Rating:  -
This was my first foray into CAKE back in March, and I must say, it's nothing special. Well, okay, it has it's very own sound, no ________ band soudns like CAKE. But even so, this album is average. A lot of the songs are just boring and lack energy. CAKE dosen't have dance energy, but a layed back kind of energy. Maybe it's because there is nto a drummer, or that the original guitarist is gone, Victor's trumpet isn't heard very much (and it's not as great as it was), or the cheesy little dinky electronic sounds. Whatever it is, it's just a slab of boring CAKE.
I was suprised when I heard Fashion Nugget, because that album is just so much better. But even so, this was a _____ Dissapointment. Ignore that dude above me making Opera singer look like a multi-dense song, it's very boring. The awful fragile drum "beat" just sets the album for disaster. Comminsiong a Symphony in C. is bland, and don't get me started on Pretty Pink Ribbon. The ending track also just flat out sucks. There so bland, you just can't even tell what the _____ wrong with them. They sound fake!
It wasn't that bad, though. Short Skirt/Long Jacket still is pretty fun, without much staying power though. Long Line OF Cars is rather interesting, and the title track is just so phony and ironic (which is signature CAKE satire). Shadow Stabbing is just a memorable song, and Meanwhile Rick James... isn't bad. Arco Arena is short, but I though it had atmosphere. Love YOu Madly dosen't have much substance, but it's worth a listen. Sometimes you need music to chill to.
IF you like CAKE, I reccomend getting their older stuff. It's just so much better. CAKE isn't a band to jump around to, they just take it a little slower. CAKE is still a unique band, so if you don't like this, try different albums, and remember, it took me a little bit longer to like Fashion Nugget (it was kind of opposite for this, but then it just got boring).
6.0/10
Rating:  -
Fashion Nugget is better but this comes in at a close second
Rating:  -
In 'Short Skirt, Long Jacket', Kitty is changing her name to Karen as her MG changes to a white Chrysler LeBaron.
They meet at the bank, when she borrows his pen.
She has "....fingernails that shine like justice...",
..... but no pen!
The dude is in a band....
Would he be awake yet?
Would he have a pen?
Would she even speak to him?
____ Karen with the white coupe? _______
I wore the outfit.
I had a pen.....Always...
I loved my
___ Red ___ topless ___ 2.5L turbocharged Chrysler LeBaron.
If this actually happened "Karen" didn't need a pen, she needed a line.
She should have asked what sign he was.
My sign is "Don't feed the animals".
Rating: -
I discovered Cake quite by accident and probably several years after everyone else who really loves the band. But, I adore this album and really can listen to it again and again and be amused anew each time I hear it. If an album can make me smile and dance at my desk at work, it is a keeper and this is certainly one of my favorites. While I really appreciate good music, what really catches my attention is clever lyrics and this album is full of those. Great, fun songs.
Rating: -
Cake, in spite of its shuffling line-up of members, has managed to achieve something rare for music of its kind: familiarity without stagnation. Many bands, if they fail to evolve their sound, suffocate themselves with repetition. Cake, on the other hand, has proven itself -- with each successive album -- if not as fresh as ever, then at least as fun. They embrace their relative redundancy; just compare the album covers and titles if you don't believe me.
The point is, these guys (least of all frontman McCrea) aren't trying to achieve anything acrobatic. They've found their niche, and not only are they working it well, they are still, in many ways, finding creative new corners to it. This is actually quite impressive, especially in light of their Joe-Blow jive. The trumpets, the choir of voices, McCrea's talk-singing, and even the lyrical storylines (commentaries on everything from class struggles -- the delightfully droll "Commissioning a Symphony in C" -- to women and cars -- the unrepentantly peppy "Love You Madly") have become staples for both the players and their fans.
This album executes these standards deftly. McCrea and company give us the audacious ("Meanwhile, Rick James ..."), the playfully plodding ("Long Line Of Cars"), and the almost indefinable. A perfect example for this last style is the title track, with its Middle Eastern twang etched over a gleefully grungy bassline. The song is played loose and fast, but is in no danger of falling apart, and it's buoyed up by some pretty funny lyrics that make a mockery of fakes and posers.
That may be this album's biggest message, to those who might accuse them of failing to grow to accomodate a world of rapidly shifting tastes. Sometimes evolution and advancement does involve change, but then again, sometimes it's even better to avoid pretending to be something you're not. In Comfort Eagle, we are given the same Cake as always, true. But, just as reliably, that's definitely a good thing.
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