite the ‘harshness’ of the word it is in direct paradox to the actual style of the song, being more akin to Daisies of the Galaxy than any of the rockier sounding songs on the album. This song is starker than Daisies, telling us about the pain of missing someone. E practically talks through the song, accompanied by strings and a piano setting a sombre mood onto the song.

8. Estate Sale (1.36)

‘These are the sounds of the days that are past’

No real lyrics, apart from that line and a few quiet words uttered in the song. This is a softly moving song that, even without words, still has a nice feeling attached to it.

9. Tiger In My Tank (3.07)

‘I had a dream last night, the TV and the phone grew some legs and took a walk and left me alone’

Casting off the shackles of sombre sounds that have led up till now Tiger In My Tank bursts into life with a loud beat and, again, a kind of 60s feel to it. Once more some good lyrics accompany this song, ‘When I grow up I’ll be an angry little whore’ and some good use of sound, with drums, and trumpets being used. Like most songs on the album the lyrics finish quire early on to leave 30 seconds or so for the music to finish.

10. A Daisy Through Concrete (2.26)

‘Wake up the dying, don’t wake up the dead’

Another uplifting song which doesn’t attempt to make any sense apart from giving you the feeling that the world isn’t meant to be that mad at all. The music is nice and fast with a lot of sounds escaping from it, E sounds energised whilst singing this, with slight optimism in his voice, and you don’t here that much.

11. Jeannie’s Diary (3.37)

‘She’s got a dark side too, even murderous’

One of E’s favourite tracks and, if Dreamworks had let them, the one they wanted to release as the third single. This is another excellent song, nice and downbeat, giving a break from the adrenaline fuelled songs before hand, despite being a beak from the quirky this song is not that sad. E’s voice compliments the song well, not getting too low to sound depressing, but more of thinking how it may have been if he was in ‘one single page’ of her diary. This strikes you as a lost love song and one of the best songs of the album.

12. Wooden Nickles (2.55)

‘When the party’s over your on your own’

Another simple sounding song on the album and nice and laid back, with a simple guitar sounds moving through the song. It doesn’t really stand out in any special way but that is not to say it’s not that good, it’s a well-placed filler type song, which blends in nicely to the rest of the album. It sort of carries on from the love theme that Jeannies Diary started ‘you may not think much of me but I think so damn much of you’, except this is a tad more upbeat.

13. Something Is Sacred (2.52)

‘People look funny when they cry because they just can’t let it hide’

Probably the darkest song from the album, from the start it sounds bleak and it does carry on throughout nearly all of the song, with E reaching his high notes in typical laid back effort. The lyrics are once again the strong point of this song as it has the feeling of true recollection of what E has experienced throughout his life. However out of the bleakness comes the last verse, ending on ‘I’ll cradle you and hold you tight’, which ends it on a somewhat happier note.

14. Selective Memory (2.44)

‘Wish I could remember but my selective memory wont let me’

The simplest sounding song from the album. E’s voice starts of high and then goes lower for the chorus. It is only a piano that accompanies his voice throughout most of the song. Although not the strongest of songs both lyrically and musically it still nonetheless stands out in terms of simplistic style.

15. Mr. Es Beautiful Blues (3.58)

‘The clown with the frown driving down to the sidewalk fair, finger on the trigger let me tell you gave us quite a scare’

Oddly enough this isn’t advertised on the cover of the album and it is a ‘hidden track’. This is, of course, the hit single from the album. The mood is defiantly upbeat with a lot of bass and drums creeping it. Although upbeat underneath the surface there is a slightly dark edge in terms of what is happening with the lyrics, so it’s a nice juxtaposition of when E is sounding his happiest there is all this crazy stuff going on the world around him. However despite the darkness you cant fault this song, a perfect pick-you up and by the end of it E may be true in saying that ‘Godamn right, it’s a beautiful day’

That’s Daisies of the Galaxy for you then. After listening to it so many times its still hard to describe it in terms of words because whilst sounding simple it is unlike anything you have heard from the Eels.

The mood is, as said before, far happier than the previous album. Look no further than the two songs have daisies in them and the words ‘pushing up’ don’t come anywhere near them. It also still seems a personal account of E’s life but this time he has moved on from the mourning stage, and whilst there is still slight pain in some of the songs there is definite hope in this album, carrying on from where Electro-shock Blues left off.

The cover is also testimony that times have moved on. There is no dark blue and black colours that were featured in Electro-shock but this time a 1950’s style children’s drawing type artwork features heavily on the cover and inlay. This time there are all sorts of bright colours and happy faces on the artwork, how nice.

There are, however, a few slight bad points to the album that stop it from beating Electro-shock Blues in terms of quality. Some of the songs do sound a bit too samey and maybe a bit more variety in terms of style would have been nice. Also some songs are woefully short sounding, despite them being catchy, it would have been nice to have an extra verse in some of them especially since in most songs the music carries on for a further 30 seconds after the words have stopped. None of the songs are too noticeably bad, although some seem to have more effort put into them as some but we do have 15 good songs with some that stand out as being excellently made.

Although this is not as good as Electro-shock Blues in its defence it’s a totally different sounding album. Maybe the tracks should sound the same and maybe they should be short, after all this is supposed to be a fun album and it is just that.

The album wasn’t that commercially successful, in the US or UK. The first single Mr. E’s Beautiful Blues entered at a healthy 14 but Flyswatter only came in at 43. Dreamworks were also supposedly considering dropping them but that has, thankfully, not happened.

It is worth pointing out that another album, with live recordings was also released when this was out called ‘Oh What A Beautiful Morning’ but I think its for the US only. However we don’t have long to wait for the Eels new work as ‘Souljacker’ is out very soon indeed.

DAISIES OF THE GALAXY IS

Quirky
Happy
A different Eels sound once more

DAISIES OF THE GALAXY IS NOT

That dark
Depressing
Perfect