Just Like the Fambly Cat (2006)

As his band's name suggests, frontman Jason Lytle — a former competitive skateboarder — likes things that have accrued history. Too bad Grandaddy become history with this swan song, because Just Like the Fambly Catshows Lytle at the top of his game, lamenting summers past on songs whose soulful synth-rock recalls the '80s baroque-pop of the Electric Light Orchestra. The dude's nostalgia even includes a chorus of meows echoing an old cat food ad. Rearview mirrors are always flattering.