Cake - Showroom of Compassion
Cake was a huge band for me when I was in High School. I remember I was a complete fiend for all things dark and foreboding. Metal was what I went for. Though I had a fairly broad background for loving all genres of music, it was metal that I gravitated toward in those awkward developmental years. As such, I started to develop an attitude of “if it doesn’t melt faces, I don’t want to hear it”.
That is, until I heard “Never There” the second single from Prolonging the Magic. It was the thickest, funkiest and most crisp piece of music I’d ever heard. I was hooked. I dove into their catalogue and gained an appreciation for tongue in cheek humor, alt country and white boy funk. Those three things have been a mainstay for the band who have been in a bit of a funk since the sudden spotlight they enjoyed with “Comfort Eagle”.
This album is a bit of a return to form for the guys. In my mind it was an instant classic for me as a fan of the band. They do a lot here that they’ve already done. The relentless funk of “Long Time” and the sizzling chunk of the albums instrumental “Teen Pregnancy” as well as just about everything else on the record are delivered with that idiosyncratic sound Cake are known for.
As opposed to the tired and bored feel of 2004’s “Pressure Chief” this record sees the band free of the pressure and scrutiny of the public eye and just creating music that is cool, clever and groovy the way we all knew they could. It probably won’t win over detractors of the group, but it will please long time followers and, if it happens to be your introduction to the former college radio heroes, you could do much worse.
